jenny morris born in tokoroa, new zealand , grew in hamilton 3 brothers (alistair, rhys , tam) , 4 sisters (maxine, bronte, joanne , shanley). morris wrote poem on vietnam war when 12 , used sister s guitar put music. morris has stated influences include aretha franklin , dusty springfield. first professional performance @ age fifteen, @ andersons theatre restaurant, in hamilton. in 1976 became singer how s father, finalists in national battle of bands . began working home economics teacher 2 years @ high school near wellington. late in 1978 morris joined all-girl group, wide mouthed frogs in wellington, performing lead vocals. fellow members kate brockie on lead vocals, andrea gilkison on guitar, tina matthews on bass guitar, bronwyn murray on keyboards , sally zwartz on drums. in 1979 released track, day compilation album, home grown volume one; day cowritten tony backhouse, guitarist of fellow wellington band, spats, had track, young ladies in hot cars , on compilation.
wide mouthed frogs worked spats members: drummer bruno lawrence played saxophone them , keyboardist peter dasent became musical director. 1980, spats had evolved crocodiles, under mentorship of producer kim fowley, , featured backhouse, dasent, fane flaws (guitar, vocals), mark hornibrook (bass guitar), lawrence, , songwriter arthur baysting. morris asked join , after, hornibrook departed , replaced matthews. crocodiles managed mike chunn (ex-split enz bassist) , regularly performed in auckland. in january 1980 played high-profile sweetwaters music festival , in april year, released debut album, tears, produced glyn tucker jnr, , lead single, tears , both reached number 17 on respective new zealand albums , singles charts.
lawrence left , replaced on drums ian gilroy (ex-whizz kids), flaws left, although continued write material second album. released in november 1980, looking @ ourselves, produced ian morris. year won best group , promising group @ new zealand music awards. line-up went through further changes, gilroy left join swingers, matthews , dasent left. in february 1981, following repeat performance @ sweetwaters festival, crocodiles moved sydney, @ behest of manager, chunn, new band members, barton price (drums), rick rikki morris (guitar) , jonathan zwartz (bass) disband in july. price went on join models. morris explained why crocodiles left:
new zealand not particularly supportive of local music industry. [going australia] people had done before , been successful, decided , maybe information trip.
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