Mark Williams: Holder of the first ever NZ number one song, 50 years ago today

It was 50 years ago today that the New Zealand Official Music Charts were launched - which also coincides with New Zealand's first official number one hit. 

Produced by Recorded Music NZ, the charts reflect the most popular singles and albums in Aotearoa each week. They are the only charts endorsed by the music industry and are compiled according to globally recognised guidelines.

The first Kiwi musician to take the top spot was Mark Williams, with his 1975 hit 'Yesterday Was Just The Begginning of My Life'. 

The artist, who now lives in Australia and performs as the frontman of Dragon, joined Nick Mills to discuss the milestone. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:07):
You're listening to the Wellington Mornings podcast with Nick Mills
from News Talk said.

Speaker 2 (00:12):
B.

Speaker 3 (00:21):
Yesterday was just oh gosh, those of us were a
memory can remember that song like it was yesterday. Oh
pardon the pun. We are blessed to get somebody up
early in the morning in Australia and on Wellington Mornings
Mark William's happy birthday of sorts.

Speaker 2 (00:43):
Thanks, thank you.

Speaker 3 (00:46):
You did you know before you got some silly publicist
ringing you first thing in the morning, did you know
of the significance of today when you woke up?

Speaker 2 (00:56):
No? No, I had no idea.

Speaker 3 (00:59):
You had no idea.

Speaker 2 (01:00):
Look.

Speaker 4 (01:01):
Look, I was told about two weeks ago. That's probably
the first idea I overhead when I was told by the.

Speaker 2 (01:09):
The what do you call it?

Speaker 4 (01:11):
Music Awards that they wanted to do something for that
song because it was the first one, the first New
Zealand a hit on the New New Zealand music charts.

Speaker 3 (01:22):
Do you know the significance of this isn't this isn't
just New Zealand artists. You were first, You were number
one for in New Zealand, for the artist all over
the world. So this is this is why it's so
significant it was a key we that actually had the
first number one when the chart started.

Speaker 2 (01:40):
Oh my Goodnessney, please please, that's too much fallow.

Speaker 3 (01:46):
Actually, well, I you said that you found out. I
read an article that said you found out that you
were in a pub in Warrington when you found out. Now,
let me guess the pub. I want to guess the pub?

Speaker 2 (01:57):
Right?

Speaker 3 (01:58):
Do you can you remember what pub it was?

Speaker 4 (02:00):
Oh?

Speaker 2 (02:02):
Yes, I think I can.

Speaker 3 (02:03):
Okay, I reckon it was the Lion Tavern, Olsby Street.

Speaker 2 (02:07):
You hit the nail?

Speaker 3 (02:10):
How good?

Speaker 2 (02:10):
The one?

Speaker 3 (02:11):
Is that?

Speaker 4 (02:11):
The one that's the one the line to happened?

Speaker 3 (02:15):
Can you remember your reaction? Because you know, I've been
around music all my life. I own bars and clubs
and got a family that are involved in the music industry,
so I'm around it all my life. I know the
significance and number one. Tell me when you first heard it?
And it wouldn't have been by sell your phone. Someone
one of your management or one of your team would
tap you on the shoulder and they'd have a piece
of paper in front of them. And because that would

(02:35):
have been posted to someone, it wouldn't have been faxed
or emailed. It would have been posted to someone saying, hey,
you're number one. Tell me what what went through your mind?

Speaker 4 (02:44):
Oh well, those great tales might have gone down bow now.
But I do recall not really believing it, not not
really believing it. I was actually working. I think i'd
lost my voice for the empties time, and I was
in the middle of doing gigs, which I would do.
You know, a whole bunch of us solo artists would

(03:05):
travel around all the around New Zealand, and I was
right in the middle of that, so of course i'd
been you know, I would say that it was a
bit sort of It was a bit big for me,
the idea of it, and I was a bit humble
by it.

Speaker 2 (03:22):
I really didn't know how to take it. And yeah,
I think I just sort of.

Speaker 4 (03:31):
Stayed inside for the wi for a while.

Speaker 3 (03:34):
How tough I've always wanted to ask you this, How
tough was it for you in those days in New
Zealand being the act that you were. You were flamboyant,
you were amazing, you were like energetic, you were New
Zealand's Michael Jackson in some ways, So how hard was
it for you to do that in New Zealand in
those days?

Speaker 4 (03:55):
Look, it wasn't hard to do it on stage. The
difficulty was walking down the street.

Speaker 2 (04:00):
The next day, was it.

Speaker 3 (04:02):
Did you cop it a bit?

Speaker 4 (04:04):
I copped it a hell of a lot. I copped
it everywhere went. So when I had a number one,
it made it worse for me. I would stay stay away.
But I learned slowly to actually go and face to
face people so they know that I am not this monster,
I'm not this weird thing.

Speaker 2 (04:22):
I'm actually a person.

Speaker 4 (04:23):
So I learnt that eventually, and it was my girlfriend
who brought me back into reality. But it didn't take
a few you know, it took a few months and
took a bit of a while, but I did. Yeah,
I did find it very, very, very difficult to move
around on a daily basis, day to day basis around
New Zealand because they've become you know, a household name and.

Speaker 3 (04:43):
A star, an absolute superstar in New Zealand. You were.

Speaker 2 (04:48):
Well, okay, well you were.

Speaker 3 (04:50):
I mean, let's let's cut to the chase. I'm not
trying to pee on your foot, but you know, let
you you know, you were one of the very first
big time TV had just come in ready to roll
all those programs. You know, the whole circuit. You were huge.

Speaker 2 (05:03):
Yes, yes, it was, it was huge? Yes?

Speaker 1 (05:05):
Is that?

Speaker 3 (05:06):
Why? Is that why you went to Australia?

Speaker 2 (05:09):
No? No, I I was like that too. About three
years later I decided to leave.

Speaker 4 (05:15):
I I traveled around because of my position, I was
doing every support. I was supporting every major artist that
came through New Zealand. And you know, the very first
one where I made made a huge impact was supporting
Gary Letter, of all people, anyway, that was That was

(05:36):
the first major one. Then it moved on to uh,
supporting the Hollys, and then I was supporting Doctor Hook
and then the Hughes Corporation and blah.

Speaker 2 (05:46):
Blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah.

Speaker 5 (05:48):
Uh.

Speaker 4 (05:48):
And then my own my own tours too as well
with Rocking Horse around the and the Andal's Sisters and
all that. I was doing tours as well as well
as doing you know, weekly things around pubs. So by
about three years I'd done it so many times I
had to find something else, somewhere else.

Speaker 3 (06:09):
So you'll be with Dragon for twenty years. But I'm
reading that you're starting your solo career again. Is that exciting?

Speaker 2 (06:15):
Oh? It is it is. I can't believe it. I
can't believe it.

Speaker 5 (06:18):
I got to support, aside from Dragon last middle of
last year, I got to support Bonnie m through Australia
and New Zealand and my agent, Dragon's.

Speaker 2 (06:29):
Agent said after seeing me, he's got to do something.

Speaker 4 (06:32):
So it was from that moment on July that I
started to sort of go back into the archives. I
found all this material that I've written back in the
nineties and all that sort of stuff, and right up
till today, I'm sort of off and I'm being writing
and I've got all this material. And I came over
and did the White Tonguey Day at Waitity in Henderson
in Auckland this year and it was wonderful coming back

(06:55):
and working again and.

Speaker 2 (06:57):
Doing my material. So it's taken it further.

Speaker 4 (07:00):
I'm sort of looking at getting an EP or an
album ready up and running by the end of the year.

Speaker 3 (07:06):
Can you let us know so we can we can
we can give it some publicity. We'd love to would
love to be involved. Mark. Thank you for getting up
so early in the morning and having a chat to
us and and use the day go and have a
coffee and celebrate the day because you know, it is
a day. It is a day of celebration for you.

Speaker 4 (07:23):
It is actually Nick, thank you very much. Look, I'm
I'm actually packing now ready to go to Madrid. So
I'm going away for it, to Madrid and Morocco.

Speaker 2 (07:32):
So there you go.

Speaker 4 (07:32):
Good argue, you're calebrating. So if you see anything that
comes back, it will be me on the back of
a camel.

Speaker 3 (07:40):
Mark Williams, I really appreciate you taking your time, really
good to talk to you, and all the best for
your solo career. Does that mean just a yes or no?
Does that mean you'll still do the dragon stuff as well?

Speaker 2 (07:49):
Oh? Yes, great, yep.

Speaker 3 (07:52):
Appreciate you, appreciate you.

Speaker 4 (07:54):
Good luck, thank you, thank you all the best.

Speaker 3 (07:56):
Bye, Mark Williams.

Speaker 1 (07:58):
There For more from Wellington Mornings with Nick Mills, listen
live to news Talks It'd be Wellington from nine am weekdays,
or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.