Darryl Cotton is best known to Australian rock fans as the voice of Zoot in the late 60s and early 70s, and to a generation of Australian kids in the 80s as the co-host of The Early Bird Show (with Marie Van Maaren and Marty Monster!). In between he pursued his music career in both America and at home, working with different groups (including a couple that Australia never heard about) and as a solo act. Sadly Darryl never achieved the same level of success as his old Zoot bandmate Rick Springfield, but he made some worthy records. Following our recent Zoot feature, we look at Darryl’s solo work and with Frieze, Friends, and Cotton, Lloyd & Christian.
When Zoot broke up on 1971, having been stymied in a shot at a U.S. deal thanks to their local label, singer Darryl Cotton and bass player Beeb Birtles formed a soft-rock/pop outfit duo called Darryl and Beeb.
Changing their name to Freize thanks to a sponsorship deal with a jeans company, they released their first single “Feelings” on Sparmac, the same label that had released Rick Springfield’s début solo single, "Speak to the Sky". They then tried out the unlikely name of Darryl & Beeb Freize for the Cotton penned-single “Try Yourself” before releasing their one and only album 1972 B.C. on Warner Bros.
With little interest from radio or old fans, Frieze called it quits. Beeb teamed up with Graeham Goble in Mississippi who would eventually evolve into one of the most successful Australian bands of the 70s – and the one who blazed a trail for Australians in America – the Little River Band. Darryl initially decided to set his sights on the U.K., but before heading to London in July 1972, Warner Bros released a Frieze album track as his first single. Inspired by the death of a friend’s young child, the heartfelt but morose “Why Do Little Kids Have To Die?” was never really likely to get a lot of airplay.
After a short stint in London, Darryl – no doubt cognisant of Rick Springfield’s recent success in the States – moved to L.A. where he formed an outfit named Friends. Darryl’s “friends” were fellow Aussie Steve Kipner (son of Spin/Festival exec Nat Kipner, front man of Steve & The Board, most recently of Bee Gees proteges Tin Tin, and later on composer of ONJ’s “Physical”) and Hollywood producer Michael Lloyd, who was currently riding high on his production of a number of Osmonds hits. Despite being in his early twenties, Lloyd was V.P. of A&R at Friends’ label MGM, so they were assumedly an important act for the label. Friends released a self-titled album in 1973; their cover of the Easybeats’ “Good Times” – retitled “Gonna Have A Good Time” - deserved to be an American hit. It appeared not long after Rick Springfield had cracked the U.S. Top 40 with his first solo album Beginnings, but it was not to be. Sadly, it didn’t generate any interest in Australia either.
With Friends going nowhere, Cotton and Lloyd left to form a trio, Cotton, Lloyd & Christian with another young American producer and songwriter Chris Christian. Cotton, Lloyd & Christian scored two minor U.S. hits – covers of the Del Shannon and Peter & Gordon hit "I Go To Pieces" in 1975 and the Everly Brothers’ “Crying In the Rain” in 1977 - and released two albums before calling it quits.
Darryl must’ve been left wondering what might have been as Michael Lloyd when on to produce Shaun Cassidy and then Leif Garret; Darryl was better looking than both of them! Chris Christian, under the supervision of Robert Kardashian (the Kardashians' father), went on to be the first artist signed to former Casablanca Records’ boss Neil Bogart’s new label Boardwalk. He eventually discovered and managed hugely successful Christian artist Amy Grant.
Neither Cotton Lloyd & Christian album made a dent at home either, but Darryl returned to Australia in 1978, no doubt hoping to pick up where left off with Zoot seven years earlier. But times had changed, and the era of the pop star was waning as the pub scene was taking hold. His first few singles “Don’t Let It Get to You”, “I Don’t Want to Lose You” and “Glamour Girl” failed to hit. In early 1989, he finally cracked the Top 10 with “Same Old Girl”.
With some runs on the board, Darryl was able to release his first solo album Best Seat In the House, produced by his old mate from LA, Chris Christian. The album failed to crack the Top 40 though, and Darryl hit the pub circuit with a band featuring Melbourne stalwarts Joey Armenta (Taste, Russell Morris Band) and Randy Bulpin and Simino Gyllies, both from Mondo Rock.
Despite winning Best Male Performance at the 1980 T.V. Week/Countdown Music Awards, radio wasn’t paying much attention. His 1981 cover of the Bacharach/David tune “Little Red Book”, while capturing the interest in all-things 1960s of the time, barely made a ripple.
Sadly for Darryl, he was probably just too bloody nice for the pub scene – the title of his second album, 1983’s It's Rock 'n' Good Fun was evidence enough of that. The fact the LP was released on the TV-marketed label Hammard didn’t help his credibility in industry circles either. So he started looking for work elsewhere. Having already dabbled in T.V. presenting and bit acting – The Young Doctors - Darryl scored the lead role in the Australian stage production of Webber and Rice's Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat in 1983. In 1985 he joined Marty and Marie on The Early Bird Show.
In 1989 – in confirmation of his nice guy status – Darryl was awarded the Advance Australia Award for his services to the community, acknowledging his support of numerous charities and social organisations. He would eventually return to live music with old mates Ronnie Burns and Russell Morris as Burns, Cotton & Morris, which evolved into Cotton, Keays & Morris when Jim Keays replaced Ronnie. He also formed the Darryl Cotton Band for other live and corporate work.
In 2011, Zoot reformed for a one-off show aboard the Rick Springfield and Friends cruise in the Caribbean. As can be heard and seen on the recently reissued Live – The Reunion CD/DVD set, the reformation found the original group firing on all cylinders, and all involved decided they wanted to do more. If the time seemed right for Darryl to finally receive the recognition he so richly deserved as a rock and pop singer, it was again sadly not to be. Darryl was diagnosed with cancer soon after and passed away 27 July 2012, at the tragically young age of 62.
We’ll finish off with a reminder of just how great Darryl was, up front of Zoot in all their glory, powering out “Eleanor Rigby” in a rarely-seen live clip form 1970. And while you watch it, please consider the shameful fact that Zoot, who were not only a high-quality hit-making act whose music has endured better than most but one which produced several major individual players, has never been inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame. We think it’s time that was redressed.
