Legendary Australian promoter Michael Chugg was a lifelong friend of Max Merritt, who passed away on 24 September.
At that point Max had just completed ‘I Can Dream’, a labour of love that was built over years.
“Once it started to get to the finished product we hoped Max would still be around,” Chuggi tells Noise11.com. “It was always going to come out. Everybody who involved with it, Wal Bishop, his manager, Jimbo Barton, the producer and Robert Rigby from Ambition, worked really, really hard to get it finished and get it out”.
Chuggi met Max when he was a teenager. “There were a couple of big shows, I was 14 or 15,” Chugg says. “There was one with Billy Thorpe and Screaming Lord Sutch. Thorpie nailed me that night. About three weeks later there was a show with a whole cavalcade of stars of the time on it, Digger Revell, Little Patti. I was sitting there, the second half started and this four piece band walked on stage. The guy had the most amazing voice. I was a big fan of soul music, the Joe Tex’s and the Otis Redding’s, the Sam Cooke’s. Max Merritt and the Meteors walked on stage and they blew my head off. It was right up there with Thorpie. Consqently when I went to Melbourne, those two guys had become very close. I loved Max. He was just a wonderful person”.
Watch the Noise11 interview with Michael Chugg talking about Max Merritt.
Watch the video for ‘I Can Dream Can’t I
Max Merritt ‘I Can Dream’ was released today through Ambition.
