Prince tribute show coming to city
Multi-instrumentalist and performer Dale Ray will return to New Zealand – this time as part of a Prince tribute show.
The South African musician will travel across the country with an eightpiece band on a national tour starting tomorrow.
Ray said the similar facial traits and stature often made people say he looked like Prince.
“I don’t see it when I look in the mirror, but others do,” he said.
Ray, who played keyboard, saxophone, guitar, piano, keytar and drums, was the first full-time performer in his family he said.
He has worked on television, films and musical theatres, as a director and as a musician.
“The best thing about the job is that it doesn’t get monotonous,” he said.
But impersonating the American singer, who died eight years ago, and playing his music has been his favourite gig ever.
The 34-year-old performer said the Prince tribute show gave him a sense of freedom he has not experienced before on stage.
The last time he came to New Zealand was more than 10 years ago when he was working as a keyboard player on the Michael Jackson and Whitney Houston tribute shows, he said.
“I am really excited to be around the natural beauty of the country, the trees and the mountains,” he said.
The New Zealand leg of the tour followed a tour in the UK last September, and will see Ray take to the stage accompanied by a band of all South Africans.
The show will include all of Prince’s hits, including classics like Purple Rain, 1999, When Doves Cry, Kiss, Raspberry Beret and Cream.
▍ Palmerston North, Regent On Broadway, May 8.