Herbs keyboard player Tama Lundon has died

Tama Lundon was Herbs’ keyboardist and one of their songwriters.

Tama Lundon, a member of pioneering New Zealand reggae group Herbs, has died.

Former Herbs member Toni Fonoti posted on Facebook yesterday: “What an amazing, humble person and genius musician.”

Lundon was the keyboard player for the band, who were inducted into the New Zealand Music Hall of Fame in 2012.

Fonoti wrote that he met Lundon in the late 70s when he was performing at a lounge bar in Onehunga, Auckland.

“I asked him to join Herbs, but he was happy where he was,” Fonoti recalled.

The founding members of Herbs were Fonoti, Spencer Fusimalohi and Fred Faleauto, who were later joined by singer and guitarist Dilworth Karaka.

Herbs band members (from left) Dilworth Karaka, Charlie Tumahai, Tom Nepia, Fred Faleauto, Willie Hona, Tama Lundon and Morrie Watene.

“Now, 40 years later, Tama and Dilworth Karaka and all the other members have gone on to leave a great musical legacy,” Fonoti wrote.

Lundon co-wrote the band’s big hit Long Ago with Willie Hona.

Herbs collaborated with some big local names, including Tim Finn (Parihaka), Annie Crummer (See What Love Can Do) and most successfully with Dave Dobbyn on the hit single Slice of Heaven, from the movie soundtrack to Footrot Flats. It went to No 1 in October 1986 and stayed there for eight weeks, AudioCulture reported.

A film about Herbs, a group that grew out of the social activism of the late 70s and 80s, was released in 2019, called Herbs: Songs of Freedom.

– RNZ