Dame Jools Topp, of Helensville, and Dame Lynda Topp of Ashburton, DNZM, for services to entertainment
Sisters Dame Jools and Dame Lynda Topp have performed in New Zealand and internationally as the country music and comedy duo ‘The Topp Twins’ for more than 30 years.
Since their appointments as Members of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to entertainment in 2004, they produced the albums ‘Flowergirls and Cowgirls’ (2005) and ‘Honky Tonk Angel’ (2009), released five best-selling children’s audio books, and have regularly toured Australia and New Zealand to sold-out venues. In 2008 the twins were inducted into the New Zealand Music Hall of Fame. The documentary feature film ‘The Topp Twins: Untouchable Girls’ was released in 2009 and won several awards at international film festivals. It broke all previous records for opening day and opening weekend for a New Zealand documentary, and after just four weeks at the box office, it made over $1 million. From 2014 to 2017 they filmed three series of the television show ‘Topp Country’, in which they travelled around New Zealand meeting food producers and home cooks. The twins have actively raised awareness of breast cancer, including staging the Recovery Tour in 2007 following Jools’ personal experience with the disease, with a percentage of ticket sales being donated to the New Zealand Breast Cancer Foundation.