Former Otago pop star turned real estate agent Craig Scott says he’s interested by the prospect of a return to music.
Former Otago pop star turned real estate agent Craig Scott says he’s interested by the prospect of a return to music.
Former Otago pop star turned real estate agent Craig Scott says he’s interested by the prospect of a return to music – but only if “the right material and the right project” turns up.
Scott, one of New Zealand’s best-known recording artists of the 1970s whose smash-hit Star Crossed Lovers topped the New Zealand charts for four weeks, said the sheer number of people who tell him to return to music has “tempted” him.
“I don’t think it would be in a live scenario,” Scott said. “But if someone came up with the right material and the right project and I had a good amount of time to complete the songs to a standard which I was happy with, then I wouldn’t discount it.”
The comment came during an interview about his varied and accomplished life and career with Newstalk ZB’s Real Life with John Cowan on Sunday night.
Scott says his music career is still “very fresh” in his mind, despite leaving it behind more than 40 years ago.
“It’s a cliche, but it’s just like yesterday. The basic reason for that is that I’ve been blessed with a lot of hits and a huge number of fans in New Zealand, who still contact me from time to time for whatever reason. I meet them just by chance in Arrowtown, where we live.
“I had one just a couple of nights ago there, a lady and her husband who were just wonderful to talk to, it was great. So it’s still fresh in my memory because they bring those memories back to me.”
Dunedin-born and raised Scott is considered one of New Zealand’s greatest musicians of the 1970s, having released a string of commercially successful singles that catapulted him to pop stardom from 1970 to 1975.
But growing up, he had no intention of becoming a musician. It all happened by chance, when he joined a fellow Kings High School student and a couple of his friends in forming a band, Klap, in the late ‘60s.
“On Sundays we used to go to the YMCA and do tea time with about three other bands, and it was run by the Presbyterian Church in Dunedin. And of course they said to us, Look, we can’t advertise you with a name like that’. So we had another sweeter name than that for when we did Sunday.”
After forming another band, Revival, a producer came to a gig and convinced him to go solo after being wowed by his voice and charisma.
“I don’t know exactly what it was, but [my voice] covered an unusual range of probably up to three octaves, which is kind of weird. Not everybody had that, and I had always had a reasonably high voice that allowed me to get up to some of those higher notes.”
Booking agent Jean Knight with Craig Scott at the Mayfair hotel in Hawke's Bay. Photo / Jean Knight
He had a stellar run in the early ‘70s, with nine charting hits that propelled him to superstardom.
Now 73, Scott has been with his wife Jo since he was 15 – before he had joined his first band. The pair stayed together as his fame grew throughout the early 1970s, despite the demands and adulation that came with being a pop star.
Scott concedes it was “extremely tough” for Jo.
“That was serious fan adoration. I mean, people see it overseas, but that’s what it was like for me in New Zealand, especially in those years from about 1970 through to 1976… Jo was great [about it].
“We started going out together before I got into a band and made the big time in about 1969. So it’s been a lot of time together. And whilst it was not always easy, she understood. And we had children reasonably early on, so there was a lot of looking after the family and stuff like that.
“I also wasn’t particularly a wild child, so it worked out pretty well – and it still does to this day.”
Now, he, Jo and their son Adin work as real estate agents together in Arrowtown.
Former pop idol Craig Scott with wife Jo and son Adin in Arrowtown. Photo / Supplied
“We’re with the Bayleys real estate company, and we’ve done that now for, gosh, 13 or 14 years now, and it’s just a lovely thing to do.
“All my businesses that I’ve been involved with, I’m fortunate I really don’t have to introduce myself to a lot of people and get to know a lot of people – because they all know me!”
Real Life is a weekly interview show where John Cowan speaks with prominent guests about their life, upbringing, and the way they see the world. Tune in Sundays from 7:30pm on Newstalk ZB or listen to the latest full interview here.
