Marc Alexander Hunter was a
New ZealandNew Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
rock and pop singer best known as the lead vocalist with
DragonDragon is a popular New Zealand rock band, they were formed in Auckland, New Zealand in January 1972 and relocated to Sydney, Australia in May 1975. They were previously led by singer Marc Hunter and are currently led by his brother bass player Todd Hunter...
, a band formed by his older brother
ToddTodd Stuart Hunter is a New Zealand musician and composer known for his involvement in the band Dragon. Their best known songs are "April Sun in Cuba", "Are You Old Enough?", "Still in Love With You", and "Rain"...
in
AucklandThe Auckland metropolitan area , in the North Island of New Zealand, is the largest and most populous urban area in the country with residents, percent of the country's population. Auckland also has the largest Polynesian population of any city in the world...
in 1973.
Born in Taumarunui, Marc joined Dragon in 1974 and the band recorded two albums of
progressive rockProgressive rock is a subgenre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s as part of a "mostly British attempt to elevate rock music to new levels of artistic credibility." John Covach, in Contemporary Music Review, says that many thought it would not just "succeed the pop of...
for
Vertigo RecordsVertigo Records today is a UK-based record label operated by Universal Music UK.-History:Vertigo Records was the name Philips Records chose in the late 1960s for its record sub-label to counter the progressive labels of its rivals EMI with Harvest Records and Decca Records with Deram...
. The band moved to
SydneySydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...
, Australia, in 1975. After suffering the heroin-related death of drummer Neil Storey, Dragon became a pop-rock act and went on to become one of Australia's biggest-selling bands, scoring a number of hit singles and successful albums, most notably 1978's
O Zambezi. In the meantime, Hunter developed a serious heroin addiction. Recklessly outspoken and volatile on-stage, during the band's 1978 US tour supporting
Johnny WinterJohn Dawson "Johnny" Winter III is an American blues guitarist, singer, and producer. Best known for his late 1960s and 1970s high-energy blues-rock albums and live performances, Winter also produced three Grammy Award-winning albums for blues legend Muddy Waters...
he called the audience "faggots" at a show in
TexasTexas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
. The following year, he was fired from the band.
Hunter bounced back immediately with his 1979 solo album
Fiji Bitter spawning the hit single "Island Nights". Two years later the album
Big City Talk and single of the same name were also hits and in 1982 Dragon reformed for a tour, deciding to stay together when the single "Rain" became a hit. The 1984 album
Body and the Beat was a massive hit across Australia and New Zealand and the title track of Hunter's solo album
Communication (1985) was also a moderate hit. During a break between Dragon tours, Hunter joined
The Party BoysThe Party Boys was an Australian rock band with floating membership that existed from 1982 until 1992. Initially established by Mondo Rock bass player Paul Christie as a part-time venture for professional musicians with downtime from other projects, the group has boasted members from acts such as...
for a sold-out national tour, recording the album
You Need Professional HelpYou Need Professional Help was the fourth album by Australian rock band The Party Boys. The line-up for this release was founding members Kevin Borich and Paul Christie, plus Joe Walsh, Dragon vocalist Marc Hunter and former Divinyls drummer Richard Harvey...
.
Dragon split-up once again in 1988 but the break was short-lived and the band was touring again by mid-1989. Hunter and the band continued a mid-level career throughout the '90s with something of an
AORAlbum-oriented rock is an American FM radio format focusing on album tracks by rock artists.-Music played:Most radio formats are based on a select, tight rotation of hit singles...
sound but the singer's years of hard living caught up with him and he was diagnosed with
throat cancerEsophageal cancer is malignancy of the esophagus. There are various subtypes, primarily squamous cell cancer and adenocarcinoma . Squamous cell cancer arises from the cells that line the upper part of the esophagus...
in 1997 and could no longer perform or tour.
Friends immediately rallied round him and
Renee GeyerRenée Rebecca Geyer is an Australian singer who has long been regarded as one of the finest exponents of jazz, soul and R&B idioms. She had commercial success as a solo artist in Australia, with "It's a Man's Man's World", "Heading in the Right Direction" and "Stares and Whispers" in the 1970s and...
organised a benefit concert to raise money for his treatment and provide for his children. The concert, Night Of The Hunter, was held in February 1998 at the
Palais TheatreThe Palais Theatre is a former cinema, now functioning exclusively as a concert venue, located in St Kilda, Victoria, Australia. With a capacity of 2,896 people, it is the largest seated theatre in Australia....
in
St KildaSt Kilda is an inner city suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 6 km south from Melbourne's central business district. Its Local Government Area is the City of Port Phillip...
in Melbourne. It featured leading artists performing classic Dragon songs: "Are You Old Enough" by
Tex PerkinsTex Perkins is an Australian singer-songwriter, who is widely known for fronting the popular Australian rock-band The Cruel Sea, but has also performed with the Beasts of Bourbon, Thug, James Baker Experience, The Butcher Shop, Salamander Jim, and Tex, Don and Charlie. He has also released many...
and friends, Chris Wilson singing "O Zambezi",
Paul KellyPaul Maurice Kelly is an Australian rock music singer-songwriter, guitarist, and harmonica player. He has performed solo, and has led numerous groups, including the Dots, the Coloured Girls, and the Messengers. He has worked with other artists and groups, including associated projects Professor...
and Renee Geyer singing a duet of "I'm Still In Love With You",
SnoutSnout were an Australian independent rock band who were formed in Melbourne in 1991 and disbanded in 2002. They released numerous recordings and were twice nominated for an Australian Record Industry Association Award. Ross McLennan, the founder of the band, has since gone on as a solo artist who...
performing "Rain" and
Men at WorkMen at Work are an Australian rock band who achieved international success in the 1980s. They are the only Australian artists to have a simultaneous #1 album and #1 single in the United States . They achieved the same distinction of a simultaneous #1 album and #1 single in the United Kingdom...
’s
Colin HayColin James Hay is a Scottish-Australian musician, who made his mark during the 1980s as lead vocalist of the Australian band Men at Work, and later as a solo artist.- Early life and Men at Work :...
performing a new song he wrote in Marc's honor. The finale, "April Sun In Cuba" was performed by
John FarnhamJohn Peter Farnham, AO, formerly billed as Johnny Farnham , is an English-born Australian pop singer. He was a teen pop idol from 1964 to 1979, and has since forged a career as an adult contemporary singer. His career has mostly been as a solo artist although he briefly replaced Glenn Shorrock as...
and his band, with Todd on bass. The house erupted when Renee Geyer led Marc onstage and he joined in his signature tune for what proved to be his very last stage appearance.
Another benefit was staged soon after in Sydney, and the Good Vibrations concert proved to be an even more memorable event. The performers included
Glenn ShorrockGlenn Barrie Shorrock is an English-born Australian singer-songwriter. He was a founding member of pop groups The Twilights, Axiom and Little River Band as well as being a solo performer....
,
James ReyneJames Reyne is an Australian rock musician and singer/songwriter both as a member of the iconic 1980s band Australian Crawl and solo work.. He is a successful singer/ songwriter and prolific artist...
,
Ross WilsonRoss Andrew Wilson is an Australian singer-songwriter, guitarist and producer who fronted the groups Daddy Cool and Mondo Rock, and produced albums by Australian band Skyhooks. He has also performed solo, and as a judge on celebrity singing TV series It Takes Two from 2005...
, Todd Hunter, Alan Mansfield, Robert Taylor and
Tommy EmmanuelWilliam Thomas "Tommy" Emmanuel AM is an Australian guitarist, best known for his complex fingerpicking style, energetic performances and the use of percussive effects on the guitar. In the May 2008 and 2010 issues of Guitar Player Magazine, he was named as "Best Acoustic Guitarist" in their...
, and a host of other Oz music legends – Men At Work regrouped for the first time in a decade to perform, and the remaining members of
INXSINXS are an Australian rock band, formed as The Farriss Brothers in 1977 in Sydney, New South Wales. Mainstays are Garry Gary Beers on bass guitar, Andrew Farriss on guitar/keyboards, Jon Farriss on drums, Tim Farriss on lead guitar and Kirk Pengilly on guitar/sax...
performed live for the first time since the death of their lead singer
Michael HutchenceMichael Kelland John Hutchence was an Australian musician and actor. He was the founding lead singer-songwriter of rock band :INXS from 1977 to his death in 1997, a period of twenty years. Hutchence was a member of short-lived pop rock group Max Q and recorded solo material which was released...
;
Peter GarrettPeter Robert Garrett, AM, MP , is an Australian musician, environmentalist, activist and politician.Garrett was lead singer of the Australian rock band Midnight Oil from 1973 until its disbanding in 2002...
and
Jimmy BarnesJames Dixon Swan , better known as Jimmy Barnes, is a Scottish-born Australian rock singer-songwriter. His father Jim Swan was a prizefighter and his older brother John Swan is also a rock singer. It was actually John who had encouraged and taught Jim how to sing as he wasn't really interested at...
duetted on "Dreams of Ordinary Men" and "Speak No Evil". Marc could not attend – he was in Korea undergoing alternative therapy to prepare for a major throat operation, but he sent a letter that was read to the crowd. The concert was taped and a 2CD set was rush-released.
For the last few months of his life, Hunter underwent various forms of treatment including several
alternative medicineAlternative medicine is any healing practice, "that does not fall within the realm of conventional medicine." It is based on historical or cultural traditions, rather than on scientific evidence....
remedies but none were successful and he died in
Kiama-Transport:The town is served by Kiama Station on the South Coast Line. It is served by road in the form of the Princes Highway and the Kiama Bypass.-Attractions:...
on 17 July 1998.
Discography
with Dragon
- Universal Radio (1974)
- Scented Gardens for the Blind
Scented Gardens for the Blind is the second album by New Zealand group Dragon released in March 1975 on Vertigo Records before they relocated to Australia in May. Scented Gardens for the Blind, along with their first album Universal Radio, is in the progressive rock genre—all subsequent...
(1975)
- Sunshine (1977)
- Running Free (1977)
- O Zambezi (1979)
- Dragon's Greatest Hits Vol 1 (1979)
- Body and the Beat (1984)
- Live One (1985)
- Dreams of Ordinary Men (1986)
- Bondi Road (1989)
- So Far: Their Classic Collection (1990)
- Incarnations
Incarnations is an album by New Zealand band, Dragon released in 1995.Incarnations is essentially an unplugged album of re-recorded hits, involving a number of old friends to help put it together....
(1995)
solo
- Fiji Bitter (1979)
- Big City Talk (1981)
- Communication (1985)
- Night and Day (1990)
- Talk to Strangers (1994)
with The Party Boys
- You Need Professional Help
You Need Professional Help was the fourth album by Australian rock band The Party Boys. The line-up for this release was founding members Kevin Borich and Paul Christie, plus Joe Walsh, Dragon vocalist Marc Hunter and former Divinyls drummer Richard Harvey...
(1985)
- The Party Boys Rage Album (1985)
External links