Fritz opened a bakery in Auckland, remarried and had two more children. In the Samoan community in Auckland, he became a legend due to his kindness and famous specialities, coconut buns and pineapple pies.

Kim attended Selwyn College for a year before becoming a boarder at the new CCNZ (Church College New Zealand) built in Temple View, Hamilton by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. She sang briefly in the school choir and proudly modelled the new uniforms after the college was completed to open in February 1958.

“I did a commercial course at high school and of course it was office work when I found a job back in Auckland. That year, 1960, I was 17 years old. I worked two jobs, at Auckland Glass Company’s office during the day, then three nights a week at the Odeon theatre. I spent the other three nights studying.

“1961 was the year things changed, I was 18 years old and took more interest in other music, besides Frank Sinatra and Elvis Presley. It was the jazz scene I listened to: Sarah Vaughan, Ella Fitzgerald, and Dinah Washington, to name a few. A friend of mine at church heard my two sisters and myself sing our one song at a church evening. He asked if I could join his group of four and sing at a talent show in Panmure. I did … we won a £50 prize! The boys sang ‘Satin Doll’ and the song they gave me was ‘Why Do You Whisper Green Grass’. Our fearless leader organised us to sing our only two songs for free the following weekend, in town, off Queen Street upstairs at the Montmartre nightclub.

“Harry M Miller heard about us and asked us over to audition. The young boys, university students, turned down the offer. However I accepted when Harry turned to me, and the surprise of my life was to be on the same show with the Everly brothers! The Howard Morrison Quartet was also on this show. Months later the Showtime Spectacular was the first of three [national tours] to follow each year.” 

“The surprise of my life was to be on the same show with the Everly brothers!”

Not only was Harry Miller an impresario touring overseas shows, he also had a record label to further promote the artists. Kim featured on an LP of the Showtime Spectacular show and the tune was also her first single: ‘I Fall to Pieces’, the ballad made famous by Patsy Cline. Two other singles followed. The Bob Paris Quartet accompanied her on ‘Norman’, the 1961 Sue Thompson hit, b/w ‘She's Got You’. On ‘Walkin’ after Midnight’ – another Patsy Cline standard – the b-side was ‘Foolin’ Round’, and the backing was the Quin Tikis. 

“As you can see I had very little musical experience. I was shy, quiet, and it was Harry himself who selected what songs I sang, recorded and when. He treated me with kindness and respect. In fact all the boys, bands included, treated me like their little sister. (It’s what my father expected from them.)

“I also toured with American artists Bobby Rydell, Bobby Vee, Del Shannon, and Gene Pitney.

“It’s amazing how being in the right place at the right time can go a long way. I still love C&W pop songs but it’s jazz I love listening to, and nowadays classical songs.”

Being in the right place at the right time included the show where she met Ray Columbus and The Invaders with their guitarist Wally Scott. When The Invaders called it a day in 1965 the music scene had changed and nightclub entertainers weren’t singing the same sorts of songs as newcomers Dinah Lee or The Chicks, so Kim was more than happy to seek fame and fortune, under contract to promoter John Harrigan’s mother, who ran the Hawaiian Eye Bistro. In Sydney, she appeared on John Laws’s television show singing ‘Seven League Boots’ and featured on Bandstand several times. Over the next couple of years Kim played with a group a group called The Electric Flowers, working outside and around Sydney before being invited to a six-month residency in Bangkok.

Meantime, Wally Scott ran into Peter Nelson, from Christchurch band The Castaways. Nelson had sung a few times with well-known Sydney nightclub band The In People, who had asked him to join them on a stint in Hong Kong. He told Wally that Western musicians could do well in the Far East and so Wally set off to Thailand on holiday but with an eye on the nightclubs.

“I knew Wally was playing in a band called The Inner Souls in Bangkok but I didn’t tell him I was coming, I wanted to surprise him.” That sure worked, for the friendship turned to romance and they married and moved in together.

One day Peter Nelson called from Bangkok, and asked Wally to bring his wife to Hong Kong, where Peter was forming a band to be called Renaissance. He asked if Wally could recommend a bass player and Wally suggested Billy Kristian, also from The Invaders. Wally said yes, but Kim still had three months left on the Electric Flowers contract in Bangkok and joined later.

IN SINGAPORE, 
KIM GAVE UP SINGING TO TAKE CARE OF HER SON, AND MODELLING WORK CONTINUED.

Kim and Wally’s first child was born in Hong Kong, then Renaissance left for Singapore and a contract at the new, unopened Hilton Hotel. Accommodation was provided but the band took care of their own food bills. Kim gave up singing to take care of her son when he was born and modelling work continued. A second child was born later in Bangkok, two years after the first.

In January 1971 Renaissance moved to the famous Mugen nightclub in Japan. They were there for five months then Peter announced a six-month contract in Hawaii. Wally and Kim went but visa problems for Peter Nelson meant the contract fell through and Renaissance fell apart six months later after they completed their contract in Waikiki. Wally joined another local band in Honolulu as they had American visas.

Kim and Wally moved to Texas, where they had a third child. There they found entrepreneurial work flipping houses and painting guitars but Wally discovered a mole that he had had between his toes as a child had developed into melanoma and the family moved back to New Zealand. In February 1980, Wally died in Christchurch so Kim and children moved back to the North Island. 

One night at a birthday party hosted by ex-All Black Sid Going whom Kim had known at school, she met Stan Semenoff, then a Whangarei truck driver. The couple married and Kim had two further children. Stan developed his one-truck business into a trucking and haulage company and for 12 years became the Mayor of Whangārei. Kim and Stan continued to live in Whangārei in the years that followed.

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Kim Krueger passed away on 1 January 2024.