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Bruce Woodley
Bruce William Woodley[1] AO[2] (born 25 July 1942) is an Australian singer-songwriter and musician.[3][4] He was a founding member of the successful folk-pop group the Seekers,[3] and co-composer of the songs "I Am Australian," "Red Rubber Ball," and Simon & Garfunkel's "Cloudy."[5] At the National Day of Mourning on 22 February 2009 for the victims of the Victoria bushfires, Woodley unveiled two new verses for "I am Australian".[6] Bruce Woodley was born on 25 July 1942 in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. He attended Melbourne High School with fellow Seekers, Athol Guy and Keith Potger.[3] The SeekersWoodley had a 'residency' performing at the Treble Clef restaurant in Prahran. With former schoolmates, Athol Guy and Keith Potger, he formed a folk music trio, The Escorts, in the early 1960s.[3] Soon before the arrival of vocalist Judith Durham in 1962 they became The Seekers, and had some success in Australia before travelling to London in 1964 and recording four international hit singles written and produced by Tom Springfield.[3] Woodley played guitar, banjo, and mandolin, as well as one of the four-part vocal harmony, and was the chief songwriter.[3] While Durham sang the majority of lead vocals for the group, Woodley usually handled the male lead vocals, including a number of album tracks. The Seekers first disbanded in 1968.[3] Work with Paul SimonDuring 1965, while in London, Woodley met Paul Simon, following the poor performance of Wednesday Morning 3 A.M. and just prior to the success of Simon and Garfunkel.[3] All of this also happened before the success of Simon's "The Sounds of Silence." Simon and Woodley co-wrote the million-selling "Red Rubber Ball"[7]—later a Top Five hit for US group The Cyrkle.[3] This was the Simon and Woodley collaboration. The Seekers later recorded these three songs, and "Cloudy" became an album track on Simon and Garfunkel's hit 1966 album Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme—the only Simon and Woodley song to appear on both groups' album.[3] However, Woodley's relationship with Simon had deteriorated and Woodley later struggled to get his share of the royalties—his songwriting credit on "Cloudy" was omitted from the release of Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme.[3] Woodley and Simon stopped working together due to the mentioned royalty problems and creative differences, and the collaborations ended after that. DiscographyPersonal LifeVery little is known about Woodley's personal life. He married Sally[8], and had two children with her, Claire and Dan[9]. He was also involved in the production of children's alphabet letter blocks for a while.[10] Woodley and his daughter, Claire, have worked together and done collaborations. [11] He purchased a 4145-square-metre estate in 2013 with his son, Dan, and Dan had been renovating and landscaping the property until 2017.[12] It was put up on the market in April, 2017. [13] References
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