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Singer/songwriter Donna Dean will start her North Island Forgotten Gems Tour/Te Ika-a-Māui in Waipu and Whangateau next month.
Dean has been writing songs about setbacks, struggle and success for most of her life.
She has a connection with Waipu through her mother’s ancestors who were part of the migration from Scotland, via Nova Scotia.
“They sailed on the seventh ship, the Ellen Lewis, but by the time they reached New Zealand in 1860 most of the land in Waipu was occupied, so the McLean’s landed in Auckland where they settled,” Dean says.
“The stories of their migration and links with Waipu are very inspirational to me and well documented by my relative John McLean in his 2011 book Clansmen and Colonists A Thousand Years of a Scottish Family.
Dean is a multiple APRA and Tui awards winner, and has collaborated with such songwriting legends as Russell Smith, Willie Nelson and Don McLean, and shared the stage with Aussie songwriter Paul Kelly and Bill Chambers, father of Kasey Chambers.
She wrote the title track to Rhonda Vincent’s 2010 Grammy nominated bluegrass album Destination Life and her 2023 album, Kisses & Other Things, produced by multi-instrumentalist/author John Egenes, featured American songwriter, multiple-Grammy nominee Eliza Gilkyson.
A documentary on Dean’s music and back story featured at the NZ Doc Edge Film Festival in 2016.
For Forgotten Gems, Donna’s touring line-up features two Dunedin based musicians – bassist John Dodd and John Egenes.
“During the past 12 months, we’ve toured the South Island/Te Waipounamu, from Invercargill north and when I’m not touring or writing songs, I’m a relief kaiako at a pre-school in Whitianga where my mokopuna live.”
Forgotten Gems celebrates songs written by Dean and recorded with Russell Smith and The Amazing Rhythm Aces in Nashville and Auckland, which won Dean her first APRA and Tui awards in 2003.
Dean will perform at the Waipu Heritage School on Friday, May 16 and at the Whangateau Hall on Saturday, May 17.
Ticket info: https://humanitix.com/nz/search?query=Donna+Dean
