second lead vocalist, but within a few months Laughlin left, and former bandmate Worrall replaced Rea on bass guitar. Sherbet's second single, "Can You Feel It, Baby?" (September 1971), featured Braithwaite's gritty-but-polished lead vocals and became the group's first national Top-40 hit, on the Go-Set singles chart. According to Australian musicologist Ian McFarlane, Sherbet were "one of the country's biggest bands over the next ten years", and Braithwaite rose to national fame as their lead singer. His soul-influenced vocals and the group's pop styling was heard on a series of singles and albums throughout the 1970s; they provided an additional 19 hits on the national charts in that decade. Early solo career: 1973–1979 Braithwaite started a parallel solo career alongside his work in Sherbet. In March 1973, he played the lead role in the Australian musical theatre production of the Who's rock opera Tommy. In October of the following year, amidst unfounded rumours that he was leaving Sherbet, he issued his debut single, a cover version of "You're My World", which went to No. 1 for three weeks. The song was certified gold and sold over 90,000 copies in Australia by mid-1975. His next single, "Cavalry" (August 1975), was co-written with his Sherbet bandmate Tony Mitchell, which reached No. 13 on the Kent Music Report singles chart. "Cavalry" has been a rarity amongst Braithwaite's hits; like his contemporary John Farnham, most of his charting songs have been interpretations of material written by others. Two more top-20 singles followed, "Old Sid" (written by Warren Morgan) backed with Braithwaite's own song "Time" (April 1976) and "Love Has no Pride" (by Eric Kaz and Libby Titus), backed with "Fly Away" which Braithwaite co-wrote with Morgan (February 1977). His next single was a cover of Ronnie Lane and Steve Marriott's song "Afterglow (Of Your Love)", originally recorded by the Small Faces, in October 1977. At the TV Week King of Pop Awards, he was named King of Pop over the three consecutive years from 1975 to 1977. Braithwaite's solo recordings from 1974 to 1978 appeared only on 7-inch singles. A compilation album of his singles, Daryl Braithwaite... Best Of, was issued in 1978 on Razzle Records/Festival Records. His debut solo studio album, Out on the Fringe, appeared in the following year, at a time when Sherbet had briefly broken up. He recorded that album in the United States with Steve Kipner and Terry Shaddick