Mike Durney

aka Big Mike Durney


After three years and an LP as Big Mike Durney, 6'2" Mike Durney dropped the “Big” and exchanged his guitar and casual Western attire for big ballads and a tuxedo. Early indications were that the change would be a fruitful one when his next single was a finalist for the 1969 Loxene Golden Disc award.

Although beaten out by Shane’s ‘St Paul’, produced by Peter Dawkins, Durney’s ‘Why Can’t I Cry’ did garner its producer Wayne Senior the newly established producer’s award. Ironically, Durney’s move to HMV under Dawkins’ stewardship saw his final three singles bring diminishing returns.

The Maria Dallas Country Show, promoted by Tom McDonald in 1967, also featured Tex Morton, the Simple Image, Big Mike Durney, and Gerry Merito
Photo credit: Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, Eph-C-CABOT-Music-1968-03
Dynamic Mike Durney - from Pye's Platter Chatter newsletter, June 1969
Mike Durney - The Importance of Your Love (HMV, 1969)
Mike Durney and his wife Sherry "work on a new song"
Photo credit: NZ Women's Weekly, 13 April 1970
Correspondence from TVNZ's Trevor Spitz after Mike Durney's 1981 appearance on That's Country
Mike Durney
"Ballads are IN. Ballad singers are IN. Mike Durney is IN." A poster promoting Durney's single 'Why Can't I Cry' (Pye, 1969)
Mike Durney (far right) performing at the Mayfair Hotel in Hastings circa 1968. Backing musicians (from left) are a pre-Redeye Bob Smith, Tawhi Otene, Gary Bothwell and David Jenkins
Photo credit: Bob Smith Collection
Artists from the hugely popular NZBC TV show The Country Touch hit the road on a national tour of New Zealand, c. 1968. Among them are Tex Morton, Big Mike Durney, Chris and Paddy, Rusty Greaves, Val Proctor, and Gray Bartlett
Photo credit: Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, Eph-C-CABOT-Music-1960s
Mike Durney, at home in Northland, 2025
Photo credit: Chris Caddick
"Mike Durney Makes the Scene" - 'Why Can't I Cry' b/w 'A Little Bit Of Heaven' (Pye, 1969)
Mike Durney's portrait of Gray Bartlett. In the 1960s they toured New Zealand together as part of a package show.
Photo credit: Mike Durney/Gray Bartlett collection
Mike Durney (second from left) with fellow choristers at St Patrick's College, Silverstream, 1959
Photo credit: Mike Durney Collection
Mike Durney (left) early in his career with Napier band The Blue Caps
Mike Durney: local singer will appear at Napier's Top Hat club before he heads for the bright lights of Sydney
Mike Durney (third from left) with his teenage vocal group in Napier, the Blue Caps
Photo credit: Mike Durney Collection
Mike Durney: a promotional booklet from Pye Records, 1969
Mike Durney on Pye, 1969
Mike Durney - Sixteen Tons (Impact, 1967)
Mike Durney - 'Why Can't I Cry' - a video collage from Bruce King's photos of the 1969 session
Cast of the TV show The Country Touch, late 1960s. Left to right, Paddy and Chris Lydon, Gray Bartlett, Tex Morton, Big Mike Durney, Val Proctor, Rusty Greaves.
That’s Country circa 1981. Front row (L-R): Mike Durney, Jodi Vaughan, American guest Johnny Tillotson, Ray Columbus, American guitarist Gerry McGee, Brendan Dugan. In the back row are Christchurch band The Cowboys (L-R): John Sanchez-Lloyd, Phil Tuuta, Don Bean, Mike Waldegrave, Geoff Farmar.
Mike Durney on TV show That's Country, 1981
Mike Durney - Love For Living (HMV, 1970)
Wayne Senior at Mascot Studios during the recording of Mike Durney's 'Why Can't I Cry', 1969. Billy Kristian centre.
Photo credit: Bruce King
Mike Durney - Why Can't I Cry (Pye, 1969). Arranged and produced by Wayne Senior
Mike Durney, 1969
Mike Durney in a publicity photo during his C&W period recording for Benny Levin's Impact label
Mike Durney, early 1970s, shortly after an appearance on TV's Happen Inn
Photo credit: Mike Durney Collection
Wayne Senior at Mascot Studios for the recording of Mike Durney's 'Why Can't I Cry', 1969
Photo credit: Bruce King
Mike Durney - Waves Of Heartbreak (Impact, 1967)
Mike Durney in Playdate
Labels:

Impact


Pye


HMV

Trivia:

In 2021, Universal Music NZ collected Mike Durney’s Pye and HMV singles and released them online as Mike Durney Makes The Scene, a nod to a Pye advertising campaign for ‘Why Can’t I Cry’, that also read: “Mike Durney’s big on Pye.” Get it, big?

Mike Durney appears at the Top Hat, Napier: "make it a date, be there by eight"
Mike Durney heads for Sydney, aged 23

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