Stewie Speer - Max Merritt & The Meteors

Max Merritt & The Meteors

Stewie Speer might well have remained a respected but relatively little-known member of the Australian jazz scene had it not been for a series of coincidences that brought him together with Christchurch-born R&B singer Max Merritt. Merritt had risen to the top of the New Zealand pop scene with his band The Meteors before moving to Australia in 1963. After a tough start, the group had enjoyed moderate success in Australia, becoming a popular draw on the Sydney circuit, but by the mid-1960s, with the beat boom starting to fade, their manager Graham Dent wanted to steer them into a career in cabaret. Another enduring problem in the band was its frequent turnover of personnel—many prominent players passed through the ranks in the band's ten-year life to 1966, but none of its lineups lasted more than a year. By the end of 1966 the lineup had (briefly) settled down to long-serving guitarist Peter Williams, bassist Billy Kristian and drummer Bruno Lawrence, but their recording career had stalled and they needed a change of direction to survive.