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| A Sydney Band Journey From the Surf To Manly The Journey of a Sydney band “From The Surf To Manly” commenced in the 1963 when Peter Rappolt, the leader of the band, composed a number of surf tunes, the most famous being “Ski Run” recorded on EMI with his band, The Echomen. This tune emerged on Australia’s hit parade at the same time as: “Bombora” by The Atlantics, “Wipeout” by The Surfaris and the “Lonely Surfer” by Jack Nitzsche. The Echomen performed on local television and radio shows in Sydney, regularly appearing on Johnny O’Keefe’s TV show 6 O’clock Rock. With the advent of The Beatles and The Beach Boys music dominating the charts the band moved on from surf music and turned their talents toward performing as a vocal and cabaret style group, they performed six nights a week at the Charles Hotel Chatswood for four years. The Echomen disbanded in 1969 and Peter formed “The Sounds of Lawrence” with his wife Marie on Keyboards, performing Soul and Funk music. They journeyed to Asia and performed for American forces in the war zones of Sth Vietnam completing over 400 concerts. In 1970 Peter purchased a nightclub in Bangkok and used that venue as a base to travel throughout Asia until 1972. The band returned to Australia and travelled throughout the country until 1980 when Peter and Marie had a break from the music scene. In 1996 Peter and Marie formed “Viva the band” with Griff Beale, a drummer from the Echomen and Gerri and Jose Santos who also have a history of performing for American forces in Asia. Viva the band recently performed at the Tainan International Chihsi Arts Festival in Taiwan in 2004 and The Kenting International Song Festival in Taiwan in 2005. Viva the band is very popular in the Sydney, South Coast and Central Coast entertainment scene and regularly perform for Jazz festivals at The Gold Coast, Thredbo, Newcastle, Morpeth Kiama, Illawarra, Manly, Jazz in the City at QVB, Darling Harbour events and Sydney Olympic Park events. Media releases about the bands venue and performances can be accessed by typing “ Viva the band” in internet searches. Currently the band perform a mixture of: jazz, swing, latin, gypsy jazz , salsa, French , Spanish Songs, cabaret and classic show tunes Viva the band will be performing at the Manly International Jazz Festival on 1st, 2nd and 3rd October 2005. write your comments about the article :: © 2005 Jazz News :: home page |