Aussie Biz Mourns

The Australian music biz lost a number of its members.

Sixties teen singer Lynne Randell died of a suspected suicide June 8. In the late ’60s, she toured the U.S. with the Monkees and Jimi Hendrix. In her later life, she battled an addiction to diet pills. She was 57.

Indigenous rock pioneer George Rrurrambu died two days later from bone cancer.

His Warumpi Band, which emerged from the desert, pioneered mixing rock sounds with Aborigine instruments including the didgeridoo and clapsticks.

Midnight Oil signed them to their Powderworks label and took them on a Blackfellas Whitefellas tour of remote Aborigine communities.

The June 8-11 Dreaming festival in Queensland, set up to highlight indigenous culture, unexpectedly showed the crowd another aspect. One of the performers died on site, and was sent off with an hour-long traditional smoking and cleansing ceremony.