NZ music trailblazers recognised
WELLINGTON: Johnny Cooper, Max Merritt, Peter Posa, Dinah Lee, The Chicks and Larry’s Rebels will be inducted into the New Zealand Music Hall of Fame at the Aotearoa Music Awards in November.
Starting in 1955 and through the 1960s and beyond, these artists were trailblazers.
Johnny Cooper began things 65 years ago.
His selfpenned track Pie Cart Rock ‘n’ Roll became the first homegrown rock’n’roll track.
His baton was picked up by Max Merritt, who became a local legend and a spokesman for the rock’n’roll generation.
Merritt and his band The Meteors toured and played on singles by fellow Cantabrian, and New Zealand’s most successful female artist of the ’60s, ‘‘Queen of the Mods’’ Dinah Lee.
The explosion of local talent on stage and the country’s television screens resulted in Lee being joined by the likes of Peter Posa, whose albums of instrumental guitar music inspired a generation of players and sold throughout the world.
Posa discovered sisters Suzanne and Judy Donaldson — their uptempo harmonies were soon to make them household names as The Chicks.
For a country enthralled with the moptops, Larry’s Rebels arrived at the perfect time in the mid1960s with the swagger of Jagger and the growl of The Animals to set teen hearts on fire with their live shows and stage presence.
This year’s inductions are bittersweet, since Cooper, Merritt and Posa are dead.
Presented by New Zealand Music Hall of Fame Trust, the inductions are undertaken in a private ceremony where inductees are given a tapu taonga, in accordance with tikanga Maori.
All six artists inducted this year will be acknowledged with video tributes and live performances at the 2020 music awards, which take place in Auckland on November 15. — RNZ