The Dukes were a rock

Rock music

Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...

 band from Sydney

Sydney

Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...

, Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

 active in the early 1990s.

Biography

The band were originally called Sean Kelly and The Iron Dukes, but were renamed shortly after to The Dukes. The band was formed by Sean Kelly

Sean Kelly (Australian musician)

Sean Patrick Kelly Born 9 November 1958, is an Australian singer, guitarist and song writer best known as a founding member of the bands Models, Absent Friends and The Dukes.-Biography:...

 (Models

Models (band)

Models were an alternative rock group formed in Melbourne, Australia, in August 1978 and went into hiatus in 1988. They are often incorrectly referred to as The Models. They re-formed in 2000, 2006 and 2008 to perform reunion concerts. "Out of Mind, Out of Sight", their only No. 1 hit,...

) and Geoffrey Stapleton (GANGgajang

GANGgajang

Gang Gajang are an Australian rock band who formed in 1984. The three principal figures in the original lineup were former Riptides frontman Mark "Cal" Callaghan and two former members of popular Australian hard rock band The Angels, bassist Chris Bailey and drummer Graham "Buzz"...

) following their return to Sydney in 1991 after the completion of a European tour, supporting INXS

INXS

INXS are an Australian rock band, formed as The Farriss Brothers in 1977 in Sydney, New South Wales. Mainstays are Garry Gary Beers on bass guitar, Andrew Farriss on guitar/keyboards, Jon Farriss on drums, Tim Farriss on lead guitar and Kirk Pengilly on guitar/sax...

, with their previous band Absent Friends

Absent Friends (band)

Absent Friends were an ARIA Award winning band from Sydney, Australia. The band was relatively short lived, forming in 1989 and disbanding in 1990...

. The original members of the Iron Dukes were Kelly, Stapleton, Michael Arminger (Paul Kelly and the Colured Girls

Paul Kelly (musician)

Paul Maurice Kelly is an Australian rock music singer-songwriter, guitarist, and harmonica player. He has performed solo, and has led numerous groups, including the Dots, the Coloured Girls, and the Messengers. He has worked with other artists and groups, including associated projects Professor...

, The Go-Betweens

The Go-Betweens

The Go-Betweens were an indie rock band formed in Brisbane, Australia in 1977 by singer-songwriters and guitarists, Robert Forster and Grant McLennan. They were later joined by Lindy Morrison on drums, Robert Vickers on bass guitar and Amanda Brown on violin, oboe, guitar, and backing vocals,...

), Michael King (Absent Friends) and John Mackay (Absent Friends

Absent Friends (band)

Absent Friends were an ARIA Award winning band from Sydney, Australia. The band was relatively short lived, forming in 1989 and disbanding in 1990...

). Other band members were bass player Peter Willersdorf, drummer Tony Georgeson, Mark Dennison (DD Smash

DD Smash

DD Smash was a New Zealand pop/rock band formed by Dave Dobbyn after the breakup of Th'Dudes.-Members:Members included Dave Dobbyn , Peter Warren , Rob Guy , both formerly of Lip Service , and Lisle Kinney , formerly of Hello Sailor.-Origin:Originally formed in New Zealand, the band was resident...

) on saxophone and occasional keyboard and Kevin Dubber (DD Smash) on trumpet. In 1992 they signed with Sony Music.

They released a number of singles, with "Gonna Get High" and "Faith" reaching #60 and #28 respectively on the Australian singles charts. In December 1992 the band released its debut and only album, Harbour City, it was co-written and co-produced by Kelly and Stapleton. Stapleton providing paintings for each song for the album booklet and the art work for all of the single and album covers. Harbour City was nominated for an ARIA Award in 1993 for the category 'Best Breakthrough Artist - Album'.

In 1993 they released the EP

Extended play

An EP is a musical recording which contains more music than a single, but is too short to qualify as a full album or LP. The term EP originally referred only to specific types of vinyl records other than 78 rpm standard play records and LP records, but it is now applied to mid-length Compact...

, I Fought The Law, three tracks from which also appeared on the 1993 soundtrack for the Yahoo Serious

Yahoo Serious

Yahoo Serious , born Greg Pead , is an Australian film actor, director and score composer. He is best known for his 1988 comedy Young Einstein. He also created Reckless Kelly in 1993 and Mr. Accident in 2000...

 movie Reckless Kelly

Reckless Kelly

Reckless Kelly is a 1993 Australian comedy film written, directed and starring Yahoo Serious. The story is a satirical take on a modern day Ned Kelly who is forced to Hollywood in order to make enough money to save his family's land. As it goes against his belief, he cannot simply rob banks for...

.

On 23 September 1993 The Dukes performed "Faith" to 250,000 people at Circular Quay, minutes before Sydney was announced as the host city for the 2000 Summer Olympics

2000 Summer Olympics

The Sydney 2000 Summer Olympic Games or the Millennium Games/Games of the New Millennium, officially known as the Games of the XXVII Olympiad, were an international multi-sport event which was celebrated between 15 September and 1 October 2000 in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia...

. The band disbanded in early 1994.

Members

• Mark Dennison - saxophone (1991–1993)
• Kevin Dubber - trumpet (1991–1993)
• Tony Georgeson - drums, percussion (1991–1993)
• Sean Kelly - vocals, guitar (1991–1993)
• Geoff Stapleton - keyboard, guitar (1991–1993)
• Peter Willersdorf - bass (1991–1993)

Singles

• "Gonna Get High" - Sony (August, 1992)
• "Faith" - Sony (December, 1992)
• "Joyeux Noelle" - Sony (1992)
• "Nothing Can Bring Me Down" - Sony (1993)

Albums/EPs

• Harbour City - Sony (December, 1992)
• I Fought The Law EP (1993)

External links

• The Dukes Discography at Music Brainz