Facebook Twitter Instagram YouTube
    Nostalgia Central
    • Home
    • Blog
      • Lists
      • Playlists
    • Television
      • TV by Decade
        • TV – 1950s
        • TV – 1960s
        • TV – 1970s
        • TV – 1980s
        • TV – 1990s
      • Comedy
      • Drama
      • Kids TV
      • Variety
      • News & Sport
      • Advertisements
    • Music
      • Music by Decade
        • Music – 1950s
        • Music – 1960s
        • Music – 1970s
        • Music – 1980s
        • Music – 1990s
      • Artists – A to K
        • Artists – A
        • Artists – B
        • Artists – C
        • Artists – D
        • Artists – E
        • Artists – F
        • Artists – G
        • Artists – H
        • Artists – I
        • Artists – J
        • Artists – K
      • Artists – L to Z
        • Artists – L
        • Artists – M
        • Artists – N
        • Artists – O
        • Artists – P
        • Artists – Q
        • Artists – R
        • Artists – S
        • Artists – T
        • Artists – U
        • Artists – V
        • Artists – W
        • Artists – X
        • Artists – Y
        • Artists – Z
      • Artists – 0 to 9
      • Genres
      • Music on Film & TV
      • One-Hit Wonders
      • Online Radio
    • Movies
      • Movies by Decade
        • Movies – 1950s
        • Movies – 1960s
        • Movies – 1970s
        • Movies – 1980s
        • Movies – 1990s
      • Movies – 0 to 9
      • Movies – A to K
        • Movies – A
        • Movies – B
        • Movies – C
        • Movies – D
        • Movies – E
        • Movies – F
        • Movies – G
        • Movies – H
        • Movies – I
        • Movies – J
        • Movies – K
      • Movies – L to Z
        • Movies – L
        • Movies – M
        • Movies – N
        • Movies – O
        • Movies – P
        • Movies – Q
        • Movies – R
        • Movies – S
        • Movies – T
        • Movies – U
        • Movies – V
        • Movies – W
        • Movies – X
        • Movies – Y
        • Movies – Z
    • Pop Culture
      • Fads
      • Toys & Games
      • Fashion
      • Decor
      • Food & Drink
      • People
      • Technology
      • Transport
    • Social History
      • 1950s Year by Year
      • 1960s Year by Year
      • 1970s Year by Year
      • 1980s Year by Year
      • 1990s Year by Year
      • Events
    Nostalgia Central
    Home»Music»Artists - L to Z»Artists - S
    Artists - S Music - 1970s 7 Mins Read

    Sherbet

    Share
    Facebook Twitter Pinterest WhatsApp Reddit Email

    A pop sensation of the mid-1970s, Sherbet’s popularity was unrivalled in Australia. Their songs dealt with innocent, romantic allusions to pubescent sexual experience with lyrics like “Summer love is like no other love”.

    Good looking and apparently well-behaved, the boys in Sherbet were ‘spunks’ in satin jackets to thousands and thousands of teenage fans.

    Sherbet was an extremely hard-working and long-lasting band that dominated the Australian charts for almost a decade. Remarkably, they had 20 singles in the national Top 40 during the 1970s. Their years of success owed much to the smooth voice of Daryl Braithwaite and the songwriting talents of Garth Porter and Clive Shakespeare, and later Tony Mitchell.

    Their run was phenomenal. 20 consecutive hit singles (plus another five for Daryl Braithwaite), 12 albums yielding 10 platinum and eight gold records, every possible Australian music award of the 70s and the honour of being not only the biggest domestic record sellers of all time but the first to sell a million dollars worth of records in Australia.

    They reigned longer than the Bay City Rollers, David Essex or Skyhooks, which for a high profile pop band at the mercy of fickle kids is nothing short of a minor miracle.

    Formed by Shakespeare in 1969, the band’s first two years were inauspicious with constant changes in personnel. Garth Porter, a talented keyboard player and songwriter from New Zealand, joined late in 1970.

    It was only at the beginning of 1972, when Tony Mitchell joined as bass guitarist, that Sherbet’s line-up stabilised, remaining unchanged for four years.

    Their first hit came in 1971 with Can You Feel It?.

    The songs lyrics may have been nonsensical  (“love is desire for something that you feel is wrong”) but they had captured an appealing sound in the studio, and Daryl’s voice showed a remarkable ability to move effortlessly in and out of falsetto.

    More hits followed, including a Ted Mulry tune, You’re All Woman and another called You’ve Got The Gun which was the band’s first self-penned single.

    Sherbet initially attracted strong interest in their hometown of Sydney but had to work hard to gain mass acceptance in Melbourne. They were the first Australian band to realise the potential worth of taking their music to the people on long, tedious national tours.

    Lugging seven tons of equipment, they would set out in Greyhound coaches for up to three months, playing in town halls and School of Arts halls in hundreds of country towns. These were the days before a national circuit of large pub venues had been established.

    Sherbet’s heavy touring schedule saw the band develop into an accomplished, professional live act. As a result, they won the Hoadley’s National Battle Of The Sounds in 1972 – the final year of the competition. Sherbet went on to win just about every award the Australian music industry could offer.

    In 1972 they were voted Top Australian group in the Go-Set pop poll. For six consecutive years from 1973, they won the award for best Australian group at the TV Week King of pop awards.

    scan0641

    Musically, the band were a great deal more proficient than their image may have suggested. Their live sound was impressive and full-bodied and a real sense of entertainment prevailed on stage.

    Riding high above the proceedings was easily the best drummer in the country, Alan Sandow with his (nearly always naked) torso awash with sweat. Sandow once estimated that Sherbet undertook 20 gruelling national tours, at least half of which were craftily timed and named to coincide with an album release. Tour/album operations were exactingly planned up to a year ahead.

    Their concerts were intense and exciting spectacles; visual replicas of their Countdown image. All the tricks were dragged out – flashy lighting, smoke bombs and cheeky dialogue. To rural fans especially (unused to this kind of spectacle), it was like three Christmases at once. During their ‘Around Australia in 80 Days tour’ in 1976 they were mobbed by fans at airports and venues alike.

    The hit singles kept coming; Cassandra, Slipstream, Silvery Moon and others. Summer Love was the biggest selling Australian single of 1975, reaching number three on the national charts. Sherbet’s astute manager, Roger Davies, continued to keep the band on the road, organising marathon tours that took in areas like North Queensland and rural Western Australia.

    Exposure to a national television audience on Countdown vastly increased their popularity across the country. Sherbet avoided some of the excesses of glam, such as heavy make-up, but were partial to satin, velvet and custom-made bomber jackets.

    The Sherbet success formula was deceptively simple. First, they presented a wholesome image that fostered romantic notions amongst pubescent girls. An image so safe that parents had little hesitation in shelling out the cash needed for records, concert tickets and paraphernalia.

    In hand with this was a vigorous media strategy that kept the band constantly in the public eye but sufficiently elusive to maintain mystique and keep over-exposure at bay.

    At the apex of this was charismatic, affable and sincere Daryl Braithwaite whose dedication to duty often had him putting in full eight hour days on a telephone connected in rapid succession to every radio station in the country.

    “Musical and personal differences” caused the departure of Clive Shakespeare in 1976. He was replaced by Harvey James (pictured above right), whose boyish good looks only added to Sherbet’s appeal to its teenage audience.

    That year also saw the release of the single Howzat. With its distinctive introductory bass line and its simple ‘love is a cricket match’ metaphor, it was a superbly crafted pop song that became their most memorable recording.

    Howzat was Sherbet’s only record to chart overseas, reaching the Top 10 in England in 1976. While Australian acts in the past had recorded hits overseas, Howzat was the first single written and recorded locally to chart internationally. It was a significant achievement.

    While remaining with Sherbet, Daryl Braithwaite (pictured below) pursued a flourishing solo career. He sang the title role in an Australian production of The Who‘s rock opera Tommy in 1973.

    He also enjoyed chart success in Australia with middle of the road ballads like You’re My World, and was voted King of Pop every year between 1975 and 1977.

    Despite his success as a solo recording artist, Daryl remained loyal to the band through thick and thin.

    Sherbet were able to sustain longevity that is rare in Australian music, but they were unable to crack overseas markets in any lasting way. Known as Highway in the USA, the band had a couple of minor hits there.

    Back in Australia at the end of the ’70s, they changed their name to The Sherbs, trying to move away from the saccharine pop image.

    Despite their continuing prolific output and good material, the public had lost interest and the band suffered from being derisively labelled a teenybopper’s band.

    Sherbet’s decline in popularity after a decade of exposure was a gradual slide rather than a sudden drop, allowing the band members to come to terms gradually with their loss of fame.

    Years later, Garth Porter reflected on the years of hard work that kept Sherbet at the top for so long; “Always doing another album, hopefully another big hit. The prime concern was perpetuating it, rather than the integrity. Not that we were a band to be taken seriously, because we weren’t . . . As a musician, I discourage anyone from being trapped in a pop career. There’s only one way out – the big slide down”.

    Braithwaite went on to record the platinum albums Edge (1988) and Rise (1990). Keyboard player and principal songwriter Garth Porter developed a career as a producer and composer, achieving outstanding success, especially in the field of Australian Country music.

    Guitarist Harvey James died of lung cancer in January 2011, aged 58.

    Daryl Braithwaite
    Vocals
    Clive Shakespeare
    Guitar
    Garth Porter
    Keyboards
    Tony Mitchell
    Bass
    Alan Sandow 
    Drums
    Harvey James
    Guitar
    Ian “Gunther” Gorman
    Guitar

    Video

    Related Posts

    • Silverchair
      Silverchair
      Formed when all three members were 12-year-old students at Newcastle High School in New South Wales, Australia, Silverchair released their…
    • Jamie Redfern
      Jamie Redfern
      Over a three year period during the early 1970s, Australian child star Jamie Redfern scored four Top 40 hit singles…
    • Ariel
      Ariel
      Australian band Ariel was the brainchild of Mike Rudd and Bill Putt, following on from the break-up of their previous…
    • RAM and JUKE Magazines
      RAM and JUKE Magazines
      Australian Anthony O'Grady was a dedicated music fan and had written occasional record reviews for Go-Set and its early rival Soundblast.…
    • Supernaut
      Supernaut
      Supernaut was formed in Perth (Australia) by Gary Twinn (vocals), Chris Burnham (guitar) and his brother Joey Burnham (drums), all of whom…
    • Countdown
      Countdown
      1 9 7 4 - 1 9 8 7 (Australia) When Countdown first went to air in November 1974 it began a path…
    • Sherbet Remembered
      Sherbet Remembered
      The intermission lights were dimming and scattered chatter was turning into a cacophony of high-pitched squeals and titters. OL'55 and…
    • Sherbet: Around Australia in 350,000 Girls
      Sherbet: Around Australia in 350,000 Girls
      Denise is 12 years old. She is stamping her feet outside the 2GZ radio station in Orange, mostly to keep…

    Australia
    Share. Facebook Twitter Pinterest WhatsApp Reddit Email
    Previous ArticleSkyhooks
    Next Article Hush

    Comments are closed.

    Follow us
    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • YouTube
    You May Also Like
    • Sorority Girl (1957)
      Rich girl Sabra Tanner (Susan Cabot) is a sadistic, neurotic […]
    • Big Hair
      In the extremes of the 80s, the “bigger is better” […]
    • Darkroom
      1 9 8 1 – 1 9 8 2 (USA) 16 x 60 minute episodes […]
    • Hi! Summer
      1 9 7 7 (UK) 8 x 45 minute episodes This Sunday night summer […]
    • Unisexers, The
      1 9 7 5 (Australia) The Unisexers was an Australian series about […]
    • Guns of Navarone, The (1961)
      A stalwart band of Blighty’s finest heroes risk life and […]
    Comments Box SVG iconsUsed for the like, share, comment, and reaction icons

    OUR LATEST FACEBOOK POSTS

    edition.cnn.com/2023/01/30/entertainment/cindy-williams-dead/index.html

    More sad news 😢
    ... See MoreSee Less

    Link thumbnail

    'Laverne & Shirley' star Cindy Williams dead at 75 | CNN

    edition.cnn.com

    Cindy Williams, the dynamic actress known best for playing the bubbly Shirley Feeney on the beloved sitcom "Laverne & Shirley," has died, according to a statement from her family, provided to CNN by a...
    3 days ago
    View on Facebook
    · Share
    Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on Linked In Share by Email
    View Comments
    • Likes: 1
    • Shares: 0
    • Comments: 0

    Comment on Facebook

    www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-64442824 ... See MoreSee Less

    Link thumbnail

    Television frontman Tom Verlaine dies at 73

    www.bbc.co.uk

    His band rose to fame in the 1970s New York punk scene, scoring UK hits including Marquee Moon.
    5 days ago
    View on Facebook
    · Share
    Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on Linked In Share by Email
    View Comments
    • Likes: 0
    • Shares: 0
    • Comments: 0

    Comment on Facebook

    www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-64418847 ... See MoreSee Less

    Link thumbnail

    Mr Blobby costume sells for more than £62,000 on eBay

    www.bbc.co.uk

    The character, made famous by BBC show Noel's House Party, had been in storage since the 1990s.
    6 days ago
    View on Facebook
    · Share
    Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on Linked In Share by Email
    View Comments
    • Likes: 0
    • Shares: 0
    • Comments: 0

    Comment on Facebook

    Put some beefiness into your mid-week menu with these recipe ideas published in a Birds Eye advertisement from the Radio Times on 30 September 1965.

    Put some "beefiness into your mid-week menu" with these recipe ideas published in a Birds Eye advertisement from the "Radio Times" on 30 September 1965. ... See MoreSee Less

    2 weeks ago
    View on Facebook
    · Share
    Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on Linked In Share by Email
    View Comments
    • Likes: 3
    • Shares: 0
    • Comments: 1

    Comment on Facebook

    They were awful. An overpowering savoury flavour that lingered in your mouth for hours. Heaven knows what unmentionable parts of a bull went into making them 😳

    More sad news 😪

    ... See MoreSee Less

    Link thumbnail

    US rock legend David Crosby dies aged 81

    www.bbc.co.uk

    Crosby, who co-founded both the Byrds and Crosby, Stills and Nash, had been ill for some time.
    2 weeks ago
    View on Facebook
    · Share
    Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on Linked In Share by Email
    View Comments
    • Likes: 0
    • Shares: 1
    • Comments: 0

    Comment on Facebook

    This is what they promised us when I was a kid. What happened? 

All I have is 700 channels of rubbish on the TV in High Def, TikTok, Facebook and a phone I can take photographs with . . .

    This is what they promised us when I was a kid. What happened?

    All I have is 700 channels of rubbish on the TV in High Def, TikTok, Facebook and a phone I can take photographs with . . .
    ... See MoreSee Less

    2 weeks ago
    View on Facebook
    · Share
    Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on Linked In Share by Email
    View Comments
    • Likes: 54
    • Shares: 22
    • Comments: 7

    Comment on Facebook

    I thought we would have moving pavements by now when I was a kid 😂

    Totally agree!!!

    The new Tesla, 4.6 next century.

    We got transvestite story hour instead

    We appear to be going backwards

    There's actually a very good David Graeber essay on this very topic: thebaffler.com/salvos/of-flying-cars-and-the-declining-rate-of-profit

    The Jetsons strike again.

    View more comments

    Renowned Australian singer Renee Geyer is dead at 69 following complications from hip surgery. Such a fabulous voice. RIP😢

https://nostalgiacentral.com/music/artists-l-to-z/artists-r/renee-geyer/

    Renowned Australian singer Renee Geyer is dead at 69 following complications from hip surgery. Such a fabulous voice. RIP😢

    nostalgiacentral.com/music/artists-l-to-z/artists-r/renee-geyer/
    ... See MoreSee Less

    2 weeks ago
    View on Facebook
    · Share
    Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on Linked In Share by Email
    View Comments
    • Likes: 0
    • Shares: 0
    • Comments: 1

    Comment on Facebook

    That is so sad to hear 😥 rest in peace 🙏 🕊 xx

    Gina Lollobrigida: Italian screen star dies at 95
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-64292026

    Gina Lollobrigida: Italian screen star dies at 95
    www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-64292026
    ... See MoreSee Less

    2 weeks ago
    View on Facebook
    · Share
    Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on Linked In Share by Email
    View Comments
    • Likes: 4
    • Shares: 0
    • Comments: 1

    Comment on Facebook

    😍😍😍😍

    Vale Jeff Beck. Dead at 78. 😢

    ... See MoreSee Less

    Link thumbnail

    Jeff Beck: British guitar legend dies aged 78

    www.bbc.co.uk

    One of rock's most influential guitarists, he was inducted to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame twice.
    3 weeks ago
    View on Facebook
    · Share
    Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on Linked In Share by Email
    View Comments
    • Likes: 1
    • Shares: 0
    • Comments: 0

    Comment on Facebook

    Hi everyone. Were in the process of moving www.nostalgiacentral.com to new dedicated servers to better cope with the volumes of traffic. Please ignore any SSL security errors you may receive when visiting the site over the next 24 hours while the move completes.

    Hi everyone. We're in the process of moving www.nostalgiacentral.com to new dedicated servers to better cope with the volumes of traffic. Please ignore any SSL security errors you may receive when visiting the site over the next 24 hours while the move completes. ... See MoreSee Less

    3 weeks ago
    View on Facebook
    · Share
    Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on Linked In Share by Email
    View Comments
    • Likes: 5
    • Shares: 0
    • Comments: 2

    Comment on Facebook

    Ironically, this post has jumped off the page at me. You'll probably get most traffic today because everyone will want to see what they might be missing!

    Martin Platt

    Load more
    Please note


    Nostalgia Central covers the period 1950 to 1999 and contains some words and references which reflect the attitudes of those times and which may be considered culturally sensitive, offensive or inappropriate today.
    Popular Tags
    1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1975 1976 Action Figures Amicus Arcade games Australia Beach movies Beatles Blaxploitation Board games Britpop Canada Crime Disney Doo-Wop Elvis Presley Girl groups Glam Goth Hammer Heavy Metal Irwin Allen Labels Merseybeat Mod revival Motown New Romantic New Wave NWOBHM Oi! One-hit wonders Power Pop Pub rock Punk Radio Scotland Ska Soul music Sport Surf music
    Search Nostalgia Central
    Copyright © 1998, 2023 Nostalgia Central
    • About Nostalgia Central
    • Contact
    • FAQ

    Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.