The Rising Stars

The Radars
Years active	1962–2007
Associated acts	Billy T. James, Rob Guest, Ricky May, John Rowles, Eleanor Wicks
Past members	Ray Lemon Andrew Taylor Neville Taura Harvey Baker Feau Halatau

The Radars were a New Zealand group that was made up of mainly visually impaired musicians. They backed Deane Waretini on his no 1 hit "The Bridge in 1981, and they won the Best Polynesian Album award at the 1983 New Zealand Music Awards. They played mainly around Auckland.

The group was started in or around 1962 by Niuean born drummer, Feau Halatau and four fellow students from the Parnell Institute for the Blind. The first gig they were paid for was a wedding, and according drummer Halatau, they were paid a couple of pounds each. Around November 1966, they were the resident band at a dance hall in the Auckland suburb of Otahuhu. They backed singers Ricky May and John Rowles during their residency at the Picasso club. Their residency lasted until 1967. In 1967, their single, "Don't Get Around Much Anymore" was released on the Zodiac label. During the 60s the group had appeared on television on the talent show Have a Shot.

By the mid-1970s, when their residency at the Gluepot in Ponsonby had come to an end, they had been performing there for seven years.

In 1981, some members from the band, along with former Quincy Conserve trumpet player Kevin Furey backed Deane Waretini on "The Bridge", which was written by George Tait" for Waretini. The song was a number 1 hit in New Zealand. The song, originally released on the Innovation label, and later CBS was credited to Deane Waretini with The Rising Stars. In an article by the New Zealand Herald, the group was possibly erroneously referred to as The Rising Suns. By early 1983, there were just two of the original members left in the band.

Using a tactic first employed by Gary Havoc & The Hurricanes, and then later by Deane Waretini, with Waretini's having the record peddled on the street, they financed their own recording of a single. Like Waretini, they took it to the street to promote and even got family members to sell it. On the 27th of February, their version of "That Lucky Old Sun" entered the N.Z. charts at no 20. It spent 6 weeks in the charts, peaking at no 20. On the 24th of July, their version of "The Banana Boat Song" made it to no 35 and stayed in the charts for a week. In that year, they also won an award for "Best Polynesian Album" at the New Zealand Music Awards.

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