Judith Durham AO, born Judith Mavis Cock was an Australian singer, songwriter and musician who became the lead singer of the Australian popular folk music group the Seekers in 1963.
The group subsequently became the first Australian pop music group to achieve major chart and sales success in the United Kingdom and the United States and have sold over 50 million records worldwide. Durham left the group in mid 1968 to pursue her solo career.
In 1993, Durham began to make sporadic recordings and performances with The Seekers, though she remained primarily a solo performer. On 1 July 2015, she was named Victorian of the Year for her services to music and a range of charities.
Durham was born Judith Mavis Cock on 3 July 1943 in Essendon, Victoria, to William Alexander Cock DFC, a navigator and World War II pathfinder, and his wife, Hazel (née Durham).
From her birth until 1949, she lived on Mount Alexander Road, Essendon, and attended Essendon Primary School.
She spent the summer holidays at her family’s weatherboard house (which since has been demolished) on the west side of Durham Place in Rosebud.
Judith Durham Parents: Meet William Alexander Cock, Hazel Cock
Judith Durham was born to William Alexander Cock (father) and Hazel Cock (mother).
William Alexander Cock was a navigator and World War II, pathfinder.
Her father accepted work in Hobart, Tasmania, in 1949. From early 1950 the family lived in Taroona, a suburb of Hobart, where Durham attended the Fahan School before moving back to Melbourne, residing in Georgian Court, Balwyn, in 1956.
However, little is known about her mother, Hazel Cock.