Danny McGirr

ROCKHAPPENZ Public Collection

Danny McGirr - Christchurch country artist and band leader

Daniel McGirr was born in Christchurch on 16 January 1940.  His earliest memories were of his mother singing while playing piano, and his father blowing on a mouth organ or manhandling a squeeze box.  His older sister danced and sang Irish songs and won the New Zealand Rose Of Tralee singing competition whilst his younger sister tap-danced.  Danny sang in the choir and learnt some piano at St Joseph's School.  He was 15 when his mother collected him from his bed and took him to a party across the road where touring Australian Country and Western star Buddy Williams was singing and playing guitar.  It was an epiphany for the youngster, and he soon had a guitar of his own, purchased by his mother from Begg's Music Store.  With nobody around to teach him how to play the instrument, Danny took every opportunity to peer through the hedge of a Maori family down the road who often sang and played guitars.

It didn't take long until the boy was spotted and, once he confessed that he had one of his own - he was encouraged to fetch his guitar and join in, and it was here he learned his earliest chords and a fair bit about harmony singing.  Danny left school with the intention of becoming a jockey, however, after only 12 months he was told he was getting too tall and was turned away from the stables.  While there he wrote one of his most enduring songs, The Jockey's Last Ride, in honour of a couple of boys who were killed while riding.  Back home, he sought solace in music and joined with guitar-playing neighbours Peter and Gerald McMullen to form The Wildcats.  In 1957, they won Trevor King's B Class 300 pound Talent Quest, and by the middle of the year they were being billed as NZ's Elvis Presley Act at the Crystal Palace Theatre.