Wellington Musician David Greer Releases Original Music at 68
After more than 2,000 live gigs, decades as a Wellington musician and songwriter, and a career spanning performance, event production and entertainment management, David Greer is finally putting his original music front and centre.
His first single, Merry Go Round, is out now and marks the beginning of his album project, Audio Biography – through which Greer will release the extensive catalogue of original songs he has written throughout his career.
“I’ve always written songs,” says Greer. “I’ve regularly performed them, and have many recordings, but releasing them has never made the top of my to-do list. Now feels like the right time.”
David performs his original material both solo and with his band Dogtown. Greer’s bandmates have included many highly regarded New Zealand musicians over the years, including Shapeshifter’s Darren Mathiassen, TrinityRoots’ Warren Maxwell and former Supergroove drummer Ian Jones.
In 1996, Greer won the Singer/Songwriter Award at the Wellington Music Awards. When the awards subsequently ran into difficulties, he took over the event, revamped the awards and incorporated them into the Mobil Street Race, producing the event and working with artists including Fur Patrol, Bongmaster – who went on to become Fat Freddy’s Drop – and Weta, among others.
His career as a producer flourished, and at its height, he arranged and produced the entertainment for 12 simultaneous corporate dinner show events in and around Eden Park on the night of the final game of the British & Irish Lions rugby tour of New Zealand. One of these dinners was the largest corporate dinner event in New Zealand’s history.
Today, through his agency business, PME Entertainment, New Zealand’s largest entertainment agency, he represents more than 2,000 New Zealand performers.
And despite all of this, on Thursdays Greer can still be found teaching children guitar at Hataitai School in Wellington.
The story behind Merry Go Round:
Greer originally wrote Merry Go Round as a first wedding dance for two of his bandmates who were getting married.
The song has remained part of his catalogue and is now the first release from Audio Biography.
“I’ve got a lot of songs I’ve written over the years,” says Greer. “Some have been performed, some have just been sitting there. I think it’s time I set them free.”
