A Harder life:
Popstars panellist Vince Harder talks about his early start in music and what may lie ahead for the local talent show’s winning act, who will be revealed in this week’s final. Sarah Nealon reports.
Popstars judge
opens up.
Vince Harder may not be a household name but the Popstars panellist has had a long and varied career in the music industry here and overseas.
Many people may recognise his vocals from P-Money’s 2008 hit song Everything. That tune went to number one in the New Zealand singles chart.
Other achievements include coming third in the inaugural season of The X-Factor Australia and playing Simba, in an Australian stage production of The Lion King when he was 21 years old.
Harder performed in the musical Jersey Boys here and in Australia. In 2014, for M ori Language Week, he produced the song Aotearoa, which featured singers Stan Walker, Troy Kingi, Ria Hall and Maisey Rika.
Music has always been a big part of Harder’s life.
“I grew up in a Samoan family,” he says. “Both my parents are from the Islands. We grew up in West Auckland initially and got into music because my family’s into music. I had an uncle who could play everything. My mum used to play piano and sing.” When the original Popstars show was on television, Harder was a teenager and in his first year of studying performing arts at tertiary level. For the show’s current incarnation, he brings a wealth of industry experience and expertise. Harder says the act who wins Popstars will have to be prepared to put the work in once the show is over. “You’ve got to have that work ethic after the show,” he says. “Because it’s a lot to write a song and then you’ve got to think about how you want to present that song to the world in terms of video and then (what you want for) a photo shoot for your single and how you want to campaign it and put it out to radio and all that. “So there’s all that side of it that you’ve got to learn. Not everyone is going to walk away with a record deal after this. It’s going to be tough, so if this is something they want to pursue, they’ve got to really think about how they want to do that after the show.”