About Max Merritt
Maxwell James Merritt (30 April 1941 – 24 September 2020) was an Australian-New Zealand singer-songwriter and guitarist who was renowned as an interpreter of soul music and R&B. As leader of Max Merritt & The Meteors, his best known hits are "Slippin' Away", which reached No. 2 on the 1976 Australian singles charts, and "Hey, Western Union Man" which reached No. 13. Merritt rose to prominence in his native New Zealand from 1958 and relocated to Sydney, Australia, in December 1964. Merritt was acknowledged as one of the best local performers of the 1960s and 1970s and his influence did much to popularise soul music / R&B and rock in New Zealand and Australia. Merritt was considered a pioneer of rock in Australasia who produced crowd-pleasing shows for over 50 years. He engendered respect and affection over generations of performers. This was evident at the 2007 Concert for Max which was organised to provide financial support for him after it was announced he had Goodpasture's syndrome, a rare autoimmune disease. The Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) recognised Merritt's iconic status on 1 July 2008 when he was inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame. In 2020, Merritt was inducted into the New Zealand Music Hall of Fame. The US presence provided a greater influence of rock and roll music – young servicemen discovered The Teenage Club and the gravel-voiced young Kiwi singer, Merritt. After reaching Auckland, Merritt's band became the second most popular band in New Zealand behind the Invaders which played a beat pop style while the Meteors tackled rock and roll, soul and R&B. Merritt rose to prominence in New Zealand from 1958 and relocated to Sydney, Australia, in December 1964.
Biography source: Wikipedia. The profile adds birthday-specific historical context from the Celebs Birthday Today editorial database.