Post 335 - Allison Durbin - Holy Man / Letter To Bill

Allison Durbin was born in Auckland in 1950, where she grew up and attended Westlake Girls High. Having started singing at the age of 5, she spent six years with Uncle Tom's Friendly Road Children's Choir. In 1966 Allison teamed up with the Mike Perjanik Band in the studio and released two singles on the Impact label. In October 1966, she and the Mike Perjanik Band moved across the Tasman for a residency at Sydney's Coogee Bay Hotel. After nine months, she left the band to pursue a solo career. Durbin's first HMV release was a cover of Morgana King's "I Have Loved Me A Man". Produced by Howard Gable who she later married. For three years running (1969, 1970 and 1971), she won Australia’s "Queen Of Pop" award for Best Female Artist. In 1971 she recorded a duet album, "Together", with John Farnham, who had been voted Australia's "King Of Pop" during the same years Durbin received her awards. Here to download is Allison's 7th single release, "Holy Man" b/w "Letter To Bill" (DO-9372) on Columbia Records in 1971, produced by Howard Gable. During the 1970s, as her career waned, Durbin began using heroin and her marriage to Gable ended. In 1985 she publicly acknowledged her battle with drugs and sought treatment at Odyssey House, a drug rehabilitation centre, but she was struck by a car just after her release from the centre, which left her with serious injuries, including a broken jaw. After she recovered, her days as a pop singer had passed. She moved into country music with great success. Joining the Hammond label, she produced six albums between 1976 to 1983. None of the Hammond Country albums were ever released in New Zealand, so in 1996 EMI put together a selection of songs from these albums and released a CD called "Country Classics" in New Zealand.