Sun (58)

Sun were formed in January 1971 in Sydney after dropping the previous name King Biscuit ( see photo). The line up at this time included Ian Smith vocals . ( see photo ) the rest of the line up was George Alamanza on keyboards, Henry Correy on bass guitar, Garry Norwell on drums and Keith Shadwick on sax, flute, clarinet and backing vocals. Ian Smith left the band mid year and was replaced for a short time by Steve Phillipson ( ex Velvet Underground—Australia).. When Steve left he was replaced by Renee Geyer. Chris Sonnenberg on guitar also joined in mid year.. They evolved into a jazz rock band that played the wine bars and other major venues during the early 1970s. Sun's live repertoire was a mixture of jazz, psychedelic rock and blues, inspired by John Coltrane, Archie Shepp and the Art Ensemble of Chicago. All these styles were played with varying degrees of success but with much enthusiasm and peer interest. They were one of the first jazz-rock groups in Australia, challenging musical moulds of the day and garnering critical acclaim from the arts world. As a result, they appeared on ABC TV's arts show, GTK. February 1972 the group signed with RCA Records' Australian subsidiary RCA Victor and started on their debut album, Sun 1972, which is their only commercial recording. It has all original material by the band members (and one past member). It was released in October 1972 by the Australian subsidiary of RCA ( as listed on the RCA Post November 1972 ) and produced by jazz entrepreneur, Horst Liepolt. In June 1972 ,months before the album was released ,the band had further changes to the line up. Renee Geyer was replaced by Starlee Ford and Tony Slavich replaced George Almanza. . Australian musicologist, Ian McFarlane, opined that it is a, "collectable, progressive jazz-rock album." Richard Clapton filled in for a few weeks when Starlee stepped down and then rejoined .Vocalists Renée Geyer and Richard Clapton subsequently launched successful solo careers.The band eventually broke up permanently in 1974. Keith Shadwick went on to play with Uncle Bob’s Band, Bleeding Hearts and seminal Melbourne new wave band High Rise Bombers (1977-78), which featured both Martin Armiger (Sports) and Paul Kelly. He then went to the UK to live and wrote a number of books including about Hendrix and Led Zeppplin. Keyboard player Tony Slavich had two stints in the Richard Clapton Band, played with Mike Rudd and Bill Putt in Ariel (1976-77), Instant Replay (1978-79) and The Heaters (1979) and also worked with the Emmanuel brothers in both Goldrush and the Phil Emmanuel Band. George Almanza contributed keyboards to the Albatross LP A Breath Of Fresh Air (1973) and also played on the 1978 album by Maureen Elkner. Henry Correy formed a blues base band called Henry Correy and the Correydors and put out a number of albums with them. Gary Norwell worked with Keith to complete his solo CD called Free Time . Starlee Ford appeared in the original Australian production of the rock musical Hair.