Belinda "Lindy" Morrison OAM (born 2 November 1951[1]) is an Australian musician, activist and social worker originally from Brisbane, Queensland.
She recorded and toured with the band until their first breakup in 1989, drumming on all of their first six albums and singing on the first three, while also working on a number of side projects, including Tuff Monks (with Nick Cave and Mick Harvey), and with Nikki Sudden.
After the Go-Betweens, Morrison continued to work as a drummer but also started to take positions within the music industry, including as an artist representative on the board of the Phonographic Performance Company of Australia,[3] a role she held for nearly three decades.
Her careers in music and social work converged in 1998 when she joined Support Act, a benevolent association for Australian musicians, as their National Welfare Coordinator.
In 2003 and 2004 she tried to enter politics with the Australian Democrats, unsuccessfully standing for seats in the eastern suburbs of Sydney in state and federal elections.
[6][7][8] Morrison completed a Masters in Legal Studies at the University of New South Wales in 2010[9] and has subsequently expanded her writing (much of which has been on her and other women’s experiences in the music industry) to include subjects related to copyright law.
She thinks the boys don’t really know how to count their bars, and they have no real sense of timing or rhythm, so it’s left to Lindy to literally drum it into them.
She thinks that would be too nice, too boring.”[17] Thorn describes Morrison as a transgressive performer, indiscreet and immodest with her legs wide apart, adding: “When she starts hitting the drums, all at once she’s making more noise than anyone else in the room.
That rhythm never ceases to amaze me.”[19] Though born in Sydney, Morrison “grew up in Queensland, the daughter of an eccentric doctor father and a conservative stay-at-home mother”.
]]She attended Somerville House, an independent school for girls in South Brisbane, and then the University of Queensland, where she completed a Bachelor of Social Work in 1972.
Her final-year tutor, responsible for arranging placements for social work students, was Roisin Hirschfeld, a member of the steering committee of the Aboriginal Legal Service (ALS).
"[26] During her time with the ALS, Morrison lived in central Brisbane, sharing a house with indigenous Australians, musicians and the actors Geoffrey Rush and Bille Brown.
The tracks showed that Morrison's "drum abilities, always a deeply underrated part of the band's appeal, fit hand in glove with the arrangements".
[35] The band's first official album, Send Me a Lullaby, produced by the Go-Betweens and Tony Cohen, appeared in February on Missing Link Records in Australia.
[33] It established them as cult favourites while "Cattle and Cane" was released as a single and was "[arguably] the band's absolute highlight of its earliest years".
[19][41] Tallulah (June 1987), produced by The Go-Betweens for True Tone and Beggars Banquet contained their "most winsome and hummable songs, 'Right Here' and 'Bye Bye Pride'"; while Brown's contributions "added extra lustre".
[32] LO-MAX Records released a 2CD version of Tallulah in 2004; one of the bonus tracks, "Doo Wop in 'A' (Bam Boom)" was co-written by Morrison, Brown, McLennan and Forster.
[42] In November 1987, the Go-Betweens returned to Australia and John Willsteed (who had previously played with Morrison in Zero) replaced Robert Vickers on bass.
The alternative radio hit "Streets of Your Town" (July 1988) was the lead single for the band's sixth album, 16 Lovers Lane (August 1988).
In 2008, 16 Lovers Lane was highlighted on Special Broadcasting Service (SBS) TV's The Great Australian Albums series as a classic example of 1980s rock music.
In 2018 Morrison co-produced and played drums on The Charm's debut EP "Invisible" and also began to play with Alexandra Lynn (aka Alex the Astronaut[46]); in 2020 Morrison appeared in Alex The Astronaut's music video for the single "Caught In The Middle" as both a drummer and tennis player[47] and also performed on a live cover of ELO's Mr Blue Sky that was recorded for Triple J's Like A Version, broadcast on ABC TV and released on a compilation album.
[49] In May 2023, Morrison and Snarski released a mini album called Somebody said that Somebody said under the band name of SnarskiCircusLindyBand with Shane O'Mara, Graham Lee and Dan Kelly.
[57] Morrison is the author of a short workbook entitled "Australian women in rock and pop music" and made an hour-long video to accompany it.
Morrison was the Artist in Residence at South Sydney Youth Service (1998–2001) and was employed by TAFE as the head tutor for the music course run by SSYS.