Mahinaarangi Tocker

aka Mahinarangi Tocker, Mahina-a-rangi Tocker


Perhaps one of the most distinctive voices in contemporary NZ music was that of Mahinaarangi Tocker. Her inimitable vocal and guitar style, heartfelt songs and fearless performance endeared her to audiences, and garnered significant peer respect, amply displayed at the 2018 Auckland Arts Festival’s tribute concert, Love Me As I Am, a commemoration and celebration of Mahinaarangi’s life and music some 10 years after her untimely death at 52.

Mahinaarangi was the fourth of Rihitapuwai Rauhihi and Norman Tocker’s eight children. She was proud of her Māori/Pākehā heritage. Of Ngāti Raukawa, Ngāti Tūwharetoa and Ngāti Maniapoto descent through her mother, her father’s family was Jewish, with Celtic ancestry.

A  personal note from Mahinaarangi Tocker included with her album 'Clothesline Conversation', 1985. 
Mahinaarangi Tocker.
Photo credit: Geoffrey Smith
Mahinaarangi Tocker - The Mongrel In Me, a double CD released on Jayrem in 2005. Photograph by Robert Catto. 
Mahinaarangi Tocker, Whirimako Black, Jonathan Besser, Tuwhare performance, Wellington Town Hall, 2006.
Photo credit: Charlotte Yates collection
Mahinaarangi Tocker, backstage at the Wellington Town Hall during a 'Tuwhare' performance, 2006.
Photo credit: Charlotte Yates collection
Real Lives - Ponsonby Road, 1988 - featuring Mahinaarangi Tocker
Back cover of the 'Tocker & Yates: Touring' CD, with photographs by Annelies van der Poel, taken at a Wellington soundcheck, 4 October 2000. 
Singer-songwriter Mahinaarangi Tocker with Charlotte Yates in the early 2000s
Photo credit: Annelies van der Poel
The inner sleeve of the 'Tocker & Yates: Touring' CD, 2002. Photographs taken at a Wellington soundcheck by Annelies van der Poel, 4 October 2000. 
Tocker & Yates: a CD from their 2000 tour - 17 dates "from Hokianga to Hokonui" supported by Smokefree NZ. The CD was released on Jayrem in 2002. 
Photo credit: Peter Tocker
Mahinaarangi Tocker acts in Michael Heath's short film, A Small Life, 2000. She also wrote the lyrics, to music by David Downes.
From Mahinaarangi Tocker's CD 'The Mongrel in Me', recorded with many well-known New Zealand musicians from an assortment of genres (Jayrem, 2005). Photographs by Robert Catto.
Back cover of Mahinaarangi Tocker's 'Clothesline Conversation' album, recorded at Harlequin, Auckland, 1985.
Mahinaarangi Tocker (left) with Charlotte Yates, taken on 14 October 2000 by Mahinaarangi's cousin Peter Tocker at the now-defunct Harbourlight Theatre, Lyttelton. This was the last concert of their Arts on Tour collaboration, supported by Smokefree NZ. 
Photo credit: Peter Tocker
Mahinaarangi Tocker on the cover of Music in New Zealand, winter 1991. Photo by Geoffrey Smith, commissioned by William Dart.
The inner sleeve of Mahinaarangi Tocker's CD 'The Mongrel in Me' (Jayrem, 2005). Photograph by Robert Catto.
Mahinaarangi Tocker's 'Clothesline Conversation' album, recorded at Harlequin, Auckland, 1985. 
Charlotte Yates and Mahinaarangi Tocker, in a photo used for promotion for their appearance at the Sydney Lesbian Gay Mardi Gras, 2002. 
Mahinaarangi Tocker - Mahinarangi (Tristar/Sony, 1996)
Recording demos for the 'Out of the Corners' compilation at The Lab studio, Auckland, 1982. From left: engineer Bill Latimer, Lynda Topp, and Mahinaarangi Tocker
Photo credit: Bill Latimer collection
Mahinaarangi Tocker, date unknown. 
Photo credit: Chris Bourke collection
Mahinaarangi Tocker - Te Ripo. Produced by Shona Laing, the album was released by Columbia/Sony in 1997. 
Mahinaarangi Tocker with Ashley Brown, backstage at Tuwhare performance, Wellington Town Hall, 2006.
Photo credit: Charlotte Yates collection
Cover of Mahinaarangi Tocker's 'Clothesline Conversation' album (Emmatruck, 1985).
'When I Grow Up'/'Danger Kissing' CD single from Mahinaarangi Tocker's Hei Ha! album (Jayrem, 2002). ‘When I Grow Up’ was used for the 2001 Like Minds Like Mine TV campaign to destigmatise mental illness. 
Photo credit: Annelies van der Poel
Mahinaarangi Tocker with Don McGlashan, backstage at Tuwhare performance, Wellington Town Hall, 2006.
Photo credit: Charlotte Yates collection
Labels:

Jayrem


Epic


Tristar Music


CRS Records


Columbia

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