They asked him to join their band which also claims Prince Tui Teka and Dalvanius Prime as past luminaries. Billy T - who played guitar, bass, and saxophone - proved as multi-talented as the rest of the crew as they toured across Europe.
In the UK the ladies went crazy for him, she joked.
"He used to do the best Barry White, oh God he used to take him off. The girls just loved him.
"[Bandmembers] Dean [Ruscoe] and Charlie [Te Hau ] used to palm him off as Barry so they could get the discards.
Once after a show, the Volcanics let his fans loose on him.
"We looked out and saw all these blimmin' women, we thought 'oh gosh you've got to be kidding'.
"He went into the bathroom and we all shot out the back door and we said 'let them in'.
"All the women were pouring in and we could hear him yelling 'help'. We finally unlocked the door and he's got lipstick all over his face, his shirt's all askew and his tie's hanging off one side.
"He comes out and goes: 'Oh man, it's like a shark attack in there.'
"He was just a man you loved."
She reckons even on the road Billy T did slapstick well, including one hair-raising episode on Germany's autobahns when he was following her vehicle.
"We slowed down and Billy was sitting in the back with two bandmates and no driver. They'd tied these poles to the steering wheels and all sorts of things. I looked across and they had their arms around each other and they're grinning at us."
"No wonder the cars were almost crashing behind us."
She can't wait to come back in a week for the film premiere. "I don't believe it's 20 years, Bill was a pretty special guy."
