Shane Paul Arthur Hales (born 15 May 1946), known by the stage name Shane and for some of the early part of his career as Trevor Hales, is a New Zealand singer who had several top-10 hits in that country's singles chart in the 1960s and 1970s.

Biography

Shane grew up in

Guildford Guildford () is a town in west Surrey, around southwest of central London. As of the 2011 census, the town has a population of about 77,000 and is the seat of the wider Borough of Guildford, which had around inhabitants in . The name "Guildf ...

Surrey Surrey () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant urban areas which form part of the Greater London Built-up Area. ...

, England, attending Park Barn Secondary School, before moving to Australia and then New Zealand in the mid-1960s. Shane started his career in 1966 as a member of Australian band

The Pleazers The Pleazers were an Australian-formed rhythm and blues musical group which were popular in New Zealand. They began in Brisbane as the G-Men in 1964. They released a sole studio album, ''Definitely Pleazers'', in 1966, before disbanding in the ...

, who spent much of their career in Auckland. Shane was briefly a member of Auckland band The Jamestown Union in 1967 before forming his own band, Shane. This band recorded a single, "The Town of Tuxley Toymaker" in 1968. While playing a gig in 1968, Shane was approached by television producer Kevan Moore to become a regular singer on television pop programme '' C'mon''. Shane accepted, and was a regular feature on the show from its second season on. Shane was taken under the wing of New Zealand pop icon

Ray Columbus Raymond John Patrick Columbus (4 November 1942 – 29 November 2016) was a New Zealand Benny Award-winning singer and songwriter, television host, music manager and entertainer, with a career spanning six decades. As the lead singer of Ray Colum ...

, who became Shane's manager. Several singles were released, among them the Columbus-penned "I'll Take You Back With Me", but they did not trouble the national chart. At the end of 1968, Shane became part of the ''C'mon'' 1968 national tour and became popular enough to be offered a contract by

HMV Sunrise Records and Entertainment, trading as HMV (for His Master's Voice), is a British music and entertainment retailer, currently operating exclusively in the United Kingdom. The first HMV-branded store was opened by the Gramophone Company ...

. A first single, a cover of the

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song "Cuddly Toy" failed to fire, but the follow up, a cover of

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, "Saint Paul", captured the public imagination and flew to the top of the charts, where it stayed for six weeks. The recording won the 1969

Loxene Golden Disc The Loxene Golden Disc was an annual New Zealand music award. It ran from 1965 to 1972. It was superseded by the Recording Arts Talent Awards (RATA). Background The awards launched in 1965 and is the forerunner of the New Zealand Music Awards. It ...

award for best New Zealand record of the year. A follow-up single, "Lady Samantha" also reached the top five. Shane's debut album, ''Rainy Day Man'', was released at the end of the year. A second album, ''Natural Man'', was released the following year, along with two more singles, "Heya" and "Get It Together". Interest began to pick up for Shane internationally, and to cash in on it, Shane embarked on an overseas tour, spending two months in Germany where he shared billing with Andy Kim and Christie. While he was touring, he received word of the death of his fiancée Jan Campbell in a car crash in New Zealand, and flew back home. He used the recording of his third album as catharsis. The album, ''Straight Straight Straight'', included two songs written about Campbell. Shane returned to Europe soon after the album's release, spending most of the rest of the 1970s in and around London, where he formed a new band, Killa-Hz. After a stage accident in 1980 in which Shane broke his pelvis, Killa-Hz disbanded, and after recovering from his injuries he returned to New Zealand in 1981. He continued to record music, with four singles issued in New Zealand between 1981 and 1986. Shane was appointed a

member of the New Zealand Order of Merit The New Zealand Order of Merit is an order of merit in the New Zealand royal honours system. It was established by royal warrant on 30 May 1996 by Elizabeth II, Queen of New Zealand, "for those persons who in any field of endeavour, have ren ...

, for services to entertainment, in the 2017 Queen's Birthday Honours. Shane has continued to perform music regularly into the 2010s and beyond.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Shane 1946 births Musicians from Auckland People from Guildford New Zealand pop singers English emigrants to New Zealand Living people