Description
APRA award winning Kiwi born Singer/songwriter Wayne Gillespie has been making quality music in NZ/Australia since he released his first indie effort in 1984 followed by CBS NZ/Australia releasing his second album New Locations back in 1987.
Gillespie made his professional debut busking in Paris subways, playing to audiences in London folk clubs and Sydney’s Darlinghurst cafes before returning to Auckland in the early 80’s.
Wayne Gillespie’s first independent release, the acoustic ‘Wayward Son’ made the finals of the New Zealand Music awards in 1984 and the song ‘Away with You’ also won a special APRA award in the same year.
The success of ‘Wayward Son’ resulted in Gillespie coming to the attention of producer Trevor Lucas (Fairport Convention, Sandy Denny, Goanna) and being signed by CBS Records (NZ). Lucas produced Gillespie’s second album; the electric ‘New Locations’ in Jan-March 1986, which achieved critical acclaim and chart success and saw Gillespie relocating to Sydney to support the albums Australian release in 1987.
Gillespie’s 3rd album was made with a local community of Australasian musicians (such as Dave Dobbyn, Margaret Urlich, Amanda Brown (Go-Betweens), Pedro Bull (Paul Kelly), Mal Green (Split Enz), Dave Sparks (the Saints), Peter Moloney (Johnny O Keefe), Tony Waine (Narcs) and Nigel Gavin (Ex-Robert Fripp) to produce his third album Living in Exile (released in 1993 by Sony (NZ) .
Gillespie was invited by the NZ award winners the Narcs to produce and co-write their third album Push the Boat Out released in 1996.
Live shows have included sharing the stage with Suzanne Vega, the late Chris Whitley, Stan Ridgway, Colin Hay, Ed Keupper, Dave Dobbyn, Margaret Urlich, D.I.G, Shona Laing, Neil Murray and the Narcs.
2006 saw the release of “Live at the Bunker” an acoustic album with long-time associate guitar wizard Nigel Gavin
His latest collaboration with drummer Rob Grosser and band FAMOUS BLUE RAINCOAT has produced the album FRAZZ released on 24 June 2022 and a number of sold out shows with his band.
The Live band is:
Band: Wayne Gillespie -Guitar/Vocals, Pierre Luniere – Bass/Vocals (Bad Kitty), Mal Green – Drums (ex Split Enz), Stephan Schaffer – Saxophone/Flute (Joe Camilleri), Mel Forbes – Guitar/ Vocals (Swamp Daisies) & Don Hopkins – Accordion/Keys