Growing up I attended St Mark’s School, which surprisingly had a compulsory male performance choir. We performed regularly and had some great choir camps to the middle of nowhere, such as Resolution Bay in the Marlborough Sounds, and the experience made me competitive and confident. At high school I managed to get my colours for music in 4th form and did do a couple of musicals, but I was at a bloke’s school and if you didn’t play rugby you got bullied! In 2010 my dad passed away from a brain tumour. I went through a difficult time and had some counselling and the one real thing I took from the experience was to change and look back on something you really enjoyed doing. I’m an electrician and had been been carrying out maintenance on St Mark’s Church and listening to Global Voices warming up, so a few months after dad’s passing I decided to come down and try out for the group. Global Voices is an extension of my own family, and everyone has their own individual personalities, problems and experiences and of course, senses of humour. Global Voices have always done African music well and the style is one I really love, and I enjoy watching people’s expressions when we sing something really well. I love producing random acts of art at home, helping others, volunteering – including setting up and belonging to a mens’ shed – and watching what my kids get up to next.
