Home is where the heart sings

What was it like growing up in New Zealand?

Kiri: My parents left Gisborne when I was around 12 to move to Auckland for my singing [and] by the time I was 21, I was in England, so I didn’t put down roots anywhere in New Zealand. My time in Gisborne was spent playing in the water. My father, Thomas, worked on the roads and my mother, Nell, catered for young students coming in from the country. When we moved to Auckland, we looked over the sea, which was lovely, but by today’s standards our life was very simple.

You travelled to London to study at the London Opera Centre in 1966. What was it like being in the UK during the Swinging Sixties?

I listen to the radio programmes that play the pop music from back then; Van Morrison’s [band] Them singing “Gloria” brings back my first couple of