Glyn Tucker

aka Glyn Tucker Jnr, Glyn Conway


Glyn Tucker Jnr got started in rock and roll as a teenage singer, rhythm guitarist and songwriter for 1960s pop group The Gremlins. In the early 1970s as co-owner of Mandrill Studios he embarked on a recording journey from 4-track tape decks to 24-track recording consoles.

In the 1980s, the studio recorded the big-selling debut albums by The Dance Exponents and The Mockers and the milestone album Dave Dobbyn’s Loyal. Tucker had success with his record labels Mandrill and Reaction and is well qualified to look back at the fizz and the pop and the art and the commerce of the hit single.

Glyn Tucker Jnr at an informal Gremlins reunion in 1995
Glyn polishing his gold suede shoes on tour with The Gremlins in 1967. Drummer Roger Wiles is in the background.
Glyn Tucker opens Mandrill, July 1975
Glyn doing his National Service in 1965. Glyn's conscription broke up the original Gremlins. They re-formed after Glyn returned to civilian life.
The young Glyn Tucker Jnr in 1962, probably with The Saints
The lead singer of The Gremlins in 1965 with his A35 Austin
A mid-1980s advert for Mandrill
Glyn Tucker Jnr with The Gremlins on C'mon, 1967
The Gremlins at the NZBC Radio Workshop in Durham Lane West, Auckland, during the recording of the radio show Popalong Special in 1967
Carole and Glyn Tucker in 2003, 43 years after they met
Conscripted into the army in 1965, Glyn took his guitar
Glyn Tucker Jnr, 1978
Glyn Tucker Jnr recording Alastair Riddell's debut solo album at Mandrill in 1978
Citizen Band's Geoff Chunn at Mandrill Studio, 1979 with producers Jay Lewis and Glyn Tucker Jnr looking on
Photo credit: Photo by Murray Cammick
Brian Smith, Glyn Tucker Jnr and Carl Doy, 1995
Glyn Tucker Jnr with The Gremlins, 1968
Glyn Tucker Jnr in the Mandrill control room, 1989
Glyn Tucker Jnr in the Mandrill foyer, 1991
Glyn Tucker Jnr at Mandrill I, 1978
The 1960 single from Glyn Tucker with Ian Lowe and The Tornadoes. Regarded as a New Zealand rock and roll classic, it now sells for many hundreds of dollars.
A young Glyn Tucker Jnr deciding on a career in music ... or football, 1948
Glyn Tucker Jnr, 1993
Glyn Tucker Jnr (aged 17) and his future wife Carole in Auckland 1960, shortly after they met. Glyn's debut single was a cover of Chuck Berry's Carol although he swears it was coincidental. Carol Tucker has worked with Glyn throughout his career and was a familiar and welcoming face at Mandrill Studios.
Glyn with Southern Music's Wally Ransome and his wife at the 1979 APRA Silver Scrolls
Glyn Tucker Jnr writing songs, 1972
Agent Mike Corless, Carole Tucker, DD Smash manager and Record Warehouse co-owner Roger King and Glyn Tucker Jnr at the 1982 APRA Silver Scrolls
Glyn Tucker Jnr in his Mandrill office, 1986. The Satellite Spies album was one of the biggest successes for his Reaction label.

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