Mark Seymour(I)
- Composer
- Actor
- Music Department
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.