It is with great sadness that Alberts acknowledges the passing of Gordon ‘Snowy’ Fleet, founding member of The Easybeats, who died in Perth on February 18 aged 84.
The affable English drummer – nicknamed ‘Snowy’ because of his jet-black hair – emigrated to Australia from Liverpool. Newly married and with a young daughter, Fleet and the family travelled as assisted migrants, living first in Melbourne before relocating to Sydney’s Villawood.
It was here that Fleet met his future Easybeats band mates: lead guitarist Harry Vanda, front man and lead singer Stevie Wright, Dick Diamonde on bass, and rhythm guitarist George Young, who was quietly impressed to hear Snowy was up to speed on the Mersey beat emerging from Liverpool.
An established drummer from various Liverpool bands including The Nomads, it was Fleet who suggested the band name The Easybeats, a nod to fellow Liverpudlians, The Beatles, and the name that won the group vote over Vanda’s suggestion of The Starfighters (his own former band).
(From left): George Young, Stevie Wright, Ted Albert, Snowy Fleet, and Harry Vanda receiving an Award for Friday On My Mind.
In 1966, Fleet told popular weekly magazine Everybody’s:
“One night I found a note under my door at the migrant hostel where I was staying. ‘Come and see us’, it read and was signed by Dick. [The boys] had formed a group, playing Shadows’ style music, which in England was nowhere. They seemed good blokes. I didn’t know anyone and in a few weeks they became the only real friends I had. I gradually got them to change their style of music into the type I knew in Liverpool.”
In 1964, The Easybeats signed with Albert Productions and between 1964-69 the band scored multiple hits with songs including Sorry, She’s So Fine, and Friday On My Mind, which earnt them international fame and would go on to be covered by multiple artists including David Bowie. In 2001, it was voted best Australian song of all time by the Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA).
Despite the band’s success, Fleet made the decision to leave in 1967 to spend more time with his family, moving to Perth where he became a builder and ultimately ran the family’s construction company with son Adam in addition to running a rehearsal studio in Jandakot. He was replaced by drummer Tony Cahill.
Sadly, Vanda is the only band member remaining. Diamonde died in September 2024, Young in 2017 and Wright in 2015.
In 2005, The Easybeats were inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame. Fleet attended, along with band mates Wright and Young.
Reflecting on their time together, Harry Vanda tells Alberts he fondly remembers Snowy’s presence in the band – as much for his comic timing as his beat-keeping: “Snowy was the perfect drummer for The Easybeats,” he says, “and [he] was also a comedian who could always make us laugh!”
(Feature image, from left to right: Steve Wright, George Young, Harry Vanda, Snowy Fleet, and Dick Diamonde).
