Jackie Clarke’s resumé reads like a performer’s ultimate wish list
The depth Jackie Clarke brings to interpretations of songs, cartoon characters’ voices or singing styles of famous divas is fed by pure instinct and joy in her craft. From childhood, her voice has had its way. It’s almost as if it has a personality of its own, fizzing to cut loose at any moment. This versatile voice can personify a cartoon tractor and just as easily switch to sound like Shirley Bassey, Lady Gaga or Judy Garland. She can do powerhouse vocals or pull it right back and fit seamlessly into a vocal-harmony group, such as When the Cat’s Been Spayed in the 1990s, or today’s Lady Killers, where the harmonic fabric is so tight it’s like the weave of a fine silk carpet.
Born in 1966, she grew up in Gisborne with Robyn, her twin, and their older sister, Tracey. Her mother had taken the three girls to the East Coast after she separated from their Samoan father (“a debonair handsome charmer”), who remained in Christchurch. The predominant Māori cultural influence in Gisborne resonated with Jackie’s Polynesian roots. “We grew up feeling like ‘the only Samoans in the village’, but I’ve always had a strong sense of being brown. I’m brown and I’m proud!”
Immersed in that East Coast culture she and Robyn harmonised with whatever music they heard around them and the latest sounds on the radio.
“I grew up with my ear pressed to the radio and I’d be glued to the TV once a week for Ready to Roll and glued again when Radio with Pictures came on. I love songs, love music. When I was 11, ABBA was my life. You’d get an album, read all the lyrics and know every song off by heart. It’s just the way it was. And I knew every word of Jesus Christ Superstar by heart. We had that little tiny suitcase record player and I used to put all four sides on and sing. We could sing the whole thing from beginning to end.”
Her school years were a mix of scratchy beginnings on the violin she was pressed into learning at Waikirikiri Primary and, at Ilminster Intermediate, an obsession with Kate Bush took over. Self-expression rose to the fore at Gisborne Girls’ High School where she wrote and directed a jukebox musical called The Fate of the Funky Foot Formula. (“I just shoehorned songs into a format”), but it was in her high-school band, Marching Orders that things really began to gel.
THe gisborne band Moving Targets introduced her to full-on professional work
The band – Jackie Clarke with Martin Kirk (songwriter, band leader), Russell Braithwaite and Tony Murdoch – had its own momentum, introducing her to full-on professional work. They opened the second day at Sweetwaters in 1984 and worked the pub circuit until they ran out of steam, at which point Jackie changed tack and took up a journalism induction course for Polynesian students. Sent to 4ZA in Invercargill for six weeks she got a taste of newsroom broadcasting. This piqued her interest, but at the time she had her eye on university and enrolled at Victoria to do a history degree with a focus on New Zealand, Australia and the Pacific.
“I love New Zealand history and am still fascinated by the way we see ourselves and choose to frame our stories. That’s constantly changing as people’s awareness changes and their entitlement is challenged.”
At Victoria, opportunities were plentiful. She was involved in student radio and made music with many different people. At one point she followed in the footsteps of good friend Annie Crummer, doing backing vocals and national tours with Netherworld Dancing Toys. She also shared BVs with Annie on tour with Herbs’ Dilworth Karaka and Charlie Tumahai and for a short time in the late 80s, early 90s she sang with Wellington band the Laundrettes (Robyn, her twin, did backing vocals).
There were also four classical strings graduates who had come into her orbit. As Strung Out, they wanted to test other waters and with Jackie on vocals they explored the pop canon, doing arrangements of such Kiwi classics as Th’ Dudes’ ‘Be Mine Tonight’. (Strung Out’s cello player, Janet Holborow, is the current mayor of the Kāpiti Coast.)
While at university, Jackie, Charlotte Yates and Robin Nathan formed When the Cat’s Been Spayed, with Charlotte on guitar, Robin on congas, ukulele and percussion, and Jackie on melodica and percussion. Also known as the “high priestesses of schlock”, they cornered Kiwiana culture, performing at festivals, corporate and orientation gigs, touring Australia and doing regional New Zealand arts council tours. They put a comedic spin on Kiwi folk songs while delivering them with their watertight harmonies, as seen in the 1995 Lotto double-dip TV ad that they sang and fronted. Their 1993 repertoire album features familiar old request-session regulars, including Peter Cape’s ‘Taumarunui on the Main Trunk Line’ and ‘Love in a Fowl House’ by Garner Wayne and His Saddle Pals.
When the Cat’s Been spayed “did kitchen-sink versions of any songs that took our fancy”
“We did kitchen-sink versions of any songs that took our fancy. We weren’t strictly a comedy group, but we took delight turning huge songs into rinky-dink versions.”
Around this time Jackie scored a TV gig hosting Saturday Live. “I thought bugger, yeah, I’m just going to do this, because by the time I got to honours I thought no, I don’t want to be having conversations that are increasingly niche with smaller and smaller groups.”
Jackie and her filmmaker partner Grant Lahood have two adult sons, Stan, and Ernie, and split their time between a little house in Auckland and a getaway bach in Northland. Both of these are full of kitscherama and collectibles, from fake animal heads to snow globes and Kiwiana, with a side collection of Mount Taranaki items that keeps growing. “I believe more is more [laughs], so collecting has always been a thing.”
Two creatives living together are better than one when both have strong suits and individual pathways. Which is not to say these don’t coalesce from time to time. Grant has shot two video clips for When the Cat’s Been Spayed and one for the Darlings (Wayne Bell, Callie Blood, Jackie), and Jackie has appeared in two of his short films, The Man Downstairs and A Load of Trouble.
“Occasionally, he drafts me in and that’s how we met, I think. I sang something for a short film score for a film he’d made and then he shot a commercial I was in and, you know, all paths are intertwined in New Zealand.”
It’s been a heady mix of work through the years with comedy often in the mix and her voice central. Frequently disembodied if she’s doing voice-overs, jingles or BVs, her cartoon voices include those of Buzz & Poppy (both leads), Massey Fergusson (various farm vehicles), Power Rangers (Poisandra), Stains Down Drains for TVNZ. She also voiced two whacky songs for Fane Flaws’ surreal multi-media show, The Underwatermelon Man. “I love doing silly voices and I’ve done lots of them.”
She was in comedy shows Skitz and The Semisis, and has done countless jingles with Jim Hall, Rob Winch, Murray Grindlay and others, many when session singing had singers clustered around a mic. “It was delicious, all those four-part harmonies. These days you might go into a studio set-up in someone’s bedroom and have to sing all the parts.”
Jackie sidestepped choirs as a child, but this grew into a strong hankering later. She has been a member of Auckland gospel choir Jubilation for the last 25 years and it continues to enliven her spirit. In 2026 Jackie and Jean McAllister (ex-Drongos) were preparing for the release of an album they produced for the choir’s 25th anniversary.
“Singing has become such a powerful – I hate to use the term ‘wellness’ – tool, but it is. It really helps people. You put up with the complexities of life by having a good sing once a week and it’s so good for the soul.”
“Singing has become such a powerful tool. It really helps people”
Her stage musical high notes include playing Mamma Morton in Chicago and leading roles in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat (on tour), The Christmas Carol for Auckland Theatre Company, Little Shop of Horrors at Sky City Theatre, The Underwatermelon Man for the NZ Festival of the Arts, and Rock Follies Forever with Jennifer Ward-Lealand and Laura Daniels for the 2023 Hamilton Arts Festival.
Echoes of her childhood obsession arrived centre-stage with her roles in two Mamma Mia! productions. “When I first saw Mamma Mia! I hated it. I didn’t like the way they sang because it wasn’t like ABBA. I didn’t like hearing a man singing ‘Knowing Me, Knowing You’ badly, but it’s the power of those songs – people go crazy for them. It’s a beautiful full-circle moment for me because ABBA literally was my life when I was 11 and my inner 11-year-old still goes crazy for those songs. Also, the show is such a love letter to strong female friendships, which have been the backbone of my singing career.”
In Mercury Theatre’s 1991 production of Porgy and Bess, directed by Raymond Hawthorne and starring George Henare, Mary Yandall, Bunny Walters, and Cliff Curtis among others, Jackie, as “Clara”, sings the solo opening number, ‘Summertime’. For an untrained singer who does not sight-read, the opera was a challenge, but one she faced with her usual aplomb.
“I’m a completely intuitive musician. I can’t read music, but I can figure out how to make the sound that’s required – good ears (we have good ears in New Zealand). And if I look at a piece of music as a graphic map, I can sort of follow it. I’ve worked the muscle, the memory and that part of my brain a lot, so I can figure things out, and I’m never afraid to say, ‘Oh, I don’t get that, explain it again’ or ‘How does that go again?’”
Apart from guest spots on other artists’ albums and recordings with the Lady Killers, When the Cat’s Been Spayed, a 1982 EP with Marching Orders, and the Darlings’ alt-country album (“I’m really proud of this one”), Jackie feels no imperative to record her own album. She has written songs from time to time, but prefers to put her creative energies into arranging songs and organising setlists, such as what she does for the Lady Killers.
The Lady Killers is a dynamic coalition featuring Clarke, Suzanne Lynch, and Tina Cross
This dynamic coalition features headliners Suzanne Lynch, Tina Cross and Jackie. Professional to the max, together they have clocked up decades of performance expertise onshore and off, as well as accruing multiple national honours. Suzanne Lynch, well beloved as one half of The Chicks, worked internationally for several years, singing with artists such as Cleo Laine, Cat Stevens, Lulu, Charles Aznavour and Neil Sedaka before returning to New Zealand and resuming work as a vocal coach, recording artist and stage performer. A former NZ Entertainer of the Year award winner, Suzanne was honoured with an MNZM in 2001. Tina Cross ONZM has worked extensively throughout Australia, the UK and Asia and appeared with Meatloaf, Tom Jones and Sammy Davis Jnr. Lead singer with Koo De Tah in her early career she is now a musical theatre star with acclaimed leading roles in Cats, The Rocky Horror Picture Show, Chicago, Boogie Nights, and Australia’s Sisterella in which The Age called her “magnificent and mesmerising”.
Prominent on the entertainment circuit as the Lady Killers since first getting together in 2005 for charity events in the aftermath of the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami in Indonesia, they continue to light up countless stages with their sass, seamless harmonies, carefully crafted arrangements and the infectious joy of singing great, popular songs exceptionally well. There is also their 2009 album, Black is Black.
“I adore singing with those women. We started out as Tina Cross, Suzie Lynch, Taisha [Tari] and myself, and then Taisha went to Australia and we became a three piece. It often happens that one of us is not available and that’s just the way it goes, but we have a super-sub in Annie Crummer who is amazing. What we do is really detailed. Our whole jam is putting a lot of effort into the vocal arrangements, so you can’t just rock up and sing a third,” she says. “We all know the wave of the chord – how things should rise and fall – and without communicating it, it just happens. And when Annie joins the fold it seems the same. She’s cut from the same cloth and has the same work ethic. It’s a real pleasure when you find that.”
Jackie’s voice takes primacy in everything she does, which begs the question of a fitness regime for it. She keeps it well-oiled by singing and vocalising most of the time (“Even my hairdresser says, ‘God, you sit down in the chair and all you’re doing is singing”), but she kicks up the preparatory work a notch before shows, which require a high level of sustained vocal fitness.
“When I’m doing a show, I have to be a bit more rigorous. I have a warm-up tape that I’ll use, and I’ll steam and do all the kind of ritualistic preparations to make sure that I’m doing as much as I can to keep myself well and supple. Touching wood, I haven’t had any big vocal issues over my 40 years. I must be doing something okay, even though I get very excited all the time and scream my lungs out. It must be coming from a place where it’s not doing any damage.”
“I haven’t had any big vocal issues over my 40 years. I must be doing something okay”
At this point in her career Jackie is also exploring more of her own potential in solo shows. There have been straight theatre roles in one-woman shows Shirley Valentine and My Brilliant Divorce, and in 2023 she first presented Jackie Goes Prima Diva for an Arts on Tour series in intimate venues around the country. In this show – with vocal dazzle and in full bling to piano accompaniment by Karl Benton or Grant Winterburn – she lets loose her full tonal range in songs by, and in tribute to some of her favourite divas, among them Kate Bush, Barbra Streisand, Nina Simone and Peggy Lee.
Her most recent solo theatre show is Songs for Nobodies. Written by Joanna Murray-Smith, the first season of this was in 2025 at the Pumphouse Theatre, Takapuna. It comprises five different but connected stories, each belonging to an ordinary woman, a ‘nobody’, who has an extraordinary interaction with a famous singer.
“It involves me playing 10 characters and five of them famous singers – Judy Garland, Édith Piaf, Patsy Cline, Billie Holiday and Maria Callas. I intend to carry on with Songs for Nobodies, which I’m producing myself and hopefully touring, because when I do a show like that it takes months and months to get it into body. I love it so much and I want to carry on doing it.”
Alongside regular Lady Killers gigs, corporate jobs, voice overs, the Jubilation choir and other projects, Jackie looks forward to taking Songs for Nobodies and its 10 characters on the road where audiences will have the opportunity to hear the Jackie Clarke voice in its full, glorious range of expression.
“I’m becoming more and more fearless the older I get. It’s good. Well, you know, damn – I just go for it. I like to challenge myself.”
Jackie Clarke is a Breast Cancer Foundation ambassador and in the 2018 Queen’s Birthday Honours her services to the entertainment industry were recognised with an MNZM. This was further underlined in 2024 when she received the Variety Artists Club of New Zealand’s ultimate accolade, the Benny Award, for lifetime achievement of excellence in all genres of entertainment.
