About Air Supply
Air Supply is a soft rock duo formed in Melbourne, Australia, in 1975, consisting of Englishman Graham Russell and Australian Russell Hitchcock . With record sales of 100 million worldwide, they had a succession of hits worldwide, including eight top-five hits on the US Billboard Hot 100, "Lost in Love" , "All Out of Love", "Every Woman in the World" , "The One That You Love", "Here I Am" , "Sweet Dreams", "Even the Nights Are Better" and "Making Love Out of Nothing at All" . In Australia, they had four top ten placements with "Love and Other Bruises" , "All Out of Love", "Every Woman in the World" and "The One That You Love". Their highest charting studio album, The One That You Love reached number ten in both Australia and the US. The group, which relocated to Los Angeles in the late 1970s, has included many members, with Hitchcock and Russell at the core. The Australian Recording Industry Association inducted Air Supply into their Hall of Fame on 1 December 2013, at the annual ARIA Awards.
Air Supply's founding members met on 12 May 1975, while rehearsing for the Australian production of the musical Jesus Christ Superstar. Chrissie Hammond portrayed Mary Magdalene, while Russell Hitchcock and Graham Russell were in the chorus. With the show they toured Australia and New Zealand for 18 months. In 1958, as a three-year-old, English-born Hammond had migrated to Melbourne with her family, including older sister Lyndsay Hammond, who also became a rock singer. Russell, also English-born, had been a percussionist in United Kingdom group, Union Blues, in 1965. After arriving in Australia in 1968, Russell performed solo and was later a member of Eli Flash with Hammond. Hitchcock left school in 1965 to work as a salesman, also joining a group, 19th Generation, on drums and vocals.
With Hammond and Hitchcock on vocals and Russell on guitar, they formed Air Supply as a harmony vocal group in Melbourne in 1975. When the show's run finished in late 1976, Hammond departed to form a hard rock group, Cheetah, with her sister. Hammond was replaced in the group by Jeremy Paul who provided bass guitar and backing vocals. Paul had joined the cast of Jesus Christ Superstar when it reached Brisbane and continued with the show to New Zealand. According to Paul, the group's name was "indicative of the sound and feeling forming the relationships within the band". The group's first single, "Love and Other Bruises", was released in October 1976 and peaked at No. 6 on the Australian Kent Music Report singles chart. Russell recalled that they had been unable to promote "Love and Other Bruises" while still performing in Jesus Christ Superstar, due to contractual obligations to the show. It was first aired on weekly teen pop music TV show, Countdown in early December 1976. It remains their highest charting single in Australia.
The group followed with their debut album, Air Supply, in December 1976, which reached No. 17 on the Kent Music Report albums chart and achieved gold accreditation for shipment of 20,000 copies. It was produced by Peter Dawkins with the line-up of Hitchcock, Paul, Russell and drummer Jeff Browne, guitarist Mark McEntee, and keyboardist Adrian Scott. Other singles were "If You Knew Me", "Empty Pages" and "Feel the Breeze", but none reached the top 40. McEntee had left Air Supply by the end of 1976 to work as a session musician. In 1980, bandmates McEntee and Paul formed Divinyls alongside Chrissy Amphlett. Air Supply undertook a national tour in support of their debut album with Hitchcock, Paul, Russell and Scott joined by Nigel Macara on drums and Brenton White on guitar. Brenton White rehearsed but did not perform with Air Supply. In April 1977, portions of their music videos for "Empty Pages" and "Do What You Do" were screened on Countdown.
Their second album, The Whole Thing's Started, also produced by Dawkins, was released in July 1977, with White replaced on lead guitar by Rex Goh. The album provided three singles, but neither album nor singles charted in the top 40. In mid-1977, the group supported Rod Stewart during his tour of Australia, and he invited them to continue to the United States and Canada. Mid-tour they worked on their third album, Love & Other Bruises, in Los Angeles from July to August. It included re-recordings of tracks from their previous two albums, with Jimmy Horowitz producing, and was released later that year in the US on Columbia Records. At the end of 1977, Paul left and the line-up of Hitchcock, Macara, Goh and Russell, were joined by Joey Carbone on keyboards, Robin Le Mesurier on co-lead guitar and Howard Sukimoto on bass guitar. Air Supply performed in London supporting Chicago and Boz Scaggs.
Although their music had some commercial success, Russell claimed, on a 1995 DVD, that he and Hitchcock were so poor that they checked the backs of hotel sofas for change so that they could buy bread to make toast. By early 1978, the line-up was Hitchcock, Macara and Russell, with Ken Francis on guitar, Rick Mellick on keyboards and Bill Putt on bass guitar. In April of that year, Russell was considering relocating to Los Angeles: "Even though it's expensive it's the music centre of the world. In Australia you can hit yourself against a brick wall." By mid-1978, only Hitchcock and Russell remained, backed by Ralph Cooper on drums, and former Sailor members Brian Hamilton on bass guitar and vocals and David Moyse on guitar.
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