When acclaimed Kiwi country singer Kylie Harris had her hands immortalised at the Gore Country Music Club, joining her heroes such as The Topp Twins, Ray Columbus and Patsy Rigger, she couldn’t
help but feel overwhelmed with emotion.
“You think you’re prepared for something like that, but I got a bit choked up,” tells the mum-of-two during a brief visit home to New Zealand. “It was only a few years ago I didn’t know if I was ever going to sing again. I was in an unhappy marriage and raising my kids without my family around. I left music behind for a long time.”
Kylie now lives in Massachusetts and though her daughters Carmen, 11, and Caterina, seven, couldn’t come with her for the Golden Guitar Awards Hands of Fame ceremony in January, she is proud they will be able to visit the plaque for many years to come.
“I’m with some really cool people who have put their hands there and it’s there for life. It’s crazy to think that future generations will be able to go and see my hands. It’s very special.”
Leaving her mark in Gore.
Kylie was only 17 when she became the youngest-ever overall winner of the prestigious country music competition, the NZ Gold Guitar. The year was 1992 and her life changed in an instant. She won the opportunity to record her song on cassette and it wasn’t long before she was touring across Australia with musicians she had spent her childhood listening to, including American legends Charley Pride and Kenny Rogers.
Though she was only a teenager, Kylie’s parents were always her biggest supporters. Her dad Clem, 83, would spend hours sitting with her while she rehearsed her songs in the family bathroom and her mum Anita, 75, would help mail her demo tapes to venues she wanted to play at.
“When I was showing signs of wanting to do this for my career, they were always supportive,” tells Kylie. “Mum put a book together of all my press and sent it to Eldred Stebbing when I was 17, which helped me get my first record deal.”
Even at 22, when she declared she was moving to Nashville, the home of country music, with nothing but the phone number of a potential flatmate and a dream, her parents didn’t bat an eye.
“I think I was a little naive, which was probably just as well – you don’t want fear to interfere with your dreams,” reflects the 48-year-old.
Happily, her risk paid off. She started working odd jobs and doing gigs when she could, but her tenacity was quickly rewarded. Within four years, she was hosting a daily country music TV show and, in what is one of the highlights of her life, was invited by Charley Pride to perform at the most hallowed venue in Nashville, the Grand Ole Opry.
She enthuses, “That was a major achievement to be able to sing at the Opry. I put in the work and I met a lot of people, but I never doubted that I could do it.”
With her idol Charley Pride.
While music had been her passion since she was a youngster, as Kylie entered her 30s, she felt her priorities begin to shift. She was newly engaged, and ready to settle down and start a family. Though the music industry had been kind to her, she tells, “I was sick of always needing something from other people.”
When she welcomed her daughters, the family moved to Massachusetts and Kylie stepped away from music to focus on being a mum. But she never imagined it would be 10 years before she would pick up a microphone again.
Performing at the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville.
As her marriage fell apart, Kylie admits she lost herself and it wasn’t until they split five years ago that she realised how important music was to her.
“I was starting a new life where I was able to be myself and I suddenly had this real yearning to sing again,” says the three-time Tui Award winner. “My girls didn’t even know I sang until recently.”
Now that she is performing regularly again and writing songs for a new album with her fiancé Matt, 49 – who surprised her with a romantic proposal on New Year’s Eve – Kylie’s future is looking bright.
“I’m doing it this time because I love it, not because I need an opportunity or someone important might hear me,” she says. “I’m doing this on my own terms.
“And I get to share it with my children. Whenever I play an afternoon gig, my girls come and they bring their friends, and their friends like my songs. I think that helps my girls go, ‘Oh, maybe my mum’s pretty cool,'” Kylie tells with a laugh.
