Pop Singer Enjoying Rushed N.Z. Tour

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30342, 18 January 1964, Page 17

Pop Singer Enjoying Rushed N.Z. Tour

Frank Ifield, the Englishborn Australian pop singer who appeared in Christchurch last evening in two performances of the Frank Ifield Show, is visiting 11 cities in 12 days on his New Zealand tour and he is enjoying it immensely. “No, it’s not tiring,” he said in reply to a question, “but it would be if it was not so exciting.” He is seeing much more of the country than on his previous New Zealand visit in 1959 —when he appeared at the Wellington, New Plymouth, and Auckland festivals—and he likes the cities, the countryside and the people, whom he finds extremely friendly and hospitable. Frank Ifield was already a successful singer with a number of Australian recordings to his credit when he left Australia for Britain some four years ago—“the biggest chance I ever took,” he said. “But I wouldn’t regret having taken it even if I had failed.” In Britain he found his experience in the infant years of Australian television a great help, and he appeared on 8.8. C. television in “The Ted Ray Show” a few days after his arrival. There after television and other shows kept him busy and he made a number of records which sold steadily, but in 1962 his recording of “I Remember You” suddenly put his name at the top of the sales charts. His next

two records reached the same position and Frank Ifield became the first British performer to achieve three consecutive best-sellers. His records have been hits in the United States and in Europe, too, all of which surprises Mr Ifield, for though he has spent 13 of his 26 years in show business he has not become cynical about it. What was responsible for his first sudden success? “I wish I knew,” he said. “But there is no formula; that’s the magic thing about show business.” Late in December he ended a six-month spell at the London Palladium to fly to New York for a guest appearance in the Christmas edition of the Ed Sullivan television show, in which his colleagues included Tessie O’Shea and Buster Keaton. Then he flew home to Sydney for Christmas with his parents and his five brothers, all of whom he saw for the first time in four years. A fortnight’s appearances at the Chevron Hilton Hotel preceded his trip to New Zealand. After his New Zealand tour, Frank Ifield will tour South Africa, and then go to Blackpool. Later in the year he will make his first film.