Rowling on to new ventures

John Rowles is one of New Zealand's longest-standing entertainers and with plans for an autobiography, anthology and possible movie in the works, this "Kawerau Kid" is not slowing down anytime soon.
Rowles was in town last week to perform in a one-off concert to help raise money for the Creative Tauranga Charitable Trust.
The soon-to-be 64-year-old crooner still had the grin and twinkle in his eye that saw him rise to fame more than four decades ago, when we caught up with him.
In a deep baritone, Rowles explains his plans to write an autobiography If I Only Had Time. He begins the project this week and the book is expected to be out by the end of the year.
"I'm 64 in March but I think the timing is perfect. I want to follow through with a movie about my life," Rowles says.
In the movie, Rowles would like one of his two sons (8 and 11) to play him as a child when he first learned his love for music.
As a boy, Rowles had to choose between two life paths - playing professional rugby or singing.
His father, Eddie, played for the Maori All Blacks at the time and the pressure to see for his boy to follow his father's footsteps was at a high.
"I wanted to be an All Black - I have always been pioneering and ambitious - but when I discovered I could sing ... I would lock myself in the room and sing away," he says, chuckling away.
"My brother didn't understand, my father hated it and my mother said 'leave him to it'.
"I will always remember how he would throw me out of the room because I would be so loud on the guitar."
Rowles was 11 when he entered his first talent quest in Whakatane. He is not sure if he won, but the night sparked the beginnings of what would become one of New Zealand's most successful entertainment exports.
But Rowles concedes, he could have done better.
"I wish I had known how good I was then because I made a lot of mistakes," he says.
"We are vulnerable as artists and, if you get the wrong manager, it can cost you 15 years of your career."
Rowles says his current manager, Layton Lillas, "takes care" of him well, and has helped with the autobiography deal and an upcoming anthology collection.
"It's hard work going through the albums," he says.
"I didn't realise I had so many and some of the originals are in the UK so it's a matter of getting to them too."
The movie remains just an idea at this stage.
Rowles hints that those who saw him perform in last week's fundraiser for Creative Tauranga have not seen the last of him just yet.
The message to fans is "watch this space".