Young Elders were an Australian pop rock band formed in 1982. The band released an

extended play An extended play record, usually referred to as an EP, is a musical recording that contains more tracks than a single but fewer than an album or LP record.

, ''Fly Monica Fly'', in 1993, and the lead track was adopted by the tennis player,

Monica Seles Monica Seles (; hu, Széles Mónika, ; sr, Моника Селеш, Monika Seleš; born December 2, 1973) is a retired professional tennis player who represented Yugoslavia and the United States. A former world No. 1, she won nine Grand Slam ...

. In 1999 the group, renamed as The Monicas, released a studio album, ''Celebration'', but disbanded in 2000.

History

Young Elders were formed in Melbourne in 1982 by Phil Hawkins, Chris Heazlewood, Peter Heazlewood and Ross Jackson. For the next eight years they played largely in

contemporary Christian Contemporary history, in English-language historiography, is a subset of modern history that describes the historical period from approximately 1945 to the present. Contemporary history is either a subset of the late modern period, or it is o ...

music circles. They performed at the

National Christian Youth Convention {{Use dmy dates, date=November 2019 The National Christian Youth Convention (NCYC) is a national conference for people aged 16–30 years held by the Uniting Church in Australia every second January. It is held in a different Australian city each ti ...

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in 1987 and were a main-stage artist at Black Stump Music and Arts Festival in 1990. Young Elders crossed over into the secular live music scene in Melbourne in 1991 when they won a round of the

3RRR 3RRR (pronounced "Three Triple R", or simply "Triple R") is an Australian community radio station, based in Melbourne. 3RRR first commenced broadcasting in 1976 from the studios of 3ST, the student radio station of the Royal Melbourne Institut ...

Reel-to-Real competition with the song "Real Town". In November that year Michael Parisi, later head of

Warner Music Australia Warner Music Australia Pty Limited (WMA) is the Australian division of the Warner Music Group. WMA also distributes in New Zealand. History In 1969, Warner Bros. Records branched out and WEA was born. The first country in which it was estab ...

and

Mushroom Records Mushroom Records was an Australian flagship record label, founded in 1972 in Melbourne. It published and distributed many successful Australian artists and expanded internationally, until it was merged with Festival Records in 1998. Festival Mu ...

, described it as a "satisfactory cross between anything Kiwi and

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". The band were assisted by former

Skyhooks Skyhook, sky hook or skyhooks may refer to: Fiction * 'Skyhooks' or 'Skyhooks II', parts 1 and 8 respectively of the Adventure Time Elements (miniseries), Elements miniseries. * ''Sky Hook'', a Hugo-award nominated science fiction fanzine * Sk ...

bass player

Greg Macainsh Gregory John Macainsh (born 30 December 1950) is an Australian former musician and songwriter. He provided bass guitar and backing vocals for pop rockers, Skyhooks from 1973 to 1980 and subsequently for various reformations. According to Austra ...

to record its 1993 four-track extended play, ''Fly Monica Fly''. ''The Melbourne Age'' noted its "sure-handed guitar pop" and "pleasingly bitter-sweet lyrics" and music paper ''Inpress'' noted its "magnificent bright catchy pop songs". The title track, "Fly Monica Fly", was written by Peter Heazlewood for a girlfriend in distress. It came to the attention of prominent tennis player,

, who was recovering from her 1993 stabbing. Seles stated "I received this at a pretty tough time in my life and it was very inspirational and I played it a lot". At the conclusion of the Australian Open in January 1996, Seles met the band which played her a personal rendition. Their meeting was subsequently broadcast by

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...

. In 1999, the band changed its name to The Monicas and released ''Celebration'', with ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first kno ...

'' (Australian edition) noting its "heart-on-sleeve lyrics" and "acoustic-bent pop" The band, described as "one of the most enduring Christian bands in the country" played its final gig at Melbourne's Continental Café in May 2000.

Members

* Phil Hawkins – guitar, vocals (1982–2000) * Chris Heazlewood – bass, vocals (1982–1988) * Peter Heazlewood – lead vocals (1982–2000) * Ross Jackson – drums (1982–2000) * Paul Taylor – bass, vocals(1985–2000)

Discography

* ''Fly Monica Fly'' ( EP, 1993) Disctronics/Studio 52 52CD058 * ''Celebration'' (1999) Blah-Blah-Blah Records BBB0134 (as The Monicas) ;Featured Tracks on compilations * "Flags of Metal" on ''Nu-Music Sampler Series 3'' (Studio 52 records) (1991) * "Fly Monica Fly" on ''Nu-Music Sampler Series 7'' (Studio 52 records) (1997) * "Fly Monica Fly" on ''The Big Backyard'' (1999) (as The Monicas)

References

{{Reflist, colwidth=30em Australian rock music groups Musical groups disestablished in 2000 Musical groups established in 1982 1982 establishments in Australia