The Voice of Aotearoa

The Voice of Aotearoa features 25 of Paul Walden's most well-known tracks.

The intention was to call this album 'Paul Walden: The Forgotten Voice of Aotearoa'. Things changed dramatically when Paul agreed to appear on Jim Sutton's nostalgia radio show on Newstalk ZB in December last year. Within a few minutes the ZB switchboard was jammed in incoming calls from fans and fellow musicians wanted to talk to him. The switchboard remained full for the duration of the four hour show. As it transpired, Paul had not been forgotten, a clutch of iconic recordings, many fans and years of touring with Eddie Low, the Quin Tikis, John Hore and Howard Morrison is testament to that.

Paul Walden was signed by HMV in 1958, and with his deep, rich, resonant voice and smooth good looks, boyish charm and crowd-pleasing personality soon found himself with a string of radio hits and busy performing schedule. In 1959 he headed to London where he sang with the BBC Light Orchestra, was resident entertainer at the Down Under Club, and acted in several films. In the early Sixties he was home again, and starring in TVNZ's first entertainment series After Dark. He also did radio shows on the YA network and continued releasing singles and albums, and did several legendary tours organised by Joe Brown (crowd-pleasing concerts that also starred Howard Morrison, Peter Posa, John Hore and the Quin Tikis).