In 1963 his family moved to the Sydney beach-side suburb of Coogee where he attended Randwick Boys High School until the end of year 10. He then began a fitter and turner apprenticeship, set up by his father, which he completed in 1969, but decided that this was not the career path for him and decided to pursue a musical career instead. As a teenager he sang in various local pop music groups, first with Bright Lights, in 1967, which included Bruce Worrall on bass guitar. Braithwaite and Worrall were both in House of Bricks and then Samael Lilith.