He was a member, on keyboards and backing vocals, of the pop group, Sherbet (1970–84), and co-wrote both of their number-one singles, "Summer Love" (March 1975) and "Howzat" (May 1976).
"[3] In 1969 Porter was a member of Swellfoot's Assembly while a student at University of Waikato, which included Marion Arts on lead vocals and Paul Baxter on bass guitar.
[5][7] He left that group in the next year and was briefly a member of Toby Jugg, which issued a cover version of Amen Corner's "(If Paradise Is) Half as Nice" as a single in 1970.
[4][5] The group included his former bandmates Braithwaite and Worrall from Samael Lilith, as well as Alan Sandow on drums and Clive Shakespeare on lead guitar and co-lead vocals.
[4][5] Porter's first song writing effort for Sherbet, "One Man Team", was performed in late 1972 and early the next year but "We never recorded it... That was a pop/rock sort of thing I guess.
[1][4][11] Julie Kusko of The Australian Women's Weekly described Porter, in March 1975, as "Tall, and good-looking, he worked in an accountant's office before giving way to music.
"[13] Further Porter and Shakespeare co-written top 10 hits for Sherbet followed: "Life" (August 1975), "Only One You" (November) and "Child's Play (February 1976).
[5] In 1975 Sherbet toured Australia to promote their fourth studio album, Life... Is for Living, their support act were Dalvanius and the Fascinations, a New Zealand-formed soul music band.
[14] After Shakespeare left Sherbet in January 1976, Porter co-wrote mostly with Tony Mitchell (Worrall's replacement on bass guitar) including the group's second number-one hit, "Howzat" (May 1976).
[17][18] Porter told The Australian Women's Weekly's Camilla Beach in November that "I've had two good feelings about it... One was a letter from my mother – she is so proud.
[5][19] Other top 10 singles co-written by Porter with various Sherbet members are "Rock Me Gently" (October 1976), "Magazine Madonna" (June 1977) and "Another Night on the Road" (August 1978).
"[2] He helped launch Lee Kernaghan and co-wrote some of the songs for the live Musical theatre production The Man from Snowy River: Arena Spectacular (which toured Australian capital cities — twice).