Darryl Cotton

Darryl Grant Cotton (4 September 1949 – 27 July 2012) was an Australian pop, rock singer-songwriter, television presenter and actor.

As a solo artist Cotton released the albums, Best Seat in the House (1980), It's Rock 'n' Good Fun (1984) and Let the Children Sing (1994).

In 1965 Cotton was the lead vocalist for The Murmen, when he formed a pop rock covers band, Down the Line, with local rivals, Times Unlimited's Gerard Bertelkamp (later known as Beeb Birtles) on vocals and bass guitar, John D'Arcy on guitar and vocals, and Ted Higgins on drums.

[1][2] They entered the South Australian heats of Hoadley's Battle of the Sounds, finishing second in a tense contest to The Masters Apprentices.

[5] In July 1969 they undertook a tour through the eastern Australian states with Ronnie Burns, The Sect and Jon Blanchfield on the bill.

[2] In September Rick Springfield (ex-Wickedy Wak) joined on lead guitar and vocals For Zoot, the national tour brought increased media ridicule, peer envy and scorn from detractors – much of the criticism was homophobic, for their continuing use of pink outfits, where they were described as "pretty pink pansies".

[2] Early in 1970 Zoot finally discarded their pink outfits and attempted to shift their image and music towards heavier rock from the earlier teeny-bopper pop.

[1][2] In December 1970, they released their most successful single, "Eleanor Rigby", which was a hard rock cover version of The Beatles' ballad and by March 1971 it had peaked in the top five.

[1][8] In July 1972 Cotton travelled to the United Kingdom while Birtles joined Mississippi which, in 1975, evolved into Little River Band.

[10] Cotton based himself in Los Angeles where he also worked as a singer and songwriter and performed with Olivia Newton-John, The Osmonds, Shaun Cassidy and Cliff Richard.

At about that time Cotton acted on the Australian soap opera The Young Doctors for one season and followed with another series of Summer Rock in early 1980.

[1] In 1983 Cotton appeared in the lead role of the Australian stage production of Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice's Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.

[11] Darry Cotton Band performed at corporate functions with a repertoire that included music from 1960s pop to 1990s and early 2000s work.

[11] In 2011 Zoot reunited for a short performance cruise out from Miami with the line-up of Cotton joined by Birtles, Brewer and Springfield.