Judith Mavis (Cock) Durham AO AMusA (1943 - 2022)

Born 3 Jul 1943 in Essendon, Victoria, Australia

Ancestors

Wife of Ronald L Edgeworth — married 21 Nov 1969 in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

Died 5 Aug 2022 at age 79 in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

Problems/Questions Profile manager: Dale Byers [send private message]

Biography

Judith (Cock) Durham AO AMusA is Notable.

Judith was a great Australian singer and entertainer

Judith (Cock) Durham AO AMusA was born in Victoria, Australia

Judith (Cock) Durham AO AMusA was awarded the Officer of the Order of Australia.

Judith Durham, AO AMusA was an Australian singer, songwriter and musician who became the lead singer of the Australian popular folk music group The Seekers in 1963. She left the group in mid-1968 to pursue a solo career, returning for sporadic performances.

Judith Mavis Cock was born on 3rd July 1943 in Essendon, Victoria, Australia, the younger daughter of William Cock DFC, a Second World War Pathfinder, and his wife, Jessie Durham. The family moved to Taroona, on the western bank of the Derwent River, Tasmania in 1949 when her father obtained employment in Hobart, returning to Melbourne in 1956, settling in Georgian Court, Balwyn. ^[1] She was educated at Essendon Primary School, the Fahan School Hobart, Ruyton Girls' School Kew and Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT).

Pursuing her initial desire to be a pianist, Judith attained the Associate in Music, Australia (AMusA) degree in classical piano at the University of Melbourne Conservatorium. She also had classical vocal training and performed blues, gospel and jazz pieces. After a handful of professional engagements playing piano, her singing career began one night at the age of eighteen when she asked Nicholas Ribush, leader of the Melbourne University Jazz Band, at the Memphis Jazz Club in Malvern, whether she could sing with the band. Soon after, she began performing at the same club with Frank Traynor's Jazz Preachers, using her mother's maiden name of Durham. She recorded her first EP, Judy Durham with Frank Traynor's Jazz Preachers, for W&G Records. On 3rd December 1962, Judith commenced work at J Walter Thompson Advertising Agency, meeting account executive and musician Athol Guy. Athol invited her to sit in with his friends Bruce Woodley and Keith Potger. ^[2] And The Seekers were formed. W&G signed The Seekers for an album, Introducing the Seekers. ^[3] The rest, as they say, is history.

On Australia Day, 26 January 1968, the four members of The Seekers were together awarded the nation's top honour as Australians of the Year 1967. ^[4]

Judith and Ron Edgeworth

On 21st November 1969, Judith married her musical director, British pianist Ron Edgeworth, in Scots' Presbyterian Church, Melbourne. ^[5] They lived in the UK and Switzerland until the mid-1980s when they bought property in Nambour, Queensland. Ron passed away of motor neurone disease in 1994. Judith later became patron of the Motor Neurone Disease Association (MNDA).

Judith was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) in the Australia Day Honours 1995 in reconition of 'service to music, particularly as an entertainer and composer'. ^[6] The award was upgraded to Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) in the Queen's Birthday Honours 2014 for 'distinguished service to the performing arts as an entertainer, through seminal contributions to Australian music, and as a supporter of a range of not-for-profit organisations'. ^[7] On 1st January 2001, Judith was awarded the Centenary Medal for 'service to Australian society through music'. ^[8]

Aged 79 years, she passed away on 5th August 2022 in The Alfred Hospital, Prahran, south-east of Melbourne's CBD.

Sources

1. ↑ see father's profile
2. ↑ The Seekers 50: The Golden Jubilee Album; accessed 6 Aug 2022
3. ↑ Judith Durham website; accessed 6 Aug 2022
4. ↑ Australian of the Year website; accessed 6 Aug 2022
5. ↑ record of marriage is yet to be located
6. ↑ Australian Honours: OAM; accessed 6 Aug 2022
7. ↑ Australian Honours: AO; accessed 6 Aug 2022
8. ↑ Australian Honours: Centenary Medal; accessed 6 Aug 2022

• Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/242366881/judith-durham: accessed 23 September 2022), memorial page for Judith Durham (3 Jul 1943–5 Aug 2022), Find a Grave Memorial ID 242366881, citing Springvale Botanical Cemetery, Springvale, Greater Dandenong City, Victoria, Australia; Maintained by Find a Grave.

See also

• Wikipedia contributors. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia: Judith Durham; accessed August 6, 2022.