Stewie Speer - Later Career

Later Career

In October 1970 Max Merritt & The Meteors finally left for their long-postponed visit to the UK, but as with so many Australian bands of the period, it was mostly hard going for little reward. For Australian fans the highlights of that period were the group's brief returns for triumphant appearances at the Sunbury Pop Festivals in January 1972 and 1973. The Meteors slogged away with regular live work on the London pub circuit, building up a solid following, and they also began to pick up prestigious support slots on national tours by leading groups like Slade and The Moody Blues. However they suffered a major setback in 1974 when manager Peter Raphael suddenly decamped, leaving them stranded with no money and many outstanding debts. Bertles left to play with UK jazz-rock band Nucleus, Speer toured Europe with Alexis Korner, and Merritt was forced to fall back on his old trade and work as a bricklayer.

Max and Stewie put together a new, five-piece Meteors in late 1974, with British musicians John Gourd, Howard Martin Deniz and Barry Duggan. They went back to work on the London pub circuit and became the first act signed to the new UK division of the Arista label. Happily, the resulting album, A Little Easier, became their biggest success to date. An Australian best-seller, it reached #4 in November 1975, with the classic ballad "Slipping Away" reaching #2 in Australia and #5 in New Zealand that same month. Still based in the UK, The Meteors returned to Australia for successful tours in May–June 1976 and February 1977, the latter producing the album Back Home Live, recorded at Melbourne's Dallas Brooks Hall.

In 1978 Merritt broke up The Meteors, retaining only Speer. He signed a new deal with the Polydor label and recorded an album in Nashville, before relocating to Los Angeles, where he was based for many years. In May 1979, Merritt toured Australia with a 12-piece band, and returned in late 1980 for another visit with a band comprising Stewie, Paul Grant (guitar), John Williams (keyboards) and Phil Lawson (bass). This was Max and Stewie's last major tour together.

Stewie Speer returned to live in Sydney in 1980, and he remained active on the local scene, although the health problems stemming from the 1967 car accident affected him increasingly during his last years. He died of a heart attack in Sydney on 16 September 1986, aged 58.