Tracey Donaldson and Ashley Page are a power couple in the New Zealand music industry. Photo/Supplied
Tracey Donaldson and Ashley Page are a power couple in the New Zealand music industry. Photo/Supplied
Radio and music industry couple Tracey Donaldson and Ashley Page's first conversation was a telling-off 25 years ago.
Tracey Donaldson is the 9am-1pm workday announcer on Radio Hauraki. She's also the corporate voice of Coast and a voice for TVNZ. Her husband Ashley Page's company Page 1 manages music artists,writers, and producers, including Grammy Award-winning Joel Little, best known for his work with Lorde.
Tracey says…
I was on my OE in London and took a temp job on reception at a record company. I hadn't met Ash, but I heard someone say, "oh, he's not in the office this week", so I just assumed he was on holiday. When people called, I said, "he's on holiday, can I take a message?" After about three or four days I got this phone call and he said, "Are you the new receptionist? Can you please stop telling everybody I'm on holiday?" I remember the first time he came in, about a week after I started, and being wowed by him. He is tall and he had long, dark hair and he was a real rock and roll, black-T-shirt-and-jeans kind of guy. I was a little bit scared because I knew I had upset him from the get-go, but I had a secret office crush.
I grew up in Hamilton, and at 17 I started working as a radio presenter. I'd been in London for just over a year when I met Ash in August 1997. We were a really young, social workplace. About a dozen of us would always go to the pub and he and I would sit quite close to each other and talk heaps, but nothing happened for more than a year.
He called me on New Year's Eve and then a week later we went to a party for Elvis Presley's birthday on January 8, 1999. I really, really liked him.
We pretty much started dating straight away and we moved in together really fast as well. His flat broke up, so he had to move somewhere. I had been in a flat with six or seven flatmates from New Zealand and was quite keen to get out of that situation, even though it was fun.
I had a four-year visa and when I told him I had to go home and asked him if he wanted to come, he said "yes, I'd love to", straight away. I thought, 'wow'. He had a very promising, big career in music.
This was the first relationship I had that ticked the box of being a boyfriend and also a best friend as well. We travelled and went to gigs. He's an Indie kid, one of the cool kids, into bands like Ash and Muse, and I was more into bogan rock – Bon Jovi, Def Leppard, and Led Zeppelin.
He still makes me laugh out loud. He's very funny, which I love. He is very generous with his time and really kind. He does all the cooking and always buys me flowers. If something great happens I will text him and I'll get home and he'll have champagne, or a card.
One of my favourite things about him is that he's never been the type to make me feel insecure or jealous. Even after 25 years, he still makes me feel like the only woman in the room.
The couple in their 20s. Photo/Supplied
Ashley says…
We were young when we met – I was 22 and Tracey was 23. I was working as international promotions manager for Mushroom Infectious Records. I travelled a lot and looked after Peter Andre, Garage, and many others. My job was to set up press coverage and make sure songs played on the radio. I was going from country to country and once I finished with one artist, I'd start with the next one.
I remember finding out the new receptionist was telling people I was on holiday, when I was hard at work, day in, day out. I called her and yes, I was very stern. When I got back to the office, I saw that Tracey was beautiful, but it was a work environment, so I just buried myself in my work.
It was a year before we started dating. I was definitely punching above my weight. I didn't think I stood a chance. I remember Tracey being away in Scotland on New Year's Eve and me being bold enough to ring her and suggest that maybe we should have a drink when she got back? Elvis' birthday was definitely the first time we got together knowing it was about a relationship as opposed to just being work colleagues.
The next month, I arranged a secret weekend away to see Neil Diamond in Dublin for Valentine's Day. That first year we travelled a lot, considering we had no money – we went to Greece and Venice and had some pretty cool little trips.
Tracey had to return to New Zealand in May 2000 and asked me if I wanted to go with her. My boss said, "just go follow your heart and see what happens and know that you've got a job to come back to". I had the absolute luxury to be able to come down, spend time with Tracey and just make sure that everything was going to work on the other side of the world. I've now been here 22 years.
The couple got married in Las Vegas. Photo/Supplied
I'd hoped from the very beginning that it was the real deal. I don't think I ever treated it as anything other than forever. To anyone in a relationship now, I'd say you still have to work just as hard 23 years on as you did on day one. But I do travel a lot, so joke we've only been together half that time.
We got married in Las Vegas in March 2007. I was going to the SXSW Festival in Austin, Texas, so we got married first and then I went to the festival and Tracey stayed with friends in LA. We flew separately to our honeymoon and met up in New York. I remember arriving at the hotel and Tracey was already there. It was so cool and really romantic.
What is there not to love about Tracey? She is very beautiful, works hard every day and never takes anything for granted.
