Graham Reid | | 1 min read
I'll Cry Tomorrow
The archivist and avid compiler of New Zealand artists' recordings Grant Gillanders has written an excellent and assiduously researched article at audioculture about the remarkable life and career of singer/songwriter Jay Epae, a lightly edited version reproduced as the extensive liner notes for this thorough 29 song (and some soundbite promo pieces) collection.
Epae from Manaia in Taranaki had chart hits in Sweden and Finland, wrote many of his own songs (admittedly in the familiar styles of the rock'n'roll of the late Fifties/pre-Beatles Sixties) and his key single – which was much admired – was The Creep.
The Creep
It was the era of dance crazes (The Stroll, The Pony, The Twist) but The Creep had a brooding almost menacing sound and was as catchy as hell. It was also under two minutes so got plenty of radio play and Teen Beat magazine ran a series of photos of Epae showing how it was done.
Epae also wrote the local classic Tumblin' Down and Maria Dallas' version won the Loxene Gold Disc award in 1966.
Tumbling' Down
That unfortunately was just about the end of Epae's career, a remarkable journey from Manaia to Sydney to New York and Scandinavia and, after time in Australia, back home again.
His first success had come with his original Putti Putti in 1960 – Gillanders traces the songs origins back to the mid-Thirties – and its flipside Hawaiian Melody. It stayed on the Swedish charts for almost a year, was released in seven countries and was much covered by others.
Putti Putti
Helluva way to start a career.
Epae became a prolific songwriter and was an accomplished balladeer, you could imagine a number of his songs in Elvis movies, especially those set in Hawaii.
Surfing on Waikiki
Gillanders is right in saying “Jay Epae is the forgotten voice of New Zealand music” because, unlike some of his lesser peers, he wrote and recorded a lot in his short career.
This collection and Gillanders' story should go some way to rectifying that.
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