Sir Dave Dobbyn, KNZM, of Auckland, for services to music
Sir Dave Dobbyn, of Auckland, for services to music
Sir Dave Dobbyn is one of New Zealand’s most celebrated singer/songwriters who, across a 40-year career, has received a record number of music awards and Silver Scrolls for his work across nine studio albums.Sir Dave came to prominence in 1979 with Th’Dudes, who undertook a reunion tour in 2006, and in the 1980s with DD Smash, before going solo. Since his appointment as an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit in 2003, he has produced four studio albums.
He has performed locally, nationally and internationally, for a wide variety of causes including in support of a range of charities, at a fan’s hospice bedside, for the funeral of former Prime Minister David Lange, in a prison wing, and with schoolchildren.
He performed free concerts for residents of Matata after the floods, spent time at community centres following the Christchurch earthquakes, and has an ongoing connection to the families of the Pike River Mine after writing ‘This Love’ in honour of the 29 men who lost their lives.
In 2017 he recorded his anthem 'Welcome Home – Nau Mai Ra’ in te reo Māori. Sir Dave was inducted into the New Zealand Music Hall of Fame in 2013 and again in 2019 as a member of Th’Dudes.