How bizarre indeed. I feel sorry for the people around him, being left bereft after such a great opportunity to have a better life (from the accidental success of one song). A sad story that some readers expected everyone else to prop him up in handling his success - the usual rubbish where people don't accept responsibility and accountability for their own action, always looking for someone else to blame.
Ok, I liked his music, but to say the family is "Royalty" in south Auckland, and to compare them to the Kennedy's is just absolutely ridiculous! And also the comparison to James Dean and Marilyn Monroe? I think not. I have gone way off the guy and his family now, the "Royalty" of Sth Auckland are the people who work tirelessly there in our communities and keeping the place afloat, not someone who's relative once sang a song that was big for five minutes.
Despite his probably very unstable mental state later in life, due in part to his very quick rise to fame and his inability to cope with the sudden success. No-one can take away from Mr Paul Fuemana the fact that his music put NZ music pacific people on the global map. His music forged the pathway for viable pacific musicians to achieve their goals and reach for the then impossible. Love or hate him, his success in music became an inspiration for all those up and coming "brown" musicians to strive towards their own musical goals. I'm a middle aged white woman, and event I can see what a valuable contribution he made to NZ Music history. Show me any rags to riches story that didn't go a bit looney in the end, due to their inability to cope with a new affluent lifestyle and I'll show you that I can walk on water. The sad thing is that as a society we weren't able to work together to help him cope with his sudden success.
How bizarre
I was disgusted to hear that Pauly Fuemana was being taughted as such a hero by Campbell Live this evening, also in the Herald today. As a past neighbour of his family, for several years in Beachhaven, he was a drug grower, and a recluse. He tormented my chilren for several hours one evening, while police, armed defenders and police helicopters, tried to secure his home whilst in his drug raged stupor he proceeded for several hours to fire a shot gun at neighbours homes and any where else he cared to fire. He was a one hit wonder, a mental case and certainly did nothing for the neighbourhood, the children of this area nor his own. Maybe you need to understand more facts about him before you portray him as a hero, there was a terrible dark side to this character. Not cool and certainly not a hero. My children were terrified by him for several hours and have never forgotten it. I only wonder what memories his own children have of him.
I was more surprised to hear John say "What DID end the life of Pauly Fuemana so suddenly? We celebrate it" in the lead-up to the show. No doubt completely unintentional, but could easily be misinterpreted as an extremely tasteless joke...
I was surprised to hear john campbell say that brown people weren't played on the radio. Howard Morrison, Prince Tui Teka, Annie Crummer. Quite a few "brown" people john campbell have been played on NZ radio.