Bygone era on She'll Be Right, East FM from 3pm Saturday

Phil from Farm Cove

Larry Small was a singer entertainer in a not-that-often talked about era in Auckland’s music history – the dinner and dance and big band era, and the night-club show scene in the 1970s, and he’s our featured artist on tomorrow’s She’ll Be Right on Saturdays Show with PJ Taylor, 3-7pm (NZ time, April 29) on East FM.
We’re also talking live at 5pm with motivated Howick College students collecting essential supplies for the Hawke’s Bay relief effort following the devastating Cyclone Gabrielle, and are heading down there to work voluntarily and help out.
Fifty years ago, Larry Small signed a recording contract with Zodiac Records (Stebbings), releasing singles such as Love is Alive (in my Heart), which went top 10 on Auckland’s 1ZB and 1ZM radio station playlists, and was out the same week as John Hanlon’s Damn the Dam single.
We’ll be talking with Larry in-studio from 3.15pm about that special time in Auckland’s entertainment history, and what he did before and has done since, from “starting out drumming in dance bands at age 12 in the Far North”.
“This was followed by switching to guitar and vocals in pop bands when I shifted to Whangarei,” says Larry.
“I then moved to Auckland for university (BA and MA degrees) and got a break to take over from Tom Sharplin as resident singer at Surfside in Milford.
“At the same time I was vocalist for The Arthur Skelton Dance Band Orchestra, performing at midweek dances at the Peter Pan, Mandalay and Orange Ballrooms.”
Larry Small also made television appearances on Happen Inn, Popco, and Hudson & Halls, and won an Entertainer of the Year award in Northland.
He then stepped away from band work and began performing as a solo guitarist singer throughout NZ, Australia and the Pacific Islands, managed under contract by Hegan Entertainment Agency.
Larry Small's single releases can be heard on You Tube.
East FM is East Auckland’s fair-dinkum community-powered public service radio station, on 88.1FM and 107.1FM on local frequencies, nationally and globally at www.eastfm.nz... and on app iHeart Radio.
She’ll Be Right - it’s all about the vibe; it’s all about the groove. And this Saturday, we’re stepping back onto the dance floor of the 1970s. – PJ