Bowl service celebrates colourful life

About 500 people farewelled Garry Sharpe-Young in a funeral service at New Plymouth's Bowl of Brooklands yesterday.

The TSB Bowl was a fitting venue, as Mr Sharpe-Young brought several of the world's big-name musical acts to the venue.

Mr Sharpe-Young, 45, who was events manager for the New Plymouth District Council, died suddenly of an aneurism at his home on Friday.

His three children Kerr, Krystan-Grace and Kjaric-Grace Sharpe-Young spoke of a father they loved while Mayor Peter Tennent and district council chief executive Barbara McKerrow remembered a colleague who taught them a thing or two about music.

Mr Sharpe-Young's coffin was adorned with pieces of his art work, a leather jacket, a back stage pass and several pieces of much-loved band paraphernalia before the casket was taken to a private cremation ceremony.

Included in personal tributes read out by restaurateur Terry Parkes, who acted as the master of ceremonies, were messages from several bands Mr Sharpe-Young had worked with including the heavy-metal supergroup Hail made up of Andreas Kisser of Sepultura, Ripper Owens from Judas Priest, David Ellefson formerly of Megadeth, and Paul Bostaph from Slayer.

Mr Sharpe-Young's daughter Krystan-Grace along with her friends sang two songs she had written, including one called Thin Line which she had penned over the weekend about her father, while local musician Rimu Tahuaroa performed Dancing in the Moonlight by Thin Lizzy.

- © Fairfax NZ News