Will Crummer


Will Crummer is very much his own man. He has his own dress style – part Raro, part Rat Pack – and once you meet him, you’re highly unlikely to ever mistake him for someone else. He’s a proud man but at the same time very humble, with a serious demeanor, but he laughs very easily. He speaks very openly and honestly but manages to remain guarded at the same time. When I pressed him for details relating to his early career he said, “It’s a long time ago. I can’t tell you; I might tell you a lie.”

Will grew up in Rarotonga and although he has spent much of his life in New Zealand, he has never lost his love for his island home. He will tell you “it is paradise”. It would seem the Crummer family have music in their blood: his daughter Annie Crummer needs no introduction and his son, David, who has been based in Australia for some years, is an accomplished singer and musician with his own recording studio.

Will Crummer (far right) and band, early 1960s.
Shoebox Love Songs in the studio. From left: Arthur Baysting, Turia “Dinky” Ngatipa, Will Crummer, and Nick Bollinger.
Will Crummer - Purotu Manea - live at Te Papa (2013)
Will and Annie Crummer sing for Cook Islands Language Week at the RNZ Auckland studios (2017).
Will Crummer - But I Do (feat. Annie Crummer)
“I’m back in the race, I’m racing and I love it baby!” - in 2015 Will Crummer, with his daughter Annie, talks to the Cook Islands News about his return to Rarotonga after 55 years away. 
Photo credit: Cook Islands News
Will Crummer at Womad, Taranaki, 2011. 
Photo credit: Trevor Villers
Will Crummer, Arthur Baysting, and Annie Crummer in Roundhead Studio, Auckland, 2010. 
Will Crummer and the Seastars - Rarotonga (Viking, 1963)
Will Crummer and Nick Bollinger at Roundhead Studios, Auckland.
Will Crummer performing with his daughter Annie, 2011. 
Photo credit: Trevor Villers
Will and Annie Crummer at Radio New Zealand. 
Photo credit: RNZ/Dru Faulkner
Will Crummer and the Seastars - Rarotonga (Viking, 1963)
Will Crummer - Shoebox Love Songs (2011)
Will and Annie Crummer sing 'Aue Taku Tane' for Coconet TV
Will Crummer at Womad, Taranaki.
Photo credit: Trevor Villers
Will Crummer performing at Womad, Taranaki, 2011.
Photo credit: Trevor Villers
Poster for Will and Annie Crummer's performance at the Tarekareka festival, Aitutaki, Rarotonga, 3 January 2015.
Photo credit: Rikki Morris collection
Will Crummer and his daughter Annie, 2011.
Photo credit: Simon Moore
Will Crummer - Shoebox Love Songs (2011)
Will Crummer performing at Womad, New Plymouth, 2011.
Photo credit: Trevor Villers
Will and Annie Crummer discuss Cook Islands language & culture (RNZ, 2017).
Will Crummer celebrates his arrival at Rarotonga airport, in 2015, after an absence of 55 years. Accompanying him is his daughter Annie. 
Photo credit: Cook Island News
Will Crummer
Will Crummer and the Seastars - Rarotonga (Viking, 1963)
Will Crummer and the Seastars - Rarotonga (Viking, 1963)
Will Crummer at Roundhead Studio, Auckland. 
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