Union Man’s Aria

Christchurch-born singer Max Merritt, who fronted Max Merritt and the Meteors, will be inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame alongside New Zealand band Dragon. “I didn’t expect it – it was an incredible outpouring of love and it was just fabulous to be the recipient of it,” said the LA-based Merritt. He is best known for his 1976 hit ‘Slippin’ Away’, which reached number two on the Australian charts. In 2007, Merritt’s contemporaries, including Daryl Braithwaite, Jon English and Ross Wilson, raised almost $200,000 at a concert in Melbourne to help the 66-year-old, who suffers from Goodpasture’s Syndrome, a condition that attacks kidneys and lungs, get back on his feet.