FEEL THE BEAT: Former Beat Street showband musicians Lynette Stankovich (second right) and Wally Te Ua (right) perform as duo Queen Bee at The White House on Sunday afternoon. Picture supplied
After Waikato Hospital surgeons removed a tumour from his brain, former showband musician and Vietnam war veteran Wally Te Ua almost gave up playing music.
“Then I had a bit of a crack and decided that to get mentally fit I needed to be more engaged and graduate out of
a lack of motivation.”
Making his comeback to the stage as half of the duo Queen Bee, Te Ua says music has a therapeutic value he cannot get through medical practice. Now he has picked up his guitar again, Te Ua and his wife Lynette Stankovich will perform songs from the 1950s to 1970s at The White House on Sunday afternoon.
Te Ua and Stankovich performed with their showband Beat Street in the 1980s. After moving to Sydney in 2002 the duo played at various Returned and Services League (RSLs).
Te Ua’s early musical roots lay in the Kiwi rock and roll culture of the 1950s. With visits from artists such as American harmonica player Larry Adler, rhythm and blues pianist Clarence “Frogman” Henry, the Quin Tikis, and locals Phil Ripia, Joe and Bob of Tolaga Bay, and the Electronic Rebels, Gisborne was rocking long before Rhythm and Vines, says Te Ua who was part of local three-part harmony act, Blue Jeans.
