China swoons over mum-daughter duo
Celine and Samantha Toner look like an average mother-daughter duo, but in China their singing performances rack up views in the hundreds of millions.
Hailing from Milford, on Auckland’s North Shore, the pair have been performing together as Mo Ghra since 2011.
They have sung their Celtic-Kiwi classics to packed-out theatres, including the Sydney Opera House and the Chinese National Theatre.
However, they have yet to be recognised at home in New Zealand.
The duo’s international success sunk in only after a performance in China last July.
They sang at the opening of Yesanpo, a five-star ski resort south of Beijing.
‘‘It was televised over 15 television channels and online via social media streams and it was viewed by 500 million people; half a billion,’’ Celine Toner said.
Her daughter said the pair were overwhelmed when they found out how many people had viewed the performance online.
‘‘We didn’t realise that was going to be the size of the audience. It was after the fact that we found out that was how many people were tuned into it. It was crazy.’’
‘‘It’s really crazy, it’s hard to get your head around,’’ her mother said. Mo Ghra have toured China twice year since 2011 with manager a Barry Green, who is Celine’s husband and Samantha’s father.
‘‘The audiences in China are so warm and receptive and friendly and they all want to come up and talk to you and get a photo with you,’’ Samantha Toner said.
Prior to 2011, Celine Toner would book gigs herself and her daughter would sing back-up vocals.
That all changed when Celine was invited to perform at the International Nanchang Tattoo in China with the Royal New Zealand Air Force Base Auckland Band.
‘‘The producer said that we reminded him of the Judds, an American country-singing mother-daughter duo from the 1980s,’’ she said.
‘‘He said ‘you guys should sing together’. That’s when we decided we would from then on be a singing duo and we called ourselves Mo Ghra, which means ‘my love’.’’