Dave Dobbyn

All Music Guide:

Dave Dobbyn was one of the New Zealand pop scene's most popular and respected figures, enjoying success that spanned several decades. He first surfaced in mid-1976 as a founding member of Th' Dudes, one of the country's biggest bands of the era; Dobbyn was widely tapped as their breakout star, earning recognition for writing and singing their biggest hit, "Be Mine Tonight." Critical backlash, combined with drug and alcohol problems, ensured that Th' Dudes' success was short-lived, and following the group's 1980 demise, Dobbyn went into seclusion, writing and recording solo material in relative anonymity. A tour playing guitar in Sharon O'Neill's supporting band followed, and in early 1981 his debut solo single, "Lipstick Power," appeared on CBS; it failed to chart, however, as did the follow-up, "Bull by the Horns."

In mid-1981, Dave Dobbyn's Divers -- a band also consisting of ex-Lip Service guitarist Rob "Revox" Guy, drummer Peter "Rooda" Warren, and bassist Lisle Kinney -- made their live debut. After a handful of gigs, they rechristened themselves DD Smash and soon issued their first single, "Repetition"; it quickly reached the Top 25, and led to the 1982 release of the LP Cool Bananas, which entered the charts at number one. After an auto accident, Kinney left the band, and with new bassist Ian Morris, DD Smash resurfaced in 1983 with the hit "Outlook for Tuesday." After a concert LP, Live: Deep in the Heart of Taxes, Dobbyn fired everyone but Warren, recording 1984's The Optimist with session players.

On December 7, 1984, the new DD Smash played a free concert that ended in rioting; Dobbyn was made the scapegoat of the incident, and was tried for inciting the crowd to violence. The charges were eventually dismissed, but Dobbyn's reputation was sorely damaged; in the wake of the trial, he kept a low profile, recording the soundtrack to the animated feature Footrot Flats, and in early 1986 resurfaced fronting a new group dubbed Dave Dobbyn & the Stone People. The solo single "Slice of Heaven" followed, reaching the top of the New Zealand charts. Another single, "You Oughta Be in Love," was also enormously successful, and after extensive touring, Dobbyn finally issued his proper solo debut, Loyal, in 1988. After a handful of singles, he resurfaced in 1993 with Lament for the Numb; Twist was released a year later, followed by 1998’s The Islander, 2000’s Hopetown, 2005’s Available Light, and 2008’s Anotherland.

Wikipedia:

Dave Dobbyn, ONZM (born 3 January 1957) is an award-winning New Zealand musician, singer-songwriter and record producer. In his early career he was a member of the rock group Th' Dudes and was the main creative force in pop band DD Smash. Since then he has released the majority of his recordings as a solo performer.

Musical Career

Th' Dudes (1975-80)

Dobbyn's first success came with rock band, Th' Dudes, which he joined soon after leaving Sacred Heart College in the suburb of Glen Innes, Auckland. The band's hit song "Be Mine Tonight" (1978) won single of the year in 1979 in New Zealand, whilst their song "Bliss" (1980) has become an iconic New Zealand drinking song.

DD Smash (1980-86)

After Th' Dudes disbanded in 1980, Dobbyn formed pop group DD Smash. The band's first release was the single "Bull By The Horns" (1981), thought to be about Dobbyn overcoming the stage fright he sometimes experienced while performing with Th' Dudes. Their first album Cool Bananas (1982) debuted in the New Zealand charts at number one.

After Cool Bananas, DD smash released Deep In The Heart Of Taxes (1983), an album recorded live at Auckland's popular eighties venue Mainstreet. Their final album, The Optimist (1984), although slicker sounding production-wise than it's predecessor, showed signs of compromise with the dominant commercial, Blue-eyed soul inflected, synthpop sound of the post-New Wave era of British and Australian music which was flooding the New Zealand charts at the time. Dobbyn apparently had his eye on the larger Australian market and it was not long before he had a number one solo hit there.

In December 1984, DD Smash were playing an outdoor concert in Aotea Square in Auckland. During their set a power failure led sections of the crowd to become restless. Some of the crowd started throwing beer bottles and police arrested them. The situation escalated and the riot squad was called in. Dobbyn made negative remarks about the police which allegedly spurred on the crowd. The concert was stopped by the police and sections of the crowd rioted, smashing shop windows along Queen Street. Prime Minister David Lange called a commission of inquiry and as a result Dobbyn was charged with inciting a riot. The criminal prosecution against Dobbyn began June 1985. His lawyer successfully defended him and he was acquitted on the charge of "behaving in a manner likely to cause violence against person or property and using insulting language".

When DD Smash eventually disbanded, partially to make room for the commercially expanding vision of Dobbyn, they left behind them the hit singles "Outlook for Thursday" (1983) and the violin-tinged, perennial classic "Whaling" (1984).

Solo career (1986-present)

When DD Smash folded, Dobbyn began a successful solo career, by writing the soundtrack music for the animated feature film Footrot Flats: The Dog's Tale in 1986. The film yielded two hit singles: "You Oughta Be in Love" (1986) and the chart-topping "Slice of Heaven" (1986) recorded with the band Herbs. After the release of the film, Slice of Heaven became one of Dobbyn's best-known songs, frequently used in tourism advertisements aired on Australian television that encouraged people to visit New Zealand. As a result, many Australians jokingly referred to the song as the New Zealand National anthem.

Since 1988 Dobbyn has released seven solo albums and 3 compilations. Solo albums include the Mitchell Froom produced Lament for the Numb (1993), which included members of Elvis Costello's one time backing band. The album was called "un-releasable" by Dobbyns record label at the time and was shelved for a year until its eventual release. Twist was released in 1994 and produced by fellow New Zealander singer-songwriter Neil Finn, whose contribution Dobbyn stated "was crucial to the sound of that record". Twist is also notable for its inclusion of the Maori singer Emma Paki, who was popular in the country at the time of the albums release.

In 1999 Dobbyn joined Jan Hellriegel and Toi Iti to co-write "Read About It", the theme song of the Duffy Books in Homes programme which is still performed by 100,000 children annually.

Dobbyn's hit song "Loyal" (1988) from his debut solo album Loyal (1988) was used as an anthem for Team New Zealand's failed 2003 America's Cup defence. He has also produced albums for Australian singer Grant McLennan and contributed to albums by Jenny Morris, Gyan Evans and Bic Runga. In 2000 Dobbyn toured New Zealand with Runga and Tim Finn. The tour was recorded and the live album, Together in Concert: Live (2000) was released soon after.

In 2005, Dobbyn released his sixth solo album; Available Light. The album received popular and critical acclaim. In the same year Dobbyn performed the lead single from Available Light, "Welcome Home" (2005) at the New Zealand Music Awards awards ceremony. During the performance, Ahmed Zaoui, who was appealing a security certificate issued due to alleged links to terrorist groups, appeared on stage with Dobbyn.

2008 saw Dobbyn release Anotherland his most recent work. The album entered the NZ Top 40 Album Charts at Number 2 and remained in the charts for 6 weeks, eventually attaining Gold status.

Awards

At the 2001 New Zealand Music Awards Dobbyn won a Lifetime Achievement Award. In 2002 he became an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit in recognition of his 'talents and contributions'. In 2005 and 2006 he won "Songwriter Of The Year" and "Best Male Solo Artist" respectively, both for his work on Available Light.

Ten songs written by Dave Dobbyn appeared in New Zealand's Top 100 songs (the Nature's Best series) as voted by APRA members. These were:

Personal life

Dobbyn is a Born again Christian and has, for most of his career, been happily married to long time sweetheart Anneliesje, with whom he has two children Grace and Eli.