Another Dead Set Legend from the land of the long white cloud ...

Max Merritt was born in Christchurch in 1941 and formed his band, The Meteors, in 1956. He started performing at a number of Sunday dances organised by his mother. After a couple of years performing part-time (his "real" job was as an apprentice bricklayer), he was arguably the number one music attraction in Christchurch.

In 1959, Max supported Johnny O'Keefe during his New Zealand tour, which led to an opportunity to work in Australia. During the early to mid sixties, Max continued to perform with various line-ups in the Meteors and made his first Australian television performance in 1964 on Johnny O'Keefe's "Sing, Sing, Sing".

By 1967, a more settled version of the Meteors - Stewie Speer, Bob Birtles and John 'Yuk' Harrison - had formed and they started touring parts of Australia. A serious motor vehicle accident near Morwell in Victoria almost cost the band their lives with Max losing his right eye. The music industry got behind Max and the band with two benefit concerts, something that would be repeated almost 40 years later when Max became ill.

Max's biggest commercial success was the 1976 single "Slippin' Away" which made it to number 1 in Australia and number 5 in New Zealand.

Max has been based in the US for many years and in April 2007, was diagnosed with Goodpastures Syndrome, which has left him with total kidney failure. The "Concert For Max" attracted the support of several high profile Australia music legends and raised $200,000 towards providing Max with the care he now requires, including dialysis three times per week.