Holidaymakers was a New Zealand musical group from Wellington. The band scored two top ten hits in New Zealand in 1988, including the number-one single "Sweet Lovers", a cover of the

Bill Withers William Harrison Withers Jr. (July 4, 1938 – March 30, 2020) was an American singer-songwriter and musician. He had several hits over a career spanning 18 years, including "Ain't No Sunshine" (1971), "Grandma's Hands" (1971), " Use Me" (1972) ...

song "

We Could Be Sweet Lovers "We Could Be Sweet Lovers" is a 1985 song written by Bill Withers from his final studio album '' Watching You, Watching Me''. The song is best known in New Zealand as a 1988 one-hit wonder by New Zealand band Holidaymakers, who released their ve ...

". "Sweet Lovers" was released on Pagan Records and was produced by

Nigel Stone Nigel ( ) is an English masculine given name. The English ''Nigel'' is commonly found in records dating from the Middle Ages; however, it was not used much before being revived by 19th-century antiquarians. For instance, Walter Scott published ...

. The song spent six weeks at #1 in summer 1988 and was the highest-selling single in New Zealand in 1988. The follow-up single, "Waiting in the Sunshine", reached #6 in December of that year. At the

New Zealand Music Awards The Aotearoa Music Awards (previously called the New Zealand Music Awards), conferred annually by Recorded Music NZ, honour outstanding artistic and technical achievements in the recording industry. The awards are among the most significant that ...

1988, the group won seven awards. However, the group broke up soon after the release of "Waiting in the Sunshine". Among the band's members was

Pati Umaga Fonotī Pati Peni Umaga is a New Zealand musician known for his compositions and musicianship as a bass guitar player, and significant contributions to the music industry, as well as his advocacy for the Pacific and Disabled communities. He work ...

, who went on to work in composition and music education at Whitireia Polytechnic, and who became an advocate for physical disability after a 2005 accident

paralysed Paralysis (also known as plegia) is a loss of motor function in one or more muscles. Paralysis can also be accompanied by a loss of feeling (sensory loss) in the affected area if there is sensory damage. In the United States, roughly 1 in 50 ...

him.Pati honoured for his work to remove disability stigma
''

Stuff.co.nz Stuff is a New Zealand news media website owned by newspaper conglomerate Stuff Ltd (formerly called Fairfax). It is the most popular news website in New Zealand, with a monthly unique audience of more than 2 million. Stuff was founded in 20 ...

'', 10 January 2012.

References

Musical groups from Wellington New Zealand pop music groups {{NZ-band-stub