Judy Stone - In My Neighbourhood

               
During the early 1960s, Australian singer Judy Stone (b. 1944) became a regular on television pop show Bandstand, alongside the likes of Col Joye, Bryan Davies, Lucky Starr, Noeleen Batley, Patsy Ann Noble, The Allen Brothers, The Delltones, The De Kroo Brothers, Laurel Lea, Jimmy Hannan and Sandy Scott. Stone's duets with Col Joye were a popular feature of the show. She began touring with Joye and the Joyboys, and then signed a deal with Festival Records.

Stone's first two singles for Festival, `You're Driving Me Crazy'/`It Takes a Lot To Make Me Cry' (June 1961) and `Danger! Heartbreak Ahead'/`You're Driving Me Mad' (August), were minor hits. Her third single, `I'll Step Down'/ `Mommy and Daddy Were Twistin'' (February 1962), took her into the Sydney Top 10 for the first time when it peaked at #5 during March. Stone also issued her debut album for Festival, I'll Step Down, in 1962. `Finders Keepers'/`I'm Confessing that I Love You' (June), `I Wanna Love You'/`Where are You?' (December) and `It Takes a Lot to Make Me Cry'/`I Cried' (July 1963) made minor impressions on the Sydney chart. It was her seventh single, however, that became Stone's most popular release of the 1960s. The heart-wrenching ballad `4,003,221 Tears from Now'/`Hello Faithless' (April 1964) peaked at #8 in Sydney and #7 in Melbourne. The `I Cried' EP (June 1964), plus the singles `Break My Heartache'/`Lonely People Do Foolish Things' (September), `Hard to Say Goodnight'/`Too Much' (December) and `In My Neighbourhood'/`This is My Prayer' (October 1965) were not so successful.

By that stage, Stone had teamed up with Col Joye on a number of recordings, including the EPs `The I's Have It' and `Clap Your Hands', and albums Col and Judy and The Best of Col and Judy, which contained cutesy material like `Young And Healthy', `Angry' and `Side by Side'. In early 1965 she embarked on a two-month Japanese tour with Joye and the Joyboys. A year later, she married Leo De Kroo of The De Kroo Brothers. In September 1966, Stone scored her third Sydney Top 10 hit when a cover of Sandy Posey's `Born a Woman'/ `I Need You' (her first release for Joye's ATA label) peaked at #3. Stone issued five more singles on ATA, `Don't Touch Me'/`So Softly' (February 1967), `And the Trouble with Me is You'/`Lost Without Love' (May), `I Might as Well Get Used to It'/`Love will Always Find a Way' (March 1968) and Janis Ian's `Society's Child'/`I'm Not Your Woman' (March 1969), before moving to the M7 label.