page_title: Judith Durham
section_title: Solo career
hierarchical_section_title: Judith Durham / Solo career
caption_attribution_description: Trade ad for Judith Durham's album Gift Of Song.To better adapt it to his respective Wikipedia article, the ad was cropped and cleaned in a graphics editing program. The original can be viewed at the source below.
context_page_description: Judith Durham AO is an Australian singer, songwriter and musician who became the lead singer of the Australian popular folk music group The Seekers in 1963.
  The group subsequently became the first Australian pop music group to achieve major chart and sales success in the United Kingdom and the United States, and have sold over 50 million records worldwide. Durham left the group in mid-1968 to pursue her solo career. In 1993, Durham began to make sporadic recordings and performances with The Seekers, though she remains primarily a solo performer. On 1 July 2015, she was named Victorian of the Year for her services to music and a range of charities.
context_section_description: Durham returned to Australia in August 1968 and her first solo television special, 'An Evening with Judith Durham' screened on the Nine Network in September. During her solo career she has released albums titled For Christmas with Love, Gift of Song and Climb Ev'ry Mountain. In 1970 she made the television special, Meet Judith Durham, in London, ending with her rendition of "When You Come to the End of a Perfect Day" by Carrie Jacobs-Bond (1862–1946).
  In 1975 Judith starred in an acting and singing role as Sarah Simmonds, a burlesque type performer in "The Golden Girl", an episode of the Australian television series Cash and Co. Set in the 1800s Australian goldfields, this episode also featured Durham's husband, Ron Edgeworth, on piano. She performed six songs including "Oh Susanna", "When Starlight Fades", "Maggie Mae", "Rock Of Ages", "There's No Place Like Home" and "The Lord Is My Shepherd".
  During the 1970s she returned to traditional jazz and recorded Judith Durham and The Hottest Band in Town and Judith Durham and The Hottest Band in Town Volume 2 and in 1978, The Hot Jazz Duo. Durham performed at the Newport Jazz Festival in 1978, receiving a standing ovation in front of a crowd of 3,000. She then moved to Queensland and focused on her songwriting.
  In 1994, Durham began recording albums again. Her 1994 album, Let Me Find Love peaked at number 8 in Australia. In 1996, she released a covers album, Mona Lisas, under the direction of producer Gus Dudgeon. This was re-released as Always There in 1997 with the addition of Durham's solo recording of fellow Seeker Bruce Woodley's "I am Australian" (with Russell Hitchcock of Air Supply and Mandawuy Yunupingu of Yothu Yindi) and the Smith Family theme song of the title. Her recording of "Always There" was first released on the 1997 double CD Anthems, which also featured Bruce Woodley's "Common Ground" and the Seekers' "Advance Australia Fair" arrangement.
  In 2001, Durham did another Australian tour and in 2003 she toured the UK to celebrate her 60th birthday. Her birthday concert at the Royal Festival Hall in London was filmed and released on DVD in late 2004. The album was released on CD and download in 2014, titled Live in London. In 2006, The Seekers were awarded the "Key to the City" of Melbourne by Lord Mayor John So. As part of the ceremony, Durham sang part of her song "Seldom Melbourne Leaves My Mind" and was later invited by the Lord Mayor's Charitable Fund to record the song, as a fund-raiser, with Orchestra Victoria.
  The decision was then made to record The Australian Cities Suite with all proceeds from the sale of the CD to go to the charitable sector. The album was released in October 2008. The project was to benefit charities such as the Motor Neurone Disease Association of Australia (Durham is national patron) and Orchestra Victoria, in addition to other charities which benefit from the Lord Mayor's Charitable Fund or its national affiliated network United Way.
  In 2006, Durham started modernising the music and phrases in the Australian National Anthem, "Advance Australia Fair". She first performed it in May 2009 at Federation Hall, St Kilda Road.
  It was released on CD single. On 13 February 2009, Durham made a surprise return to the Myer Music Bowl when she performed the closing number at the RocKwiz Salutes the Bowl – Sidney Myer Music Bowl 50th Anniversary with "The Carnival is Over". On 23 May 2009, Durham performed a one-hour a cappella concert in Melbourne as a launch for her album Up Close and Personal.
  In October 2011, it was announced Durham had signed an exclusive international deal with Decca Records. George Ash, President of Universal Music Australasia said "It is an honour to have Judith Durham join Decca's wonderful roster of artists. When you think of the legends that have graced the Decca Records catalogue it is the perfect home to welcome Judith to, and we couldn't be more excited to work with Judith on not only her new recordings but her incredible catalogue as well."
  Between 2011 and 2016, Decca Records re-released Gift of Song and Climb Ev
caption: Promotional photo for Durham's solo album Gift of Song, 1970
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