| The
Rumour
(Band originally from Huntly.)Four members
of ‘The Rumour’, twins Gerard & Shade Smith, Jacques
Koolen and Ross Hindman, taught themselves to play the guitar
& drums in the early 1960’s while in the 4th Form at
Huntly College in the Waikato. They formed a band called The Sapphires
and played for many school dances and local community socials.
In 1966 they changed their name to The Surfires and recorded their
first release at Stebbings Recording Studio in Auckland, called
‘I Can’t Wait for Summertime’ which was given
a lot of airplay, especially on Radio Hauraki.
In 1971 the band moved to Auckland and
became The Rumour. Shade & Gerard began writing more great
songs and they recorded ‘L’Amour et L’Enfante
De La Liberte’ which was a No.1 hit for 6 weeks, followed
by another popular single, ‘Holy Morning.’ They were
also in demand for many concerts & televison appearances,
and won “Studio One” in 1971 with ‘L’Amour
et L’Enfante de La Liberte’. They were the support
act for the Beach Boys and Neil Sedaka for their Auckland shows,
and also toured New Zealand with Cilla Black. They recorded two
albums, ‘Garden of Your Smile’ and the very popular
‘Land of New Vigour and Zeal’ about the first immigrants
to come to this country.
After going their own separate ways for
a few years, they reunited in 1985 for the ‘25 Years of
Television Special’, which was nationally broadcast on TV1
from the Michael Fowler Centre in Wellington. Later, when playing
for Gerard & Shade’s 40th birthday party in an old warehouse
in Auckland, the old 60’s music was a huge success with
everyone jumping up on tables and dancing and cheering at hearing
their favourite songs once again. The Rumour was playing the same
music that originally got them started so successfully back in
Huntly in the 1960’s.
As well as the four original ‘Sapphires’
from Huntly College, the band now includes Barry Rushton (drummer)
from the 60’s band The Kal-q-Lated Risk (from Palmerston
North) and Judy Donaldson, formerly of the popular TV and recording
duo from the 60’s, ‘The Chicks.’ Judy married
Ross, the bass player for The Rumour, in 1971, and the Rumour’s
recording of‘Holy Morning’ was played for the first
time in the church at their wedding.
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PHOTO TO COME
Over the last 20 years or so, the new line-up
of The Rumour has entertained at a variety of Corporate and private
functions in & out of Auckland, including performing at the
first Batman Premiere at St. James’s Theatre, Fashion shows,
as well as various 40th, 50th & 60th Birthday celebrations
and Weddings, and even for a country knees-up in a woolshed at
Puhoi!
They are basically a great party band who love to provide good
music and a fun atmosphere for a really great night.
Both The Rumour , The Chicks and the Kal-Q-Lated
Risk continue to be released on various compilation CD’s
to this day, including a recent release called Golden Kiwis, a
triple CD compilation, which features, Among others, The Rumour
with L’Amour Et L’Enfante De La Liberte, The Chicks
with Miss You Baby, and the Kal-Q-Lated Risk with Looking through
the Eyes of a Beautiful Girl. Shade Smith’s beautiful song,
Sunshine through a Prism, was rerecorded in an updated version
recently by Suzanne Lynch, on her new album, ‘Colour of
Summer.’
Every song played by the group
are "dance floor filling" covers of the best from the
60s and the 70's.
Expect to dance and have a lot of fun.
Ideal For:
wedding
dance, private party, corporate dance function
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