Jack Christie was New Zealand’s first commercially recorded country music artist and a pioneering businessman and sportsman.
ENTERTAINING THE TROOPS
Jack began his music career while on service with the Royal New Zealand Air Force during the Second World War, providing entertainment for soldiers as a guitarist and singer. During this time he also performed as “The Singing Cowboy” on local Wellington radio.
After the war, Jack established the Atomic Radio Company in Karangahape Road. As an importer of audio equipment and records, he met audio technician Stan Dallas, founder TANZA recording studio. TANZA, founded in 1948, is an acronym for “To Assist New Zealand Artists” and was the first New Zealand studio to produce its own records.
Jack recorded sample acetates for TANZA during the studio’s testing phase. Pleased with the results, TANZA offered him a chance to record his own commercial records in 1949. Jack’s cover of Roy Darling’s Overlander Trail was a big hit. It was the first country song commercially available New Zealand.
He followed this recording with Maple On The Hill and continued to release new recordings over the next several years. He recorded his final release in 1954.
Apart from recording mostly American covers, Jack broke new ground with his own composition, The New Zealand Cowboy, released in 1951. As far as we know, this is the first song about New Zealand composed and recorded in the country style.
BUSINESS AND GRAND PRIX
After retiring from recording, Jack founded the Tisco Technology Innovation Service Company, installing and fine-tuning New Zealand’s first televisions. Possessing a natural gift for business he, served as chairman for Ullrich Aluminium and as a director of numerous and varied enterprises. Many know Jack best for his association with the New Zealand Grand Prix for which earned an MBE in 1989.
John (“Jack”) Brynn Christie was born to Samuel Basil Christie and Elizabeth Frances Welch in Wellington on 29 March 1924. He attended New Lynn West Primary School, Mount Albert Grammar School and The University of Auckland.
During his military service, Jack graduated from flight training school in Ontario, Canada, leaving the service with a rank of Flight Lieutenant.
Jack died on 4 March 2014, aged 89.
John (“Jack”) Brynn Christie
Died 2014
