Mark Seymour(I)

For 'true' fans of Mark Seymour, the real highlight of one of his concerts, is right at the very end, where he invites the entire audience to join in a sing-a-long with him, of his classic 'Throw Your Arms Around Me'. It becomes apparent right then and there that is truly only one Mark Seymour, one of the true innovators of the Australian music scene. Mark Seymour's story begins around 1956, when he was born in Benalla, Victoria, Australia. Mark always had a passion for music. And in 1981 when Mark formed Hunters and Collectors, one of the greatest bands in Australia's history was born. The Hunters were a strange lot. It was virtually impossible to categorise their music, and whenever someone tagged them as adhering to a specific genre, they would change their musical style once again, not to prove anything to anyone but themselves. Mark Seymour wrote some of the classic Australian drinking songs such as 'When the river runs dry', football match fave 'Holy Grail', hard rockers and slow ballads like 'True tears of joy'. The ironic thing in all of this is that while Mark had an incredible stage presence and was a true blue front man, brother Nick Seymour found far more success as bassist for Crowded House. But there was no sibling rivalry. Mark would never have been happy as a background musician, because he had things that needed to be said, things that only he could say! Hunters and Collectors lasted an amazing 17 years, breaking up in 1998 to sold out farewell concerts across Australia. But Mark, ever prolific, refused to merge back into the shadows like the rest of the band. Three solo albums, a greatist Hunters and Collectors hits package, and writing the music for a film. Mark now has plans to become an actor. His prolific TV appearances include 'The Footy Show', 'Rove Live', 'The Panel' and 'Stingers'. Mark Seymour is truly an Australian icon. It's often commented that Hunters and Collectors were strange because although they claimed to be critical of society, their songs were far too mainstream. But Seymour was never about selling out. His only goal was to sing songs that came from his heart.