Johnny Devlin

Born Raetihi, New Zealand 1938. Johnny Devlin was New Zealand's first Rock'n'Roll star. He grew up in Wanganui but moved to Auckland where he was discovered by promoter Dave Dunningham, who passed him on to Phil Warren, who signed him to his Prestige label in 1958. He first recorded the single Lawdy Miss Clawdy. Over the next two years he was reputed to have sold over 200,000 singles (although this may be somewhat inflated by Warren's hype) and he was mobbed all over the nation.

He moved to Australia in the early sixties where he established himself as a rock'n'roll star again although he never reached the heights he'd reached in NZ as a teenager again. In 2007 he is still performing in Australia and New Zealand.