Morocco Salad Trivia Quiz

Answer: Modelling

A very attractive lady, Conway had little difficulty in finding work as a model, an industry that employed her between the ages of eighteen and twenty three. She made notable appearances as the face for Big M (flavoured milk) and Crunchie (Cadbury chocolate bar). An opportunity to be "the" Big M girl passed her by when she refused to shave her armpits. For a period of time her nude backside was used to promote Bluegrass jeans, with the slogan "Get yours into Bluegrass".

In 1980 Conway joined the band Benders, who'd previously released the LP "Picnic at Oakleigh Rotunda" (1979), but the stay was short-lived, with the band breaking up the following year.

Answer: Do Re Mi

After splitting with Benders, Conway and the band's drummer, Dorland Bray, moved to Sydney and formed Do Re Mi. The band signed with Virgin Records and released two albums: "Domestic Harmony" (1985), which peaked at number sixteen on the Australian album charts and "The Happiest Place in Town" (1988), which enjoyed moderate success. A third album was in the works, but this did not eventuate. At this point the band had been dropped by Virgin and Conway was signed as a solo artist by the same company. The events may not have necessarily been in that order.

(Note) The solfège or solfeggio sees syllables assigned to a musical scale; namely do re mi fa so la ti

Answer: Man Overboard

"Man Overboard", a gender equality rant, hit the radio playlists in the mid 1980s, when the majority of stations in the country operated conservatively. It was a brash and "in your face" number, that included lines about pubic hairs and penis envy, and it was a hit, peaking at number five on the Australian singles charts.

Whilst the controversy generated by the song's lyrics helped boost the new band's profile it certainly made it difficult in their negotiations with their label, Virgin Records. As the band's bass player and backing vocalist Helen Carter recalled, in an interview in 2001, "there was a real hit-maker mentality ... people would say 'It can't be a hit - it doesn't have a chorus... You're talking about pubic hair, oh my God!'"

Answer: Pete Townshend

Adapted from a 1968 science fiction story by Ted Hughes, Pete Townshend's musical vision was released in 1989. Conway sang the part of The Vixen and performed the number "I Won't Run Any More" in partnership with Townshend, which was released as one of the promotional singles from the album.

Despite the recording allowing her to work with the likes of Nina Simone and John Lee Hooker, Conway described the project as "ultimately, disappointing"... "The story is such an esoteric one that by the time it had been interpreted in song and then cut down to fit a record company budget, it became a pale version of what it might have been."

Answer: False

The signing with Virgin led to pressure to put forward an immediate release. The consequence was what Conway described as an "awful" record, that never got released. In her words, "Virgin U.S. wisely kept their distance." However, there were valuable lessons here for Conway who admitted that she had no idea what she was doing on this record. The label had endeavoured to turn her into a "dance" singer and she acquiesced. In her words, she was not being honest.

Pete Townshend's "The Iron Man" (1989) project remained her strongest exposure to the North Americans. Conway did manage to get gigs at events such as South-By-Southwest in Austin, Texas but was met with caution by record company executives who saw her as either "weird or not weird enough" (Interview with Anil Prasad, 1997)

Answer: It's Only the Beginning

"String of Pearls" proved to be a new beginning for Conway in a number of ways. A meeting in a café with Syd Straw of The Golden Palominos led to a discussion which opened Conway's eyes to the various possibilities of writing. She would eventually write a song with Straw, "I'm Not the Toughest Girl in the World", which would appear on Straw's 1996 album "War and Peace", but the initial encounter would lead to Conway going away and writing furiously. This also signalled a new freedom in writing for Deborah, not being constrained by a band environment. In a 2018 interview with Double J radio she quoted Mark Seymour, of Hunters and Collectors, about writing in a band environment; "you sort of subsume something of yourself into a larger whole and maybe you are dissipated in the process."

The promotion of this album would see Willy Zygier join Conway's support band. The pair would go in to become partners in writing and in love. The album, which would give Conway a newfound authorial voice, would also earn her an ARIA (Australian Recording Industry Award) for Best Female Artist.

Answer: Nutella

"Bitch Epic" would consolidate Conway as one of Australia's most emblematic singers and provide radio with new sound textures, from the unusual 5/4 beat of the album's first single "Alive and Brilliant" to the loping pop of "Today I'm a Daisy". It would also earn Deborah her second ARIA, this time for best cover art. Smeared in Nutella, a chocolate hazelnut spread by Italian company Ferrero, was Conway's way of having fun at her own expense, though her mother did indicate to her that "a little more mystery might be a good thing".

Answer: Crowded House

Ultrasound was a band made up of Conway, her husband Willy Zygier, Hester and Bill McDonald, formerly a bass player with alternative band Frente. Their 1995 self-titled album was a risky step away from radio friendly pop sounds. It was an experimental record that produced brooding songs of menace, hypnotic soundscapes and the occasional light hearted moments. Due to Conway's pregnant condition there would be no tour to promote the album, no advertising was put forward and, as a result, the album failed to capture the public's imagination.

This was a disappointment to Conway who still views the album with fondness.

Paul Hester, with Neil Finn, was a founding member of Crowded House who'd had a huge hit with their song "Don't Dream It's Over" in 1986. Prior to that he'd been a key member with Split Enz and Deckchairs Overboard. He lived with Deborah Conway in the early 1980s and, apart from the Ultrasound project, he also worked with her as part of the band Rose Amongst Thorns (1990-1991). Sadly, suffering from depression, he would take his own life in 2005, aged 46.

Answer: Patsy Cline

The musical is based on a friendship that Patsy struck with a devotee from Houston named Louise Seger, whom she met in a honky-tonk in Texas. The pair corresponded to each other right up until Patsy's tragic death at the tender age of thirty. Her letters to Louise were always signed off "Love always... Patsy Cline".

Deborah Conway was a perfect fit for the Australian production. She completely inhabited the role and was taken to heart by both critics and the Australian audiences. To accompany the production, she recorded her own idiosyncratic versions of Patsy's best loved numbers and released them in an album entitled "PC The Songs of Patsy Cline".

Answer: They were women

Like the term "sheila", "broad" is a derogatory term for a woman in Australia, however, whether or not that was the thinking behind the name of this adventure by Conway and her husband Willy Zygier is not known - I have strong doubts about that notion. What the programme did do was gather a handful of emerging young female artists on the Australian music scene from various genres and tour the countryside.

The show would consist of performances by the women and, through conversations, they would explore and contribute to each other's music.

There were "Broad" productions conducted in 2005/06/07 and 2008.