Phil Pratt loved singing so much he told everyone he'd sing until he died.
And that's exactly what he did — the 87-year-old sang his last number, Silver Wings, at a music club get-together an hour before he was killed in a head-on crash.
The crash, on State Highway 1 south of Kawakawa, was just three minutes from his home.
Pratt was returning from a Little Tennessee Country Music Club session near Pakaraka about 4.30pm on Sunday when the Toyota RAV4 he was in and a northbound Honda Odyssey collided.
He died at the scene while his wife, who was driving, and another passenger were critically injured.