Shanley Del


A country music star in Australia, New Zealand-born Shanley Del considers her “big break” moment at the beginning of the 1990s was almost straight out of a storybook.

One of three singers in 10-piece Auckland country band The Waltons, she had been invited by a man she knew only as Bones to record a demo at Mt Tiger Studio outside Whangarei. A solo mum at the time, she drove up there in a frenzy, played her songs and burst into tears.

The back cover of Shanley Del's 1994 EP 'Red Roses', for which she wrote three tracks.
Photo credit: Sage
Shanley Del with US country great Charlie Daniels, for whom she opened when he toured Australia in 1998; taken at Tweed Heads, northern NSW.
Shanley Del - I Don't Wanna Talk About Love
'Funnel of Love' - a single from Shanley Del's 1994 album What's a Heartache For?
Chrome Safari in a damaged promo photo, 1986. Clockwise from top: Shanley Morris, Tim Wedde, Peter Solomon, Brett Adams, Simon Alexander. 
Photo credit: Raewyn Watson
Shanley Del, Britannia gig, 1993.
Shanley Del, at the time of her album What's a Heartache For? (rooArt, 1994)
Chrome Safari CD compilation, 'Fight' (Pagan). From left Bill Hill, Shanley Del (still known as Shanley Morris), and Peter Solomon. At right, on the cover, is Simon Alexander
James Gillard and Shanley Del performing 'Your Own Sweet Time' at the opening of the new Tamworth Regional Entertainment Centre theatre in Tamworth, NSW, 19 September 1998
Shanley Del with US country legends Porter Wagoner and Little Jimmy Dickens, at the Grand Ole Opry, Nashville, 1998
Shanley Del, 'Sleep', a 2001 single on rooArt
Shanley Del, a 1997 promotional photograph taken for "shake'n'howdy shows", at which fans meet the performers after the concert for an autograph and to share their own stories. 
Shanley Del with Skeeter Davis, just prior to going on stage at the Grand Old Opry, Nashville, 1998. "I was really nervous and Ms Davis was very kind," says Del. 
Chrome Safari perform at Wildlife, Auckland, mid 1980s. From left: Shanley Morris, Peter Solomon, Simon Alexander.
A gathering in Auckland, 1984. From left: Gerry Moran (ex-Hulamen), Shelley Simpson, Shanley Del, Debbie Harwood
Shanley Del performing at the Grand Ole Opry, 1998.
Shanley Del with Vested Interests, performing in Blazes Theatre at the Tamworth Country Music Festival, 1993. From left: Matt White, Shanley Del, Pete White, Rod Coe, and Andy Dickson. All are New Zealanders, says Del, Dickson being an "honorary New Zealander". 
Backstage in the mid 1990s: Rod Coe, Andy Dickson, Robbie Souter, Shanley Del, Colin Watson.
Jenny Morris and her sister Shanley Del, a Polaroid taken on the Central Coast, Australia, c.1993
Shanley Del at the Vinegar Hill Woolshed, c. 1993. The bass player (obscured) is Damian Kennedy. 
Shanley Del - Your Love Is Still On My Mind
Shanley Del and her son Max Gregory, 1995
Shanley Del - James Gillard, a four-track EP released by Del and her husband James Gillard in 2019
Shanley Del at Tamworth, 1996: I Don't Want to Talk About Love/Rear View Mirror
Shanley Del, 'Red Roses', from her 1994 album What's a Heartache For?
Photo credit: Paul Clarke
Gigolo, outside Alfie's nightclub, Auckland, 1983. From left: Bill Hill, Martin Williams, and Simon Alexander. 
Shanley Del sings her song 'Your Own Sweet Time' from her album 'My Own Sweet Time' with her husband James Gillard at Tamworth, January 2000
Chrome Safari - Fight (Pagan, 1986)
Shanley Del, 'Rear View Mirror', 1994
Shanley Del - The Other Side (rooArt/BMG, 2001)
Shanley Del - I've Got All The Time In The World (feat. Lachlan Bryan)
Shanley Del with her husband and musical partner James Gillard, taken at the time of their 2019 EP Shanley Del - James Gillard.
Photo credit: Paul Clarke
Shanley Del, My Own Sweet Time, a 1997 album on rooArt
Shanley Del joins Keith Urban during the "in the round" section of his concert, performed in the middle of the audience. Blazes Auditorium, Tamworth, NSW, c. 1995
Andy Dickson (of the Narcs) and Shanley Del as KitnKaboodle, Masonic Hotel, Petersham, Sydney, c. 1993. Del points out that "the TV screens are all still turned on for the league games and horse races." 
Shanley Del, 'What's a Heartache For?', the title track to her 1994 album
Shanley Del, 'Somewhere Out There' from the 1994 CD What's a Heartache For? 
Trivia:

While working as a hairdresser in Auckland in the mid-1980s, Shanley Del trimmed and tinted one of NZ pop’s most recognisable mullets, that of Mockers keyboardist Tim Wedde. 20 years later, Wedde and Shanley’s husband James Gillard were bandmates in popular Australian roots band The Flood.

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rooArt


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