Photography: Chris Traill
The first 20 times Kiwi music legend Betty-Anne Hall stepped up to the mic to sing Unconditional, a track from her first-ever solo album, released at age 60, she had no choice but to let the tears fall. That’s because the song captures the raw emotion the singer was feeling as her marriage to husband Ryan Monga – her bandmate from chart-topping funk group Ardijah and the father of her four kids – fell apart.
“When I look back, ties should’ve been severed a long time ago – there was a dragging out of our break-up,” says Betty-Anne, who is of Ngāpuhi, Ngāti Whātua, Ngāti Ranginui, Ngāi Te Rangi, Tainui and Ngāti Tāwharetoa descent.
“That’s meant it’s taken me more time to process it.”
Not only did their split see Betty-Anne moving out of the suburban South Auckland home she’d lived in for 23 years, buying a piece of coastal land and setting about building anew, but it also meant she had to reconsider her future as an artist.
“When I finally came up for air, I realised life does go on,” she says.
“My grandchildren were around, my mortgage needed to be paid and I realised I still love music, so why did I have to put it on the shelf?”
A new creative beginning
Once Betty-Anne came to this conclusion, she was inspired to start writing. The result was her new album Slow Burn.
“Ardijah was something else and when I stepped away from it, I realised it was a different part of my life,” she shares.
“It’s been a slow burn because I wanted to tread lightly but steadfastly away from my past. It’s about expressing myself as best as I know and saying, ‘I’m OK! My head is through this and I’m walking out the other side.’”
A family collaboration
Joining their mum on the album are her musically blessed tamariki – Kaitapu, 43, Latini, 36, Beau, 31, and Jesse, 29 – who all said a resounding yes when she asked them to be part of the project.
“My children are all musicians, artists and creators,” smiles Betty-Anne.
“When we got together and jammed some of the new tracks, I realised they would bring a sound that was different but still connected to our whakapapa.”
A home built for creativity
Purchased 18 months ago, her new home – named Hiringa, which means “pure energy” – is a big part of her new solo musical journey, and it was where she and the kids recorded the album.
“It’s a new build with double glazing and big rooms, and it’s quiet, so it was the perfect place to record the album,” she explains.
“We put up thick drapes and laid cabling down to the other end of the house, where the drums and vocals were recorded.”
Finding peace at Hiringa
Hiringa is also the place Betty-Anne’s been able to settle, heal and learn to live intergenerationally with her son Beau, who recently moved back home a decade after winning The X Factor NZ in 2015.
“It’s very peaceful here,” she smiles.
“I love being at my own leisure – waking up and having complete freedom. This place is where I can get grounded and ask questions of myself.”
Healing through music
Recording and performing tracks like Unconditional together has been a new way for Betty-Anne to bond with her kids, she says.
“Ardijah was all entwined with our lives as a family, so it’s not too different to that experience, but it’s also totally different because the music is mine and about me. I never imagined walking this road would give me some healing, but it has. “Unconditional was the piece where I was processing, ‘What the freak is happening to me?’ Everything was on the table and so when I sang it, I just couldn’t stop crying. But as I’ve been singing it again and again, especially during the recording process, it’s a song that’s come to care for me and made me feel OK to share that deep pain.”
Songs shaped by shared experience
Betty-Anne believes her kids can relate to the inevitable hurt that happens when love slips away.
“They’ve all experienced something like this,” she says.
“They’re adults with their own children, who have been through their own relationships. They honour their dad, however, they know where these songs come from. They’re cool and they talk to me about any concerns.”
Betty-Anne says it’s “liberating” celebrating the start of her sixties by becoming a solo artist.
She enthuses, “It’s OK that I’m doing this at this age. This feels beautiful and this album is about a time in my life. It’s also about letting my children grow, and develop as artists and musicians. Being able to record with them and have their voices on the album wasn’t like a mother-child relationship – when it comes to music, we’re peers. This is what we do together now.”
Betty-Anne’s album Slow Burn is out now.To listen or download,go to precise.fm/slowburn.
