Australia has farewelled another influential founder of this country’s pop music scene, with the death of The Easybeats bass guitarist Dick Diamonde
Diamonde was born Dingeman van der Sluijs in Hilversum, the Netherlands in 1947. When he was four the family migrated to Australia, in 1951, living in Villawood in Sydney’s west where Dick would later work on the railways.
It was in the local Villawood migrant hostel that Diamonde met fellow Dutchman and guitarist Johannes Hendrikus Vandenberg (later Anglicised to Harry Vanda) who used to take his guitar and amp into the mess hall. The pair became friends and, after befriending Scotsman and rhythm guitar player George Young, became founding members of The Easybeats alongside English drummer Gordon ‘Snowy’ Fleet and the band’s frontman and lead singer, Stevie Wright, originally from Leeds.
Unlike other bands popular at the time, The Easybeats stood out for their determination to write their own lyrics and music, influenced by the beat sound emerging from the UK.
Within a couple of months of forming in 1965, The Easybeats had been signed to Albert Productions. Their first No 1, She’s So Fine, was released in May 1965 and the hits kept coming: Women, Come and See Her, I’ll Make You Happy and Sorry among them.
Legendary bass guitarist Dick Diamonde (far right) and The Easybeats helped define Australia’s ’60s rock scene
The first record released in the UK, Friday on My Mind (1966), another No 1 hit locally was The Easybeats’ first international hit, helping the band earn its title as Australia’s first rock band to achieve international success. In 2001 Friday on My Mind was voted best Australian song of all time by the Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA).
During a period of 12 months, The Easybeats released four singles, two EPs and two albums, to public and critical acclaim. The trailblazing band’s original sound heralded a new era in Australian music, resulting in an unprecedented, nation-wide cult following for the band, quickly dubbed ‘Easyfever’. The Easybeats would go on to have a profound impact on the music scene in Sydney and beyond, touring London and the US.
The Easybeats ultimately disbanded in 1969, briefly reforming for an Australian tour of capital cities in late 1986.
In 2005 the lead singer of another Alberts band, Billy Thorpe and the Aztecs, had the honour of inducting The Easybeats into the ARIA Hall of Fame. They were the first band to be inducted.
Diamonde’s death was announced on September 22. He was 76. Harry Vanda and Snowy Fleet are the only surviving members of the band, Stevie Wright sadly died in 2015 and George Young in 2017.
