Freshwater
Line-Up:
Murray Partridge (Guitar / Vocals)
Darryl Jacobs (Drums)
Phil Jacobs (Flute / Vocals)
George Limbidis (Bass Guitar)
Milton Parker (Guitar / Vocals)
Freshwater were formed in late 1968 in Wellington when Murray Partridge joined the Phil Jacobs Combo and they changed their name to Freshwater. Milton Parker had previously been with the Relics. Freshwater were predominately a blues band who very early in their life decided that Australia was the place to be. In May 1969 they landed in Australia. George didn't stay long and over the next few months three other New Zealand bass players were used, they being Paul Reid, Peter Roberts and Bill Ryland.
Peter Sheehan joined the group at the end of 1969 and by 1970 the line-up was as follows. Murray Partridge on guitar and vocals, Ian Johnson on vocals, Al Johns on guitar, Peter Sheehan on organ and vocals, Dallas McDermott on bass and Joe Vella on drums. Milton Parker had returned to New Zealand to join Farmyard.
They issued their first single in August 1969 on the W&G label, called "It's In Your Power"/"Together Till The End Of Time" and followed it up with "Son Of A Loving Man"/"People Got To Live Together" in October. This second single was released on the Master label in New Zealand.
After these singles, Freshwater took a different approach and started to play a more progressive style of music along the lines of Cream, Traffic and Blood Sweat and Tears.
In May 1970, the single "Satan"/"Satan's Woman" was released on the Caesar's International label. Sheehan and Partridge each wrote a side of the single. It was based around the Manson Family murder of actress Sharon Tate. Controversial as it was and with calls to have it banned, the single still did well and managed to chart at number 28 on the local Sydney charts.
At the end of 1970, Peter Roberts left the group to join the La De Da's as bass player. This caused a bit of a problem in the group and they had to cancel a planned Queensland tour that was scheduled.
At the start of 1971, Alison McCallum joined as lead vocalist and by September, the line-up had changed again to feature Partridge, McCallum, David Fooks on keyboards, Rod Coe on bass and Tony Bolton on drums. This line-up released one single on the RCA label in November 1971 called "I Ain't Got The Time"/"Hello Sunshine" and it reached number 19 on the Sydney charts.
By the end of the year Freshwater had broken up. McCallum went solo and scored a big hit with a cover of Vanda and Young's "Superman" in 1972. Partridge spent a very short time with Stamp and then went on to form Wolfe with Andrew Parata on guitar and vocals, Norm Roue on slide guitar, Bill Ryland on bass and Steve Webb on drums. This group was short-lived and by the end of 1972, Webb had joined Duck and Roue was with Band Of Light, while Partridge returned to New Zealand where he joined Living Force. Milton Parker joined the Wedge back in Wellington for a short while, before returning to Australia where he put together a band called Tangent, which included Clint Brown, Keith Norris and Dave Brown, all from New Zealand.