Sherbet Trivia Quiz

Answer: Clive Shakespeare

Clive Shakespeare formed Sherbet with members from three different Sydney bands: Sam See from 'Clapham Junction', Dennis Laughlin from 'Sebastian Hardie Blues Band' and himself, Doug Rae and Danny Taylor from 'Downtown Roll Band. Their first live performance was at The Brookvale oval in Sydney in March of 1969.

Answer: Alan Sandow

Alan was in a band called Daisy Roots when one of the members was called for National Service causing the band to breakup. Around this time, Danny Taylor left Sherbet, leaving them without a drummer. A promoter linked Alan and Sherbet together, and the rest is history.

Answer: Crimson Ships

Sherbet was signed to Festival Record's new 'Infinity' label and released the single 'Crimson Ships' in March of 1970. Soon after this Dennis Laughlin left and was replaced by Daryl Braithwaite. Garth Porter joined Sherbet's ranks in October after Sam See left to join 'Flying Circus'.

This turned out to be fortuitous as Garth formed a song writing partnership with Clive Shakespeare that composed the majority of Sherbet's material.

Answer: Doug Rae

Doug played with the band when it first formed but left almost immediately. Bruce Worrall replaced him but he left in 1972 and was replaced by Tony Mitchell who then stayed with the band until they split in 1984. Roger was the band's manager, although he was a musician before swapping his bass for a briefcase.

Answer: Roger Davies

In 1970, 20-year old Roger Davies was working at a booking agency. He saw Sherbet performing at Jonathon's disco in Sydney and was impressed not only by their attitude to their music, but also by their rapport with the audience. He became their manager soon after.
Sherbet split briefly in 1980 and this is when Roger took up an offer of managing Tina Turner when she was just beginning her comeback. Roger used his experience and skill to guide Tina to a huge career comeback in the 1980's.

Answer: Howzat

'Howzat' gave Sherbet the honour of being the first band to have an overseas hit that was written, recorded and produced entirely in Australia. It made it to number 4 in the UK which prompted a request for them to appear on Top of the Pops. 'Howzat' took the number 1 spot on the Australian charts from ABBA's 'Fernando' which had held the spot for the previous 14 weeks. Sherbet's 'Howzat' album also reached number 1 in Australia, again replacing ABBA.
'Howzat' was recently remastered onto CD and re-released 30 years after both the single and album reached the top of the charts.

Answer: Clive Shakespeare left.

Founding member Clive left citing personal reasons.
Sherbet briefly recruited Gunther Gorman but Harvey James replaced him almost immediately. It also meant that Garth Porter was left as the main songwriter, however Tony Mitchell stepped up as his main assistant. 'Howzat' was the first single released after Clive left.

Answer: Sherbs

RSO records claimed the name Sherbet was too sugary and not sophisticated enough for the image they were trying to promote. Unfortunately, America lost interest pretty quickly and Sherbet split briefly after the work dried up. They rejoined however and returned home in 1980, sans manager Roger Davies, only to find they had been away too long and their teenage fans had deserted them. Under the guise of the Sherbs, they recorded two more albums and one mini album.

Although critically acclaimed and the band personally thought this was some of their best work, it failed both to impress older audiences and also to resurrect their career.

Sherbet split permanently in 1984. However, it is hard to keep a good band down and there were low-key reunions to play at benefits for departed friends Ted Mulry and Wayne 'Swampy' Jarvis.

They also performed on the Countdown Spectacular tour of 2006.

Answer: Hearts Are Insane/Red Dress.

The band reunited to perform as the headline act on the Countdown Spectacular tour of 2006 and they recorded two songs especially for inclusion on a Super Hits CD. Garth Porter had written 'Hearts Are Insane' before the band split in 1984 but it was never recorded.

The second track 'Red Dress' came from a gathering of band members in the Blue Mountains early in 2006. The CD and DVD release date was set to coincide with the Countdown Spectacular.

Answer: Braithwaite, Sandow, Porter, Mitchell, Shakespeare/James

Daryl Braithwaite (vocals), Alan Sandow (drums), Garth Porter (keyboards), Tony Mitchell (bass), Clive Shakespeare (guitar 1969-1976) and Harvey James (guitar 1976-1982).
Daryl has gone on to forge a successful solo career and still tours to this day. Garth is now based in Tamworth and has made a name for himself as a country music producer. He has produced for Australian country singers Lee Kernaghan and Troy Cassar-Daley.