‘Can’t get much after this’, Sir John says
AS John Rowles sauntered down the aisle at Government House yesterday exhibiting a confident smile and waving proudly, it was hard not to liken him to the King of Rock’n’Roll.
At age 71, the singer’s slickedback hair, pearly white teeth and the reverberation of the lyrics to hit song Cheryl Moana Marie that follow him everywhere unmistakably warrant the title of King of New Zealand pop music.
But King was not the title to be bestowed yesterday, as he joined a cohort of people receiving their Queen’s honours at an investiture ceremony.
Almost 60 years after his music career began, and watched by his two sons, sisters and family, the Kiwi singer knelt in front of GovernorGeneral Dame Patsy Reddy and her partner, Sir David Gascoigne, to be knighted for his services to entertainment.
‘‘It was actually a big surprise,’’ Sir John told told
The New Zealand Herald.
‘‘I’m glad it happened now because I got the OBE in 1979 from Governor [Keith] Holyoake and Rob Muldoon.
‘‘This sort of completes the whole trip — I can’t get much after this. I feel absolutely fantastic,’’ he said.
A brief summary of Sir John’s career included his tours in the United States and the United Kingdom and continued shows in New Zealand, Australia and Hawaii.
He was also part of a Royal Command Performance for
The Queen in 1981.
He performed a farewell tour in 2011 before returning to the stage in 2014 for his ‘‘I’m Back Again’’ Australian tour.
He later released his autobiography, If I Only Had Time, in 2012 and his anthology album of the same name in 2013.
Looking back on the years of performing, he said his mother would be very proud.
‘‘She was so proud with the OBE when I got that, so I can imagine what she would be with the knighthood.
‘‘She protected my OBE medal so much that she hid it away because she was afraid someone might steal it and then when I actually did sell the house, nobody could find it.
‘‘It was up on the top of the kitchen, way up the top by the pot plant,’’ he laughed.
‘‘I think I will hide this one, as I would hate to lose it.’’
But being invested as a knight is not the end of Sir John’s music career. He still performs, records and writes music.
‘‘I’m just going out performing when I want to go out. I have given up the touring night after night. I go out maybe once a fortnight or every three weeks and do really good shows where most of them are full.
‘‘But I am just taking it easy, as you only have so many years to live, so you don’t want to blow it,’’ he said.
Sir John said the last song he wrote was This Show Is For
You.
‘‘The other one is called The Lights Of Te Atatu, which is about Te Atatu and written by a friend of mine.
‘‘I had an association with Te Atatu for many years. I bought my mother a house there in 1970 and lived there for so many years, so I said ‘I am going to record that song’, and I did. We are just putting the icing on the cake at the moment.’’
Despite a long and successful career, he said he still hoped for another hit record.
‘‘I have been trying for a long time but eventually it will come.’’
He said there were many people to credit for helping him get this far.
‘‘The big management agency machine that no artist can really go anywhere internationally without that machine behind them.
‘‘Lots of influences and people like The Platters, The Drifters, The Ink Spots, P.J. Proby, Engelbert
Humperdinck and Tom Jones — they were big influencers for me when I started.
‘‘My two sons, Dane and Blake, my sister Georgina who drove me to my first talent quest back in Kawerau back in the late ’50s, and Cheryl Moana Marie, who is here with her husband.
‘‘And Peter Gormley, my manager. There is a whole list that could go from here to Invercargill.’’ — NZME