12 Mar 2011

Will Crummer

From RNZ Music, 1:30 pm on 12 March 2011

This audio is not downloadable due to copyright restrictions.

Will Crummer grew up winning talent quests in 1950s Rarotonga with his smooth crooning style. In the early 60s he moved to New Zealand to find work and was welcomed into the thriving polynesian music scene in Auckland. He recorded two albums and a couple of EPs for Viking Records, all of which were well recieved, and are still heard on Cook Island radio. The music gene was passed down - Annie Crummer is Will's daughter, and his son David is also a musician who owns a recording studio in Australia. They joined forces with song-writer Arthur Baysting and producer Nick Bollinger to encourage Will to revive and re-record his early repertoire. Nick Atkinson snuck into Roundhead studios to talk to the impeccably dressed South Pacific legend just as Don McGlashan was adding the final touches to a string arrangement for one of Will's more melancholy numbers.

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