Dinah Lee, the queen of the mods in the 1960s, has today released a pop song about Cathedral Square.
Australian-based Lee holds a key to the city of Christchurch and last performed here in 2010 as part of the Band Together concert.
“As soon as I heard about the quake I rang Bob Parker’s office and asked if there was anything I could do,” Lee told The Press in 2010.
”I went to Cashmere High School and still have lots of friends there. I’m in Sydney now but Christchurch will always be home to me.”
Jordan Luck, who wrote Cathedral Square for Lee, started writing the song many years ago, back when The Dance Exponents had a flat in Woodham Rd.
Released worldwide and recorded in Sydney at Vienna People Studio, Cathedral Square includes the chorus: ”I found you, I found you there, I found you in Cathedral Square.”
Born in Waimate, Lee, 70, was awarded New Zealand’s Prestigious Entertainment Award in 1965 and was the first entertainer to receive this award.
Her songs, Don’t You Know Yockomo, Reet Petite and Blue Beat were national No 1 hits. She had 15 top 10 hits and was the face of Yardley Cosmetics, elegantly combining her sharp fashion sense with a love for obscure R’n’B.
She toured London with a young mod called David Jones, who later changed his surname to Bowie, while also sharing a flat with Millie Small, who had the world’s first ska hit, My Boy Lollipop.
Lee has toured and performed with Ray Charles, the Bee Gees, Gene Pitney, P.J. Proby, Glen Campbell and the New Zealand Modfather, Ray Columbus.
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– The Press
