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With this line-up in place, their sound now became a combination of beat and R and B. In 1964 the group was signed to HMV Records and soon the singles started coming. In 1965 they were offered another season with the TV show, but turned it down in favour of going to Australia, like most other New Zealand groups of the time relocating to Sydney. The going was extremely tough as they were suddenly competing with hundreds of other similar groups over there. Dave Diver called it quitsand returned to New Zealand, where he was quickly snapped up by the Countdowns being and replaced in The Librettos by an Australian drummer, Craig Collinge. They were offered an opportunity to record on Ivan Dayman's Sunshine label and two singles eventuated, both of which were flops. At that point Lou Parun decided that it was time to quit, and in April 1966 he returned to New Zealand and retired from the music industry for good. The remaining three looked around for a replacement, but in the end decided to stay as a three piece and relocated to Melbourne where they recorded another single which was their last release, and although it received good airplay in Melbourne, it didn't sell well. When Normie Rowe, who was also with the Sunshine stable, asked Brian Peacock and Rod Stone to join his backing band, The Playboys, for an assault on the British scene, The Librettos ceased to be. In August 1966, they made their last recording, but this remained unreleased until 1997. Normie Rowe's assault was unsuccessful and Rod Stone returned to Australia and joined up with another New Zealander, Peter Williams, from Max Merritt and the Meteors, to form The Groove, while Peacock went on to co-found Procession in 1967 and then had a stint with Gerry and the Joy Band in 1971. These two groups endured reasonable success in Australia during the sixties. Rod Stone is still actively involved in the music industry. |
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