Duncan McGuire

Duncan McGuire
Duncan McGuire at the Record Plant, L.A. in 1975
Background information
Birth name	Duncan Hazlett McGuire
Origin	Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Died	10 July 1989
Occupation(s)	Musician, songwriter, audio engineer, record producer
Years active	1959–1989
Associated acts	The Phantoms, The Statesmen, The Epics, The Questions, Doug Parkinson In Focus

Duncan Hazlett McGuire (? - 10th July, 1989) , was an Australian musician, songwriter, recording engineer and producer. He was associated with vocalist, Doug Parkinson, in various groups during the 1960s and 1970s; McGuire was also a founding member of the jazz fusion band, Ayers Rock from 1973 until he left in 1976. As a bass guitarist he appeared in several of Parkinson's groups including The Questions (1965–68), Doug Parkinson In Focus (1968–1969) and The Southern Star Band (1978–81). He went into music production in the early 1980s, in October 1980 he co-produced and engineered the debut self-titled album by Australian rock band, INXS. He died of a brain tumour in July 1989.

Duncan McGuire's music career began in 1959 with his first band, The Phantoms, in Sydney. By 1963, on bass guitar, he had joined Roland Storm and The Statesmen, which included Storm on lead vocals, Mike Allen on drums, Peter Maxworthy on lead guitar, and Mark Rigney on drums. They recorded two singles, "It's the Stomp" (1963) and "The Swingaroo" (1964) for HMV Records. Without Storm, The Statesmen also recorded two of their own singles for HMV, "Beach Comber" (1963) and "Slow Stompin'" (1964).

In 1964, band member Rigney left The Statesmen and Billy Green (aka Wil Greenstreet) joined on guitar as the group became Roland Storm and The Epics, which recorded a single, "Zip a Dee Doo Dah" (1964), and then became simply known as The Epics when Storm also left. The Epics also issued their own singles, "Caravan" (September 1964) and "Too Late" (June 1965). As a member of The Statesmen or The Epics, McGuire backed Little Pattie live, as well as on her early singles and her first album, as well as backing other artists including Reg Lindsay, Johnny Ashcroft, Bryan Davies, Jay Justin and Johnny O'Keefe.

From late 1965 to 1968 McGuire was the bass guitarist, alongside Green on guitar, in The Questions, which were a "musically substantial bunch" and they released their debut album, What Is a Question?, in October 1966. Australian musicologist, Ian McFarlane, described it as containing "sub-Herb Alpert pastiches [which] failed to chart". Early in 1967 Doug Parkinson joined on lead vocals, it was his first major band, the line up also included Ray Burton on guitar and Doug Lavery on drums – both later joined The Valentines and Axiom – and Rory Thomas on Hammond organ.