Pat McMinn
Pat McMinn
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About Pat McMinn
Pat McMinn (Patricia Stella McMinn, 1926 - 21 March, 2018) was a New Zealand singer. Patty McMinn grew up in Taumarunui. Her parents played at dances around the King Country, father on piano, mother on violin. Her brothers -- who were sixteen and seventeen when she was born -- already had their own dance band. After touring New Zealand as a nine year-old dancer in J. C. Williamson's White Horse Inn company, McMinn continued dancing and singing lessons in Auckland. As a fifteen-year-old from Freemans Bay she sang `Alexander's Ragtime Band' on 1ZB in the children's radio show 'Neddo's Jolly Pirates.' Her grandmother put her name down for a Dixieland vocalist competition where she was the youngest entrant and she won the competition, two nights a week performing at the Trocadero, a block north on Queen Street cabaret at io/6 per night. McMinn would sing several items during the evening and, in the breaks, knit and embroider in the dressing room. Soon she was performing six nights a week with Johnny Madden's band. Among the songs she sang were 'Paper Doll', 'Moonlight Becomes You' and 'I'll Walk Alone'. By day McMinn had been manpowered to work in a Freemans Bay sack factory, after which she taught dancing. The Trocadero gigs included a floorshow in which Pat sang and danced accompanied by the piano-accordionist Toni Savage. McMinn released more than 25 sides for Tanza, including several of the label's biggest hits. . Usually, McMinn's sunny pop songs were accompanied by the honky-tonk piano of Crombie Murdoch. Her first recording was on 'Choo'n Gum', as vocalist for John MacKenzie and the Astor Dixie Boys. Her biggest hit, 1956's 'Opo the Crazy Dolphin', an original composition written by pianist Crombie Murdoch, sold 10,000 copies in its first week. Her other successes included 'Bimbo' (on which she duetted with herself, thanks to Peach's over-dubbing), 'Dancing in My Socks' and 'just Another Polka'. McMinn's success at novelty songs meant she rarely got the opportunity to record adult material, like torch ballads McMinn always sang with a smile, and had the last laugh when a frippery she recorded in just one hour was broadcast every day for nearly 40 years on Auckland radio stations. It was a jingle about false teeth. Pat was the original secretary of the Variety Artists Club of New Zealand from 1968 to 1973. She was the 4th recipient of the Benny Award in 1971 and was presented with a Scroll of Honour in 1993. Pat's lifetime service to entertainment, which included two stints singing and dancing for New Zealand troops in Korea in 1953-54, saw her honoured with an OBE in 1977. She was a life member of the Performing Arts Competitions Society of New Zealand and the Tauranga Tap Dancing Association. Pat started learning Highland dancing at the age of 6 or 7 when New Zealand was in the grip of the Depression. ''Life was fairly dull during the Depression and something like dancing took you away from the mundane parts of life,'' she told the Bay of Plenty Times. The family moved from Taumarunui to Auckland when she was 8 where she continued dancing and entering competitions. Pat had expanded her entertainment skills to singing when, at the age of 15 in 1942, she won a competition to sing at Auckland's Dixieland dance hall. She soon became well known for her voice and attracted large crowds to her performances. During World War II, she worked during the day, taught young dancers in the evening and then headed off to sing at dance halls. ''I would get dressed up in a long frock and sing until midnight - it was a pretty busy time.'' For some, her name would always be associated with the 1956 song Opo the Crazy Dolphin. She recalled the recording session where she lined up on one side of a microphone while three male singers, The Stardusters, were on the other. ''It was all brand new, but we learnt it and recorded it by 1am.'' Children loved the song although its launch was overshadowed by Opo's death. Other popular songs she recorded for Tanza included the Doris Day single Mr Tap Toes and This Ole House. Reputed to be New Zealand's first-ever female recording artist, the music industry rated her as probably the country's busiest vocalist of the early to mid-1950s for concerts and recordings. She even did advertising jingles and children's radio shows.
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