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Dinah Lee - Give It A Whirl Interview

2022
Interview Group
Give It A Whirl
Twenty-three full-length, in-depth interviews recorded for landmark music documentary series Give It A Whirl. Packed with never-before-seen material, the extended chats feature some of the key contributors to Aotearoa's musical heritage.

Waimate-born singer Dinah Lee was the 'Queen of the Mods'. She rose to fame in the 1960s with pop songs like 'Do The Bluebeat', and enjoyed an international music career that extended past the swinging 60s. 

In this interview for 2003 television series Give It A Whirl, Lee covers many topics, including:

• Her outrageous first meeting with Ron Dalton of Viking records (5 minutes in)

• The star treatment she received in Australia (9 minutes)

• Touring with Jamaican pop star Millie Small (17 minutes)

• The controversy that her mod fashion style stirred up in the media, and amongst her fans' parents (24 minutes)

Read more about Dinah Lee, on AudioCulture (NZ On Screen's sister website)

“...in those days you really didn't have anyone to sort of advise you on how to sing it, or your image, there were no image makers or nothing. You were really just doing it like how you interpreted it, and I think that was the beauty of it all... the beauty of being a little bit individual, not copying what was happening overseas.”
Dinah Lee on the creative freedom afforded to kiwi pop stars of the time (13 minutes into this interview)

Copyright

This interview was recorded for the 2003 season of TV series Give it a Whirl. All audiovisual content is copyright to Visionary Film & TV, and may not be reproduced.

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