Editing The Seekers (section)

==Early years==
The Seekers were formed in 1962 in Melbourne by [[Athol Guy]] on [[double bass]], [[Keith Potger]] on [[twelve-string guitar]] and [[Bruce Woodley]] on [[guitar]].<ref name="McF"/><ref name="ARDb"/> Guy, Potger and Woodley had all attended [[Melbourne High School (Victoria)|Melbourne Boys High School]] in [[Victoria (Australia)|Victoria]].<ref name="Elder"/><ref name="Miles"/> In the late 1950s, Potger led the Trinamics, a [[rock 'n' roll]] group, Guy led the Ramblers and, joining with Woodley, they decided to form a [[doo-wop]] music group, the Escorts.<ref name="ARDb"/><ref name="Miles"/> The Escorts had Ken Ray as the lead singer and in 1962 they became "The Seekers".<ref name="McF"/> Ray left the group to get married. His place was taken by [[Judith Durham]], an established traditional [[jazz]] singer who added a distinctive female lead voice. She had earlier recorded an extended play disc on [[W&G Records]] with the Melbourne group [[Frank Traynor]]'s Jazz Preachers.<ref name="McF"/><ref name="Miles"/>

Durham and Guy had met when they both worked in an advertising agency – initially Durham only sang periodically with the Seekers, when not performing at local jazz clubs.<ref name="Miles"/><ref name="LongWay"/>  She was replaced in Traynor's jazz ensemble by [[Margret RoadKnight]].<ref name="Miles"/> The Seekers performed [[folk music|folk]]-influenced pop music and soon gathered a strong following in [[Melbourne]].<ref name="McF"/>  Durham's connections with W&G Records led to the group's later signing a recording contract with the label.<ref name="McF"/><ref name="Miles"/> Their debut album, ''[[Introducing the Seekers]]'', was released in 1963. Their debut single, released in mid-1963, was the African American spiritual song "[[Kumbaya]]". Their second single was the traditional historic [[Australia]]n [[bush ballad]] from 1894, "[[Waltzing Matilda]]", which appeared in November and which reached the Melbourne "Top&nbsp;40" singles chart.<ref name="McF"/> and peaked at number 74 on the national chart. When being photographed for the album's cover, Potger was replaced by Ray – his day job with the [[Australian Broadcasting Commission]] (ABC) as a radio producer barred him from involvement in a commercial enterprise.<ref name="Yarrow"/><ref name="Introducing"/>