Jools and Linda Topp Entertainers and activists 1958
Trailblazing musicians, entertainers and activists
When Jools and Lynda Topp were made Dame Companions of the New Zealand Order of Merit in this year's Queen's Birthday Honours, they briefly debated whether to accept the title. After all, they made their name writing protest songs and creating subversive comedy. "I said, 'Jools, what do you reckon?'" Lynda recalled when the honours were announced. "'The rebels are getting their medals' she said'. "It feels right to be acknowledged for all the fights we've fought. We're being acknowledged as entertainers but we've had a voice over all these years." Born in Huntly in 1958 and raised on a dairy farm, the duo started by entertaining family and friends. After a stint in the Territorials they busked in Auckland, attracting students and the queer community with harmonious political songs. Crowds grew and soon they were travelling the country with backpacks and guitars as The Topp Twins. Upfront about being lesbian, their country and western-inspired songs and comedy won a wide-ranging audience. They sang at the frequent protest marches and public rallies of the early 1980s, writing and performing a song for every new cause. Mainstream success came when an early stage show was filmed for an award-winning television special. Their place in Kiwi culture was cemented with The Topp Twins: Do Not Adjust Your Twinset, which ran for three seasons from 1996. A mix of documentary, comedy and musical, the show featured now legendary characters such as Ken & Ken, and Camp Leader and Camp Mother. In 2000 Camp Leader and Camp Mother hosted quiz show Mr and Mrs, in which couples answered questions about how well they knew each other. They returned to TV in 2014 with Topp Country, a culinary journey around New Zealand. The show ran for three series, the second winning a Television Award for Best Entertainment Presenter — three decades after they won the same category for a Topp Twins special. They've also released two albums and five best-selling children's audio books. Being made Dames is the latest in a string of honours. The Twins were made Members of the New Zealand Order of Merit in 2004. They were inducted into the New Zealand Music Hall of Fame in 2008, presented with the Rielly Comedy Award from the Variety Artists Club in 2009, given honorary master's degrees from Wintec in 2010 and awarded honorary doctorates from Waikato University in 2011. Their legacy was documented in 2009 movie, Untouchable Girls, part concert film, part biopic, part historical record and part comedy. There have been setbacks. In 2006 Jools, then 48, was diagnosed with breast cancer. She recovered after a mastectomy and several months of chemotherapy. The sisters integrated their personal story into their stage show and developed a fundraising event for Breast Cancer Awareness. In 2013, Lynda married long-time partner Donna Luxton in a civil union. The ceremony was a few months before the legalisation of the same-sex marriage bill, which the duo backed publicly. "Everybody should be able to stand up and say 'I'm getting married'," Lynda said. "A Civil Union is demeaning, this idea that you will never be good enough, that your love is somehow less than or not as worthy. There's no romance to it. And today, I feel more romantic and more in love than I've ever felt in my life." Jools lives in Northland, Lynda in Mid Canterbury. They remain proud of their country. "I think there's been a lot of social change in New Zealand," Jools said this year. "We're always wanting to be the first in the world. There are a lot of strong women in this country. There's always a fight, there's always something to stand up for."
