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Mahinārangi Tocker

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Mahinārangi Tocker
Tocker at the 2007 Auckland Folk Festival
Tocker at the 2007 Auckland Folk Festival
Background information
Born1955
Died15 April 2008(2008-04-15) (aged 52–53)
Occupations
  • Singer
  • songwriter
Years active1985–2008

Mahinārangi Tocker MNZM (1955[1] – 15 April 2008) was a singer-songwriter from New Zealand. Tocker wrote more than 600 songs in a 25-year career[2] in the jazz fusion folk-pop genre.[3] Her vocal style has been compared to that of Joan Armatrading and Tracy Chapman.[4] She also gave lectures around New Zealand about the use of music and creativity to boost learning and self-esteem, and was an adult literacy tutor, writer and poet.

Biography

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Tocker was born in Taumarunui to Rihitapuwai Rauhihi and Norman Tocker and was of Ngāti Raukawa, Ngāti Tūwharetoa, Ngāti Maniapoto, Jewish and Celtic ancestry.[5][2] Tocker spent much of her life at Glendene in West Auckland.[6]

In the 2008 New Year Honours, Tocker was appointed a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to music.[7]

Tocker died on 15 April 2008 in Auckland's North Shore hospital following a severe asthma attack. She was 52.[8] Her final performance had been at the Titirangi Festival of Music in March 2008.[6] A memorial tree was planted for her at Falls Park in Henderson.[6]

Personal life

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Tocker had a daughter in 1982.[5] Tocker came out openly as a lesbian.[8] She openly talked about her diagnosis with bipolar disorder.[6]

Discography

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Albums [9]

  • 1985 Clothesline Conversation
  • 1987 I'm Going Home
  • 1996 Mahinarangi
  • 1997 Te Ripo
  • 2002 Hei Ha!
  • 2002 Touring (With Charlotte Yates)
  • 2005 The Mongrel in Me

References

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  1. ^ "Mahinarangi Tocker: Singer from the heartland". Dominion Post. 24 April 2008. Retrieved 20 May 2008.
  2. ^ a b Kiran Dass (October 2005). "The Mongrel in Mahinarangi". NZ Musician Magazine. Archived from the original on 18 October 2008. Retrieved 15 April 2008.
  3. ^ Sheehan, Maree (30 December 2021), "Māori women at the forefront of Aotearoa/New Zealand music in the mid 1980s and early 1990s", The Routledge Handbook of Women’s Work in Music (1 ed.), London: Routledge, pp. 289–297, doi:10.4324/9780429201080-29, ISBN 978-0-429-20108-0, retrieved 28 March 2024
  4. ^ "Musician Mahinarangi Tocker dies age 52". New Zealand Herald. 15 April 2008. Retrieved 16 April 2008.
  5. ^ a b Yates, Charlotte (7 March 2019). "Mahinaarangi Tocker aka Mahinarangi Tocker, Mahina-a-rangi Tocker". Audioculture Iwi Waiata. Retrieved 28 March 2024.
  6. ^ a b c d Jahn-Werner, Tara (2009). "The Children of Hauauru". In Macdonald, Finlay; Kerr, Ruth (eds.). West: The History of Waitakere. Random House. p. 356. ISBN 9781869790080.
  7. ^ "New Year honours list 2008". Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. 31 December 2007. Retrieved 1 November 2017.
  8. ^ a b GayNZ.com (April 2008). "Singer/songwriter Mahinarangi Tocker dies". GayNZ.com. Retrieved 19 April 2008.
  9. ^ muzic.net.nz