Athol Guy

Australian musician and politician

Athol Guy AO
The Seekers in 1965 – Guy at left

Member of the Victorian Legislative Assembly for Gisborne
In office 11 December 1971 – 5 March 1979
Preceded by	Julian Doyle
Succeeded by	Tom Reynolds

Personal details
Born	Athol George Guy (1940-01-05) 5 January 1940 (age 84) Colac, Victoria, Australia
Political party	Liberal
Occupation	Musician, politician
Website	atholguyandfriends.com

Athol George Guy AO^[1] (born 5 January 1940^[2]) is an Australian musician and former politician who was a member of the Australian folk-pop music group the Seekers, for whom he played double bass and sang.

Athol George Guy was born to George Francis Guy (RAN) and Doris Thelma (née Cole) Guy.^[2] He was born in Colac, Victoria and went to Melbourne High School with Keith Potger and Bruce Woodley.

Guy formed The Seekers in 1962 with Keith Potger and Bruce Woodley.^[3] With later addition Judith Durham, The Seekers would have many hits during the 1960s including: I'll Never Find Another You, A World of Our Own, The Carnival Is Over and Georgy Girl; all were written or co-written by Tom Springfield and were each awarded a gold disc.^[4] The Seekers have sold over 50 million records worldwide.^[5]

When the Seekers disbanded in 1968, Guy hosted his own variety series — A Guy Called Athol — on Australia's Seven Network, and later the quiz show Big Nine on the Nine Network.^[6] A guest on one episode of Big Nine was Hutton Gibson, father of actor Mel Gibson.^[7] Guy performed on every Seekers album apart from 1980 A Little Bit of Country, as he had left in 1978 (Guy returned to the Seekers in 1988). Athol now fronts his band "Athol and friends".

Guy was elected to the Victorian Legislative Assembly in a by-election on 11 December 1971 for Gisborne as a member of the Liberal Party.^[2] He served as a member of the assembly until resigning due to ill health on 5 March 1979.^[2]

Discography

References

^ "Hey there, it's the Seekers, AO | the Australian". Archived from the original on 9 June 2014. Retrieved 9 June 2014.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d "Athol George Guy". Re-Member: a database of all Victorian MPs since 1851. Parliament of Victoria. Archived from the original on 23 April 2023. Retrieved 27 August 2022.
^ "Whammo Homepage". web.archive.org. 4 June 2004. Retrieved 15 August 2024.
^ Murrells, Joseph (1978). The book of golden discs. Internet Archive. London : Barrie & Jenkins. ISBN 978-0-214-20512-5.
^ Clancy, Laurie (2004). Culture and Customs of Australia. Greenwood Publishing Group. ISBN 978-0-313-32169-6.
^ A Guy Called Athol (TV Series 1968– ) - IMDb, retrieved 3 April 2023
^ The Big 9 - Athol Guy, 16 June 2017, retrieved 3 April 2023