Annie Crummer


Annie Crummer has one of New Zealand’s best-loved and most travelled voices. That voice has taken her from Avondale to Paisley Park, from local talent quests to duets with Sting, and back to her Rarotongan heritage.

When Annie Crummer was two years old, her parents would hear her singing to herself before going to sleep at night. “Don’t interfere,” her father Will would say to Annie’s mother, Tangi. “It’s in her.”

An early When The Cat's Away publicity shot: Dianne Swann, Debbie Harwood, Kim Willoughby (front), Margaret Urlich and Annie Crummer.
Photo credit: Paul Ellis
When the Cat's Away - Asian Paradise (2001)
Governor-General the Rt Hon Dame Patsy Reddy awarding Annie Crummer the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to music, August 2017.
Annie Crummer, 1994
Annie Crummer with When The Cat's Away, late 1980s
When The Cat's Away - Melting Pot (1988)
A previously unseen, pre-When The Cat's Away photo taken for a NZ Listener story in late 1985 on the female contenders and performers at the New Zealand Music Awards: Debbie Harwood, Annie Crummer, Margaret Urlich and Dianne Swann
Photo credit: Photo by John Reynolds
Annie Crummer - See What Love Can Do (1992)
Cook Island-New Zealand singer and songwriter Annie Crummer talks to her father Will Crummer about Cook Islands language and their culture.
When The Cat's Away: Debbie Harwood, Barbara Griffin, Margaret Urlich, Sharon O'Neill, Kim Willoughby and Annie Crummer, with Noel Crombie behind Sharon and Kim
When The Cat's Away in New Plymouth, 1988: Annie Crummer, Debbie Harwood, Kim Willoughby, Dianne Swann and Margaret Urlich
When The Cat's Away's tour group on the Asian Paradise tour, 2001: George Gorga (front of house sound), Robbie Barclay (production manager), Dave McIvor (crew), Marty Reynolds (lighting), Tony Flett (stage), Paul Lopez (crew), Colin Burrell (monitors), Rick Brown (stage), Ian Magan (promoter) and sprawled across the band, Chris Tate (sound). In front: Sharon O'Neill, Debbie Harwood, Kim Willoughby, Margaret Urlich and Annie Crummer.
Photo credit: Photo by Mark Roach
Cook Island-New Zealand singer and songwriter Annie Crummer and her father Will Crummer sing a traditional Cook Islands song for RNZ Pacific.
Neil taking a break from the mic at the 1996 ENZSO gig in Auckland - Dave Dobbyn, Neil Finn, Annie Crummer, Tim Finn
A previously unseen, pre-When The Cat's Away shot taken for a NZ Listener story in 1985 on the presenters and contenders for the New Zealand Music Awards: Debbie Harwood, Annie Crummer, Margaret Urlich and Dianne Swann
Photo credit: Photo by John Reynolds
Annie Crummer photographed for the Live in Paradise tour, 2001
Photo credit: Photo by Anthony O'Dwyer
Annie Crummer's album Seventh Wave (WEA, 1996)
Tempo Style, winners of the 2014 Hook, Line and Sing-A-Long songwriting competition, in Roundhead Studios, with Annie Crummer and Anna Coddington, July 2014. From left are Maxine Vaihu (St Mary's College), Meleseini Puletau (Selwyn College), Anna Coddington, Julia Tu'unga (Auckland Girls Grammar), and Annie Crummer.
Photo credit: New Zealand Music Commission
Annie Crummer, right, coaching Tempo Style, recording at Roundhead Studios, Auckland, in 2014. From left are Meleseini Puletau (Selwyn College), Maxine Vaihu (St Mary's College), and Julia Tu'unga (Auckland Girls Grammar). Annie mentored the trio, whose song 'Islands' won the 2014 Hook, Line and Sing-A-Long annual songwriting competition sponsored by Music Education New Zealand Aotearoa (MENZA) and The New Zealand Music Commission. and who perform as Tempo Style, had the opportunity to record their song at the prestigious Roundhead Studios opened by Neil Finn in 2007.
Photo credit: New Zealand Music Commission
Annie Crummer - a publicity shot from the 1990s
Annie Crummer in 1992, at the release of her album Language on WEA
Annie Crummer, left, producing 'Islands', the winning song of the 2014 Hook, Line and Sing-A-Long songwriting competition, written by Tempo Style. At right is Anna Coddington, who laid down the guitar tracks.
Photo credit: New Zealand Music Commission
Netherworld Dancing Toys - For Today (1985)
Sonny Day - Savin' Up (1985, featuring Annie Crummer, Beaver, Josie Rika, Neil Edwards, Tama Renata and others)
Netherworld Dancing Toys with Annie Crummer, performing 'For Today' at the 2018 APRS Silver Scroll Awards.
When The Cat's Away, 2001: Debbie Harwood, Kim Willoughby, Annie Crummer and Margaret Urlich
Photo credit: Photo by Anthony O'Dwyer
Annie Crummer with Maxine Morris, formerly of New Music Management, on the When the Cats Away Tour, 1988. 
Photo credit: Rikki Morris
Will Crummer, Arthur Baysting, and Annie Crummer in Roundhead Studio, Auckland, 2010. 
Will Crummer and his daughter Annie, 2011.
Photo credit: Simon Moore
A poster for the Melting Pot single: Debbie Harwood, Dianne Swann, Annie Crummer, Margaret Urlich and Kim Willoughby
Annie Crummer's debut album, Language (WEA, 1992)
Annie Crummer on Debbie Harwood's 2007 Classic Hits radio series Give It A Girl
In 2011 Annie Crummer received the the Manukau Institute of Technology Lifetime Achievement Award.
Shortland Street's The Katene Sisters, L to R: Lisa Crittenden, Annie Crummer, Nancy Brunning.
“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
Annie Crummer performing on stage with Sting in the early 1990s
Photo credit: Photo by Garry Brandon. RipItUp Archives.
Annie Crummer with her Lifetime Achievement Award at the Pacific Music Awards, 2011
An allstar cast in the 1980s, which includes Christina Asher, Dalvanius, Mark Williams and Annie Crummer
Photo credit: Christina Asher collection
Annie Crummer in 1994
Katene Sisters - Keeping Up The Love Thing (1993)
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
When The Cat's Away documentary (1987)
Annie Crummer, 1994
Debbie Harwood, Kim Willougby and Annie Crummer performing Dragon's April Sun in Cuba, at the APRA Silver Scrolls, 2001
Annie Crummer - Once Or Twice (PolyGram/Philips, 1981)
Annie Crummer was inducted into the New Zealand Music Hall of Fame in 2021. The Hall of Fame is an initiative of Recorded Music NZ and the Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA), whose support of AudioCulture enables the site to stream music content.
Trivia:

In 2017 Annie Crummer was made a member of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to music.

In 2011, Annie Crummer was awarded Senior Pacific Artist Award at the Creative New Zealand Arts Pasifika Awards.

Brian May of Queen called Annie Crummer "The voice of one in a million."

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