80s rock chick returns

Sharon O'Neill is coming home to Nelson this weekend to perform all her old classics. Alice Cowdrey caught up with the singer ahead of her Taste Tasman performance on Sunday.

A smoky haze of poofed-up hair, shark-tooth earrings and the sad demise of a chain-smoking prostitute called Maxine were just a few of the things associated with Nelson-born singer Sharon O'Neill back in the 80s.

More than 25 years later, O'Neill may have had more than one wardrobe overhaul, but people are still wondering about Maxine – the tortured character from her 1983 hit of the same name.

"I used to see her all of the time and gave her that name; I didn't walk up to her and say that I wanted to write a song about her, I never met her, I just observed her," says O'Neill about the days when she lived near the red-light district of Kings Cross in Sydney.

The video clip for Maxine is on YouTube and comments are still being made on the clip by eager fans.

"Shazza was the perfect 80s rock chick," one writes.

"She was drop-dead gorgeous was Sharon, probably still is. I always thought of this vid whenever I visited Kings Cross in Sydney."

Born in Nelson in 1952, O'Neill took over the airwaves on both sides of the Tasman with a string of hits including Words, Asian Paradise and How Do You Talk To Boys.

Now based in Sydney, O'Neill says it will be a bit of a "moment" when she sings all these old classics during her one-hour show on Sunday.

"I love going home and particularly this time, because I get to go home, home. I haven't been back since dad passed away four years ago, so it's an important time all round."

She will be accompanied by an all-Nelson band made up of O'Neill's musical director and partner Alan Mansfield (of Dragon fame), keyboardist Liam Ryan (of The Narcs fame), drummer Chris Pierson, bass guitarist Fraser Campbell, guitarist Brett Holland and backing vocalists Chrissie Small, Kate Holland and Aly Cook.

Cook says the festival is about celebrating local arts and to bring home the most successful artists from the region.

O'Neill will not only play at the festival, but is also a guest at next week's Sounds of Tasman Music Seminar, Cook says.

"It's a solid-packed hour of her hits, it's all the good ones. The band is pumped and amped and looking forward to doing it. It's not every day you get to back a Kiwi iconic artist," Cook says.

O'Neill was a Waimea College girl and first got into a band when her mother spotted an advertisement in the newspaper.

"I had been working at the radio station 2ZN, it was a government-owned station and this band in Christchurch were looking for a female singer. Mum spotted the ad in the paper and said I should audition, so that was that."

She would have been about 19 at the time and the stint in the band Chapta was enough to "dip her toes into the water".

She soon started getting radio play with her music as a solo artist and her record company suggested that it was time for her to spread her wings and move to Australia.

Over the ditch, it was all about cranking out show after show and it wasn't unusual to hit the stage five or six nights in a row. It was nothing to drive down to Melbourne for a night and drive back home the next day, she says. The "bloody gruelling tours" were just what you had to do to make money for the agency and to pay the band.

"That was the way it was in the 80s, it's not like that any more. It was a healthy scene and there was lots of work for everyone."

Since, O'Neill's career has been one of excitment and random opportunities. One of these involved meeting a long-time idol, Michael Jackson. She was in Los Angeles recording the song Take the Fall for her album Foreign Affairs and Black Sabbath had just taken the studio she planned to use. Jackson was there with his producer, Quincy Jones, and O'Neill was getting a coffee when Jackson walked in.

"It was just so lovely. I forget which album he was recording, but nobody knew it was going to be as big as it was, and he was talking really softly and he was really sweet."

She was wearing a belt with a fake raccoon tail and Jackson told her he liked it and asked where she got it.

O'Neill ended up meeting Jackson's personal assistant who invited her to visit his family home.

She remembers the surroundings as pretty surreal and although Jackson wasn't there, she looked at the memorabilia which included a skeleton with a glove on in one corner, a beautiful studio and a llama wandering around.

O'Neill says she will always just remember Jackson as the brilliant musician that he was.

• Taste Tasman is this Sunday at Tasman School. The two-yearly festival also features children's activities, artists, stalls, food and live entertainment. The day runs from 11am to 4pm and entry costs $5 for adults and a gold coin donation for children. The Sounds of Tasman Music Seminar will be next Wednesday at the Nelson School of Music. Sharon O'Neill, Alan Mansfield, Alan Jansson, Liam Ryan as well as representatives from the Australasian Performing Rights Association, Creative New Zealand and the New Zealand Music Commission will be there. Registration is through the Nelson School of Music and fees are $30 for the day, which includes a light lunch, finger food, tea and coffee.

TASTE TASMAN

11.05:Singer Chrissie Small.

11.35: Nelson musician Harmony Aquarian.

12.10: Ruby Bay band The Honeys.

12.35: Muddy Buddies prizes.

12.45: Fashion Parade.

1pm: Auction.

2pm: Nelson band Gecko.

3pm: Sharon O'Neill and her Nelson band.

- © Fairfax NZ News