Snowy Fleet, the drummer for The Easybeats, has died at age 79.
Gordon ‘Snowy’ Fleet was co-founder and drummer for The Easybeats with Stevie Wright, George Young, Harry Vanda and Dick Diamonde.
Stevie Wright died in 2015, George Young in 2017 and Dick Diamonde in 2024. Snowy’s replacement Tony Cahill died in 2014.
The Easybeats formed in Sydney in 1964. All five members were from families who migrated to Australia from Europe. The band formed when they were teenagers met while living at the Villawood Migrant Hostel in Sydney.
The young band signed a recording contract with the new company Albert Productions, owned by Ted Albert who family owned the music publishing company J. Albert & Sons.
The band’s first single was ‘For My Woman’.
‘For Your Woman’ was the first of a series of Top 40 hit leading into ‘She’s So Fine’, ‘Wedding Ring’, ‘Sad Lonely and Blue’, ‘Woman’ and Sorry’.
Next came the classic ‘Friday On My Mind’ and The Easybeats hit the UK and American charts (no 6 UK, no 16 USA) in 1966.
Fleet left The Easybeats in 1967. He was married with young children and decided to be with them instead of touring the world. He was replace by Tony Cahill.
In the ABC mini-series about The Easybeats ‘Friday On My Mind’, Fleet was played by actor Arthur McBain (Judy, 2019 and Napoleon, 2023).
After The Easybeats Fleet became a builder and ran a rehearsal studio in the Perth suburb of Jandakot.
Harry Vanda, half of the Vanda and Young songwriting and production team and half of Flash & The Pan with George Young, is now the only surviving members of The Easybeats.
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