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Eddie Rayner
Anthony Edward Charles Rayner (born 19 November 1952) is a New Zealand musician who spent twelve years as a keyboardist in the band Split Enz. He has also played in the groups Orb, Space Waltz, Crowded House, The Makers, The Angels in 1986-1987 and 801. Rayner has released two solo albums. The first, ''Horse'', was an instrumental offering released in 1995, recorded entirely at Rayner's home studio in Melbourne, Australia. The second was entitled ''Play it Straight'', a play on a Philip Judd Split Enz song called ''Play it Strange'' that was a particular favourite of Rayner's during the mid- to late-1970s. The song was not released at the time, but was played live when Judd rejoined the band in 1977. ''Play it Straight'' consisted of re-arranged and re-recorded versions of material gleaned from other New Zealand composers. Rayner's keyboard talents were a notable part of the Split Enz sound. Paul McCartney caught one of their shows in 1979 and became a fan of the band, even ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Neil Finn
Neil Mullane Finn (born 27 May 1958) is a New Zealand singer-songwriter and musician who is known for being a member of Crowded House, Split Enz (which he co-fronted with brother Tim), and Fleetwood Mac. Finn rose to prominence in the late 1970s with Split Enz and wrote many of the band's most successful songs, including " One Step Ahead", " History Never Repeats", " I Got You", and " Message to My Girl". After Split Enz broke up in 1984, Finn founded Crowded House with Split Enz's final drummer Paul Hester in 1985 and served as the band's lead singer. The group achieved international success in 1987 when they released the single " Don't Dream It's Over", written by Finn. After Crowded House disbanded in 1996, Finn and his brother released two albums as the Finn Brothers, before reforming Crowded House in 2006. In April 2018, Finn joined Fleetwood Mac for their forthcoming tour that year. Finn has also recorded several successful solo albums and assembled diverse musician ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Margaret Urlich
Margaret Mary Urlich (24 January 1965 – 22 August 2022) was a New Zealand singer who lived in Australia for most of her career. Urlich's 1989 debut solo album, ''Safety in Numbers'', won " Breakthrough Artist – Album" at the 1991 ARIA Awards. Its 1992 follow-up, '' Chameleon Dreams'', was also a success. Urlich was successful in both New Zealand and Australia, selling over 400,000 albums during her career, ranking her as one of New Zealand's most successful recording artists. She was the cousin of fellow New Zealand singer Peter Urlich. Life and career Urlich began her career as lead vocalist for the new wave band Peking Man with her brother Pat, Tim Calder, Perry Marshall, Jan Foulkes, Neville Hall, John Fearon and Jay F-bula. Peking Man won the 1984 ''Shazam! Battle of The Bands'' (a TVNZ pop show) and had a number of hit songs in New Zealand, including "Good Luck to You" (No. 6), "Lift Your Head Up High" (No. 21) and 1985's " Room That Echoes" (No. 1). Urlich was lat ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Annie Crummer
Anne Crummer (born 1966) is a New Zealand pop singer and songwriter of Cook Islands descent who has seen success in both a solo career and as part of various musical groups. Biography Crummer grew up in West Auckland. Her father, Will Crummer, a Cook Islander, was one of her strongest musical influences. Her mother Tangi is Tahitian. Crummer was a precocious singer, performing at Cook Island nightclubs and shopping mall talent quests. At the age of 9, Will Crummer tried to interest her in piano lessons and took her to singing coach Sister Mary Leo, but Crummer preferred to learn from her father. She attended Avondale High School, leaving at the age of "15 years and two months" to focus on a singing career. She appeared on the TV talent show ''Opportunity Knocks'', won, and released her first single at the age of 16. At the age of 18 Crummer stood out as a guest vocalist in the Netherworld Dancing Toys hit song "For Today", which was Single of the Year at the 1985 New Zealand ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jackie Thomas (singer)
Jackie Thomas (born 18 November 1990) is a New Zealand singer who won the first New Zealand season of ''The X Factor'' in 2013. Competing in the Girls category, she was mentored in the series by Daniel Bedingfield. Her winner's single " It's Worth It" was released on 22 July 2013 and debuted at number one on the New Zealand Music Charts. The song became certified Gold in its first week and eventually reached Platinum by its third week. Early life Jackie Thomas was born in Greymouth in 1990. She has Māori and European ancestry. Her father is of Ngāpuhi descent. She received her education at Greymouth High School. After school, she worked at her father's meatworks in Greymouth before moving to Auckland in January 2013. Prior to entering ''The X Factor'', Thomas had little professional performance experience. ''The X Factor'' Thomas initially attended the Greymouth pre-audition on 11 January 2013, where she was put through to the judges' auditions. At her judges' auditi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The X Factor
''The X Factor'' is a television music competition franchise created by British producer Simon Cowell and his company Syco Entertainment. It originated in the United Kingdom, where it was devised as a replacement for '' Pop Idol'' (2001–2003), and has been adapted in various countries. The "X Factor" of the title refers to the undefinable "something" that makes for star quality.Described as "something you can't quite put your finger on" by Cheryl Cole, a judge on the UK version of ''The X Factor'', ''The Xtra Factor'', 23 November 2009 Similar to ''Got Talent'', the franchise maintains a YouTube channel, called ''X Factor Global''. The channel uploads clips of ''X Factor'' shows from around the world. The channel currently has over 3 million subscribers. Additionally, many individual ''X Factor'' shows have their own YouTube channels such as ''X Factor India''. Format The prize is usually a recording contract, in addition to the publicity that appearance in the later stages ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Emlyn Crowther
Paul Emlyn Crowther (born 2 October 1949 in Dunedin, New Zealand) is the former drummer of Split Enz who performed with the band from July 1974 to November 1976. Before joining the Enz, Crowther played trumpet in an air training corp band but swapped to drums later on. Moved to Auckland in 1969 and played drums in a couple of covers bands and Alastair Riddell's band, Orb. Riddell was at one stage a possible replacement for Phil Judd when he left Split Enz in 1977. As well as drumming on the first two Enz albums, Crowther (by this stage known as Emlyn), was an electronics and live sound expert who also built the synthesizers used on Mental Notes. Crowther invented the Hotcakguitar distortion pedal in 1976, which has openly been used by Neil Finn of Split Enz and Crowded House, Noel Gallagher of Oasis, Hugh Harris of The Kooks, Buzz Osborne of The Melvins, Thurston Moore of Sonic Youth, Stephen Malkmus of Pavement and The Jicks, J Mascis of Dinosaur Jr., Nels Cline of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Geoff Chunn
Geoff Chunn is a New Zealand musician, best known as an early member of Split Enz. Chunn was a teenage friend of Tim Finn. Together the two of them and Chunn's elder brother, Mike Chunn, founded the band Stillwater while at high school in the late 1960s. When Stillwater split up in 1971, Chunn joined acoustic group Rosewood.Dix (1988), p. 154. In late 1972, Mike Chunn was approached by Finn to join his new band, Split Ends, which he duly did. The following year, Geoff joined the band as drummer, staying with the band (called Split Enz from early 1974) until June 1974. Following his departure from Split Enz, Chunn briefly drummed for Dragon in 1974, before forming Citizen Band in 1977 with his brother Mike. Citizen Band saw Geoff Chunn move away from drums to become the group's principal singer, guitarist and songwriter.Dix (1988), p. 196-7. Notes References * Chunn, Mike, ''Stranger Than Fiction: The Life and Times of Split Enz'', GP Publications, 1992. * Chunn, Mike, ''Stran ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mike Chunn
Jonathan Michael Chunn (born 8 June 1952 in London) is a former member of the New Zealand bands Split Enz and Citizen Band. He performed alongside his brother Geoff Chunn in both bands. His musical performing career was cut short due to agoraphobia. Chunn spent eleven years as Director of New Zealand operations for the Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA), retiring from the role at the end of October 2003. He is currently CEO of Play It Strange Trust, which encourages children to try songwriting, and which he founded in April 2004. He has published several books, including the Split Enz biography ''Stranger Than Fiction''. In the 2002 Queen's Birthday and Golden Jubilee Honours, Chunn was appointed an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit, for services to music. He was promoted to Companion of the same order in the 2015 New Year Honours, for services to music and mental health awareness. Chunn has been involved in numerous endeavours, including founding the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
New Zealand Idol
''New Zealand Idol'', also known as ''NZ Idol'', was the New Zealand version of the Idol series originated as the hit British TV series '' Pop Idol''. New Zealand first saw the ''Idol'' format when TV2 aired '' American Idol 2'', which garnered impressive ratings. After ''Australian Idol'' also received good ratings in New Zealand, TVNZ decided to order the first season of ''NZ Idol'', which was broadcast on TV2. After the third season in 2006, TVNZ made a decision not to fund or broadcast a fourth season, thus placing ''New Zealand Idol'' on indefinite hiatus, with no plans to run a fourth season. NZ Idol was produced by South Pacific Pictures in association with Grundy Television and developed by Fremantle Media. Season one The show was hosted by TV presenter Dominic Bowden and the panel of judges consisted of Frankie Stevens, Fiona McDonald and Paul Ellis. The first episode was watched by over 1.15 million viewers. The competition was tough in the final few rounds of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Enzso
ENZSO was an orchestral project started by former Split Enz keyboardist Eddie Rayner. It combines the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra with contemporary pop singers to perform Split Enz songs. History The project began with Eddie Rayner. He wanted something more from the old Split Enz songs, and doing orchestral arrangements seemed perfect. Creating the arrangements on his synthesiser, with help from Dave Woodcock, Eddie approached Mark Keyworth of the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra to ask the orchestra to play his arrangements; Keyworth gladly agreed. With conductor Peter Scholes, the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, Dave Dobbyn, Annie Crummer, Sam Hunt, Neil Finn, Tim Finn and the New Zealand Youth Choir, they recorded and released their first album in 1996 simply titled ''ENZSO''. Again in 1999 ENZSO recorded a second album titled ''ENZSO 2''. A film of the collaboration was made by director Justin Pemberton called ''ENZSO: Dirty Creature''. Discography Albums Singles Re ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
New Zealand Symphony Orchestra
The New Zealand Symphony Orchestra (NZSO) is a symphony orchestra based in Wellington, New Zealand. The national orchestra of New Zealand, the NZSO is an autonomous Crown entity owned by the Government of New Zealand, per the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra Act 2004. It is currently based in the Michael Fowler Centre and has frequently performed in the adjacent Wellington Town Hall before it was closed in 2013. It also performs in Auckland, Christchurch and Dunedin. History A national orchestra for New Zealand was first proposed with the founding of the Radio Broadcasting Company in 1925, and broadcasting studio orchestras operated in major cities from the late 1920s. A national orchestra was formed in 1939 for New Zealand's Centennial Exhibition in 1940. The orchestra became permanent in 1946 in the aftermath of World War II as the "National Orchestra of the New Zealand Broadcasting Service" (by Oswald Cheesman and others); the inaugural concert took place on 6 March 1947. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kiri Te Kanawa
Dame Kiri Jeanette Claire Te Kanawa , (; born Claire Mary Teresa Rawstron, 6 March 1944) is a retired New Zealand opera singer. She had a full lyric soprano voice, which has been described as "mellow yet vibrant, warm, ample and unforced". Te Kanawa had three top 40 albums in Australia in the mid-1980s. Te Kanawa has received accolades in many countries, singing a wide array of works in many languages dating from the 17th to the 20th centuries. She is particularly associated with the works of Mozart, Strauss, Verdi, Handel and Puccini, and found considerable success in portraying princesses, nobility, and other similar characters on stage. Though she rarely sang opera later in her career, Te Kanawa frequently performed in concert and recital, gave masterclasses, and supported young opera singers in launching their careers. Her final performance was in Ballarat, Australia, in October 2016, but she did not reveal her retirement until September 2017. Personal life Te Kanawa wa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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