Glyn Tucker Jnr
| Glyn Tucker Jnr | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Background information | |
| Born |
23 July 1943 Wellington, New Zealand |
| Genres | |
| Occupation(s) | Singer-songwriter, musician, producer |
| Associated acts | The Gremlins |
Glyn Tucker Jnr (born 23 July 1943) was a leading figure in the New Zealand music industry for more than twenty years. Following an early career as a singer/songwriter in The Gremlins (1965–1968) he founded Mandrill Recording Studios in Auckland in 1975, and produced and engineered hundreds of New Zealand songs in the late seventies, eighties and early nineties.
Born in Wellington, New Zealand on 23 July 1943, he was named after his father's brother Glyn, who was embarking that same day with the New Zealand armed forces to fight in the Italian campaign against Mussolini and Hitler. The family would call them Big Glyn and Little Glyn. Later in life the elder Glyn would achieve celebrity status as a New Zealand television personality, so Little Glyn became known as Glyn Tucker Jnr during the 1970-80s. He was to become an important and respected pioneer of the New Zealand recording community.
Having learned some elementary piano and violin as a child, Tucker threw that all away when, as a young teenager he was “floored” by the sound of rock 'n' roll. He was inspired by Buddy Holly to be a singer/songwriter.
By 1960, aged 17, Tucker recorded a version of Chuck Berry's “Carol” at Auckland's Stebbings Recording Studio for the Zodiac Label. It had one of his first compositions on the flipside. He then joined new band “The Embers" and worked at the popular teen club The Shirallee. Bandmates were Gary Daverne, Mike Kelly, Keith Graham and Johnny Willets.
After a four year stint as compere/singer at a suburban dance-hall Tucker put together a band to reflect the new beat sound coming out of Britain. During this period he adopted a stage name of Glyn Conway which he kept with his new band The Gremlins. They had a hit with their first record released on Gary Daverne's Viscount label in 1966; “The Coming Generation” made it to #2 on the NZ Top 20, (the #1 was Yellow Submarine by The Beatles.)
The Gremlins were voted as a finalist in the Loxene Gold Disc Awards with that recording in 1966 and again in 1967 with Tucker's composition, “Blast Off 1970”. They toured New Zealand on the “Loxene Gold Disc Spectacular” with other finalists, Mr Lee Grant, Larry's Rebels, Ray Woolf, Sandy Edmonds, The Avengers and Herma Keil. The show played concerts to packed houses in cinemas and theatres all over New Zealand.
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