Tricia and Stewart Macpherson of Stetson Group. Photo / David Haxton
Tricia and Stewart Macpherson of Stetson Group. Photo / David Haxton
The driver at the service station in Mercer couldn’t quite believe his eyes. Was that really Donny Osmond pumping gas? In Waikato?
Yes it was – and he’d offered to pay for the fill-up too, but Tricia Macpherson wasn’t having that. Driving pop stars around New Zealand was all part of the job. Osmond had a day to spare before flying back to the United States from Auckland and he’d wanted to visit the Mormon temple in Hamilton. So Tricia drove him there and back, complete with the petrol stop that startled their fellow motorist.
“Donny was oblivious to the whole thing,” she says. “He pumped it all up, put it back, put the cap on and away we went.”
Of all the many stars she and husband Stewart have brought to New Zealand over the past 50 years, Osmond was “a favourite of mine”, she says.
Together, the Macphersons, who live in rural Waikanae, on the Kāpiti Coast, run the Stetson Group, which began in the promotions business by bringing Kenny Rogers to New Zealand in 1973. Since then, their acts have ranged from English folk crooner Roger Whittaker to New York punks The Ramones and pretty much everyone in between – from the Electric Light Orchestra to the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, as Stewart puts it.
The Stetson Group brought Donny Osmond to New Zealand.
They’re reluctant to spill too many beans about what Stewart terms the “sex and drugs and rock’n’roll” era, in part because, behind the personas, most of the stars were just normal people with children and mortgages, the couple say. These days they’re all well-behaved and professional – something of a departure from the times when the first thing a band wanted to know when they arrived in a new town was where they could score some weed.
The Macphersons, now in their early 80s, are still promoting shows, though the pace has slackened somewhat and they like to make sure they have enough downtime to spend part of each year with their two sons and grandchildren in the UK.
“The majority of [our work] is approaches are made to us because of our longevity and our connections and that’s what happens on a fairly regular basis: ‘Do you fancy X, Y, Z?’ and the majority of times it’s ‘No, we don’t.’ We are very selective, at our age, about what we do.”
In recent years, the shows have mostly been musicals, including Phantom of the Opera, Bat Out of Hell, American Idiot and this year’s Best Exotic Marigold Hotel.
In 2018, they brought The Art of Banksy exhibition to Auckland – wasn’t that a departure from the norm, I ask. “Funny you should say that,” says Stewart, who when we met had yet to announce that Stetson was bringing a similar show to Wellington this summer, billed as the world’s largest collection of Banksy artworks.
“This time it’s bigger than it was last time, there’s over 150 works, and we’re bringing it exclusively to Wellington, into Tākina,” says Stewart.
“We’re very excited,” adds Tricia, who praises how quickly Wellington City Council was keen to come on board and work with the couple.
Evidence at the Macphersons' Waikanae home of the many shows Stetson Group has brought to New Zealand. Photo / David Haxton
They got into the promotions business partly by accident, while working at 2ZM in Wellington. They were music enthusiasts; they made contact with an agent in Los Angeles, through whom they secured a deal to bring Kenny Rogers and his band The First Edition out here on a tour in 1973.
“We put them in a 12-seater coach and ran them around New Zealand,” says Tricia. “It wasn’t limos and that sort of thing,” adds Stewart. “We all learned on the road.”
Rogers and his management became friends but the couple say it’s rare for them to become too close to their work.
“Very few actually become friends. Glen Campbell, Roger Whittaker … Kenny Rogers and his management, Jethro Tull, David Gates of Bread — every now and then we have an email exchange,” says Stewart. “Colleagues, really,” adds Tricia.
She says of the business: “Obviously, it’s changed hugely. It’s a risk business and you wouldn’t do it if you didn’t love it. We’ve made good friends, we’ve made good relationships and we do enjoy it.”
The Stetson Group name came from a meeting with the agent in Los Angeles at which Stewart was asked the name of his company. He didn’t have one but the agent was doodling with the words Stewart and Macpherson and they came up with Stetson. On that first tour, Kenny Rogers brought with him a gift of a Stetson hat, which he has since signed. After that, there was no going back.
Kenny Rogers gave Stewart Macpherson a Stetson hat.
“We’ve got totally different skills,” says Tricia. “My skills are more in creating a team and getting out there and making it work … and Stewart does all the marketing, publicity, contact with the stars and the agents. I say to him, ‘You get the contract, give it to me and I’ll make it work’.”
They met in broadcasting in Wellington in the 1960s, got married and “shot through” to London, where Stewart worked for the BBC and Tricia as a technician for record company Decca. “They told me they didn’t hire female technicians. I said, ‘Well, what do they [female staff] do?’ and he said ‘Make the tea’. I said, ‘Well, I’m not making tea.’ Anyway, they took me on and it was fun.
“We’ve had a bit of a charmed life and we’re lucky to get to our 80s now and have good health …”
They left London after a couple of years, bought a motor caravan and drove home across Asia and Australia, taking about a year. When they reached Pakistan, they needed work done on the van. The garage put the van up on a hoist and let Stewart and Tricia stay in it overnight, doubling as security guards.
Starlight Express was a popular show.
“We did little tape recordings on audio cassettes and mailed them home. They arrived weeks after we’d done it.”
They moved to Kāpiti from Wellington in 1978. Ngarara Rd back then was unsealed beyond the swimming pool and Kapanui School, as it was then called, had only about 100 pupils. “We love it here, we’re a bit tucked away,” says Tricia.
“We’re part of the Chamber of Commerce and we go to most shows here. We’re very involved with the Kāpiti Playhouse and have a good connection with Southward Theatre and we enjoy putting shows on there.
“Otherwise we’re quite happy with our own company and our friends.”
