John Rowles Music Store

The John Rowles Story JOHN ROWLES was born in Whakatane on 26th March, 1947 and raised in Kawerau, the Bay of Plenty, New Zealand, along with five sisters - Georgina, Carol, Gabrielle, Cheryl and Tania, and one brother - Frankie. His father, Eddie Hohapata Rowles, played wing and three- quarter for the 1938 MAORI ALL BLACKS. His mother Phyllis passed away in 1998. John's first performance was at the tender age of 10, when he entered a local talent quest and sang "ALL SHOOK UP". He won 1st prize of five pounds (about $10.00). At 15, John left school to help support his family, working in a forestry camp planting trees, and for 2 years worked as a pipe fitter and rigger. During this time John joined a rock 'n' roll band as lead guitarist. The band was called "THE SHADOWS", named after the original group, and John was the "Hank Marvin" of the group. One year later with music and performing now in his blood, John left for the big city of Auckland, where he gained valuable singing experience by joining a club band. Two weeks later, he and his friend Eddie Low signed a nine month contract singing at the "RIVERSIDE INN" in Melbourne. When the contract expired, John moved to Sydney and joined "THE DINGDONGERS", later called "THE SUNDOWNERS". He left the group a year later to try a solo career. Shortly afterwards, John placed his career in the hands of New Zealand promoter, Graham Dent, who insisted on an image and name change. Dent dubbed Rowles "THE SECRET", bought him new clothes, cut his hair and with the help of Lonnie Lee, taught him to put action into his songs. Dent convinced the producers of "BANDSTAND" (with Brian Henderson) to include John in their programme called "NEW FACES OF 1966". He went before the cameras, and almost immediately offers of work poured in for the young singer still known as "THE SECRET". However, Dent strategically kept him out of sight, feeding only snippets of information to the press, magazines and radio for the next four weeks until his 2nd appearance on "BANDSTAND". Promoters went crazy trying to sign up "THE SECRET" and two weeks later, in a sort of unveiling ceremony, "THE SECRET" was presented to the Australian pop world as "JA-AR". "JA-AR" released his first single "THE END" and later his second release "PLEASE HELP ME I'M FALLING". Both charted well in Australia.