Eddie Low withdraws from NZ Highwaymen 2024, health issues,longtime friend Frankie Stevens steps in
Eddie with his brothers Bob (now deceased) and David.
About Eddie
Eddie Low was born in Rotorua, New Zealand on 14 May 1943. His mother, Rangitukua Ratana McRoy, contracted German measles and Tuberculosis during her pregnancy with Eddie. Eddie was born blind because of the German Measles, and Rangitukua died just weeks after he was born, succumbing to the Tuberculosis.
His father felt unable to care for Eddie and his two-year old brother David, so both boys were adopted by widow Maria Low - a whanaunga of Rangitukua - and given a home in Ngāpuna, Rotorua.
Eddie was educated at the New Zealand Foundation for the Blind in Parnell, Auckland from the age of five, going home to Ngāpuna for school holidays.
When he was 12 years old he underwent a series of operations on his left eye, giving him limited sight. His right eye was dead and could not be saved.
Over the years, Eddie’s eyesight has diminished dramatically but he can make out shapes, colours, and large print with special glasses or a magnifying lens.
Eddie started his first band at the age of thirteen along with two friends at the New Zealand Foundation for the Blind. They called the band ‘The Three Blind Mice.’
After leaving school and establishing a reputation as an outstanding vocalist and multi-instrumentalist, Eddie got a job playing in the band at Auckland’s Picasso Nightclub.
In 1964 Eddie and fellow entertainer and friend, John Rowles, went to Australia on a Melbourne contract to work on the club circuit. When the contract ended, Eddie and John moved to Sydney and joined the band, Australian Sundowners.
In 1966, Eddie joined the Māori Quin Tikis. This was the era of New Zealand’s popular Māori showbands. The Māori Quin Tikis toured New Zealand, Australia, Singapore, and Kuala Lumpur. They also travelled to Thailand and Vietnam to entertain allied troops of different nationalities at their bases during the Vietnam War.
Eddie appeared in the film Don't Let It Get You (1966) with the Quin Tikis, the late Sir Howard Morrison, and Dame Kiri Te Kanawa.
During the Quin Tikis years
Eddie receiving his platinum award for Best of Eddie Low / Voice in a Million from Scott Morrison, formerly of Sony Music Entertainment NZ, in 2012,
In 1969, Eddie went solo under Joe Brown Management touring Australasia, Fiji, Tahiti, Papua New Guinea and waving the New Zealand flag proudly on tours of Canada and Nashville, twice representing New Zealand on the International Show at the Grand OleOpry.
In 1980 while touring Canada, Eddie – feeling homesick – wrote ‘Songs of Home’, a now iconic song that sings of the beauty of Aotearoa New Zealand through its Māori place names and famous Māori songs.
Songs of Home has been performed by many other Kiwi entertainers including The Topp Twins, and sung around the world, touching the hearts of thousands of ex pat New Zealanders who live overseas.
Eddie’s career of almost 60 years has taken him around the world and onto stages with some of music’s greats including Johnny Cash, Charlie Pride, Buck Owens, Tom T Hall, Freddie Fender, Kenny Rogers and many more. He has toured as Roy Orbison and is likened to Tom Jones and Engelbert Humperdinck. Eddie is one of the foremost imitators of Elvis Presley.
Eddie's Awards
Eddie has received many Music awards and accolades over the years.
1980: New Zealand Entertainer and Songwriter of the Year
1983: Inducted into the Country Hands of Fame in Tamworth, Australia
1993: Inducted into the Country Hands of Fame in Gore, New Zealand
- 2006: Received the NZ Order of Merit (MNZM) for services to music, appointed by the late Her Majesty the Queen
- 2009: Received the New Zealand Country Legend Award in Hamilton
- 2009: Honoured by his peers as the recipient of the Variety Artists of NZ's Benny Award to mark lifetime achievement in the entertainment industry.
