New Year honours: Parris Goebel, John Barnett, Dennish Marsh and more recognised

These notable figures in the New Zealand entertainment industry have made the New Year Honours list.

Parris Goebel

It's been a huge year for Parris Goebel - and the 28-year-old dancing sensation has topped it off by making the New Year Honours list for 2020.

The Kiwi choreographer says it feels "amazing" to be made a member of the New Zealand Order of Merit for 2020.

She's one of the younger Kiwis named on the New Year Honours list this year, and the star says she feels like she's "only getting started".

The choreographer to the stars has worked with Justin Bieber, Sam Smith, and Rihanna.

Her next move is choreographing Jennifer Lopez's Super Bowl half-time show.

Read the full interview with Parris here.

John Barnett

Producer John Barnett is has been named a companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit on the New Year Honours list for 2020.

He's produced some of New Zealand's most famous feature films over the past 45 years, including Sione's Wedding and the internationally acclaimed Whale Rider.

Barnett became managing director of South Pacific Pictures in 1993, leading a management buyout of the company in 1998 and becoming co-owner of New Zealand's biggest film and TV production company.

He ran South Pacific Pictures for 23 years, overseeing production of the hugely successful shows Outrageous Fortune and Shortland Street, among others, and producing content that represented New Zealand's Māori, Pacific and Asian populations.

Read the Herald's interview with John Barnett here.

Murray Cammick - for services to the music industry

Murray Cammick's impact on, and contribution to, New Zealand's music scene cannot be overstated. In 1977 he co-founded Rip It Up magazine, New Zealand's only national music publication at the time. Working as the magazine's editor and photographer he made rock stars out of the local bands and musicians he covered and print stars out of the magazine's stable of writers he nurtured.

Cammick also captured many iconic images of visiting international musicians during the 17 years he self-published Rip It Up, including terrific shots of a relaxed Iggy Pop in his Auckland hotel room, the Beach Boys' Brian Wilson arriving at Auckland Airport and the legendary photos of Bob Marley playing soccer in Parnell.

But he didn't just report on music from the outside, Cammick is also behind some of our biggest music acts through the influential Southside and Wildside record labels he founded in 1989 and 1991 respectively. Southside signed young Māori and Polynesian performers including Moana and the Moahunters and Upper Hutt Posse while Wildside was home to Shihad, one of our most successful rock bands.

Cammick is still involved with music and street culture, hosting a weekly radio show, Land of the Good Groove, on 95bFM each Friday, DJ-ing around the city and holding regular exhibitions of his photographic work.

Dennis Marsh - for services to music

Dennis Marsh's combined passions of country music and giving back have seen him named a member of the New Zealand Order of Merit.

Marsh receives the accolade for his services to the music industry and to the community.

He's one of country music's highest-selling artists in New Zealand, having sold over 300,000 albums.

Marsh's most recent album "Backyard Party" was his 30th release. He's won countless national awards, had six number-one albums on the New Zealand charts, six platinum and 11 gold albums.

Marsh is passionate about combining charity with music, performing regularly at music festivals voluntarily and at fundraisers.

He's supported a number of Kiwi charities like Pink Ribbon New Zealand, Opotiki St Johns, and the Kidney Kids Charity.

He donated all the profits from some of his albums to causes like the Returned Services Association and the Christchurch Earthquake Relief Fund.

Marsh was inducted into the Gore Country Music Hall of Fame in 2011 and has a slew of awards under his belt – Country Music Male Artist of the Year in 2008, 2009 and 2013 and New Zealand Country Music Entertainer of the Year in 1989, to name a few.

Bill Gosden - for services to the film industry

The man behind New Zealand's International Film Festival is being honoured as an officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit for his contribution to the film industry.

Bill Gosden created the NZIFF in 1979 and continued to develop it until his retirement this year, bringing the latest in international and New Zealand film to screens all over the country.

He retired from his role as director for health reasons after a bowel cancer scare.

Gosden is known for uniting festivals that previously competed with each other by combining them into the NZIFF.

In 2019 the festival played in 14 venues from all over the country to audiences of around 264,000 people.

Gosden is a passionate supporter of Kiwi filmmakers, and he's known for watching hundreds of films each year – literally.

The festival is also a platform for new, emerging and diverse voices in New Zealand.

Gosden has served as Governor of the New Zealand Arts Foundation since 2011 and was involved in selecting the foundation's Icon Awards.

He was made a member of the New Zealand Order of Merit in 2001.

Paul Crowther - for services to music

Not many people can say they changed the sound of popular music, but Paul Crowther is one who can. The self-taught electronics engineer invented a guitar pedal called the Hot Cake in 1976 and began manufacturing them with his wife, Jo.

This distortion pedal has such a rich tone and sweet harmonics that it quickly became a guitarist favourite, being used by such influential musicians as Neil Finn (Split Enz, Crowded House), Noel Gallagher from Oasis, Sonic Youth's Thurston Moore, and Ed O'Brien from Radiohead.

In 1996 he designed a bass version of the Hot Cake, dubbed Prunes and Custard. This was immortalised in song by local guitar heroes The Datsuns on their fuzzy 2002 hit rocker Harmonic Generator, which they named after the pedal.

A keen drummer Crowther was also the sticksman on the first two Split Enz records, Mental Notes and Second Thoughts, playing under the name Emlyn – his middle name - and rocking the beat on classics from the band like Late Last Night and Time for a Change.

For 40 years Crowther has been active behind the scenes, designing equipment for musicians and setting up sound systems for live venues, and behind the live mixing desks, most notably touring extensively with Don McGlashan's band The Mutton Birds.