Music Industry News

For today’s Video of the Day, we celebrate the legendary Willie Hona who sadly passed away on Sunday.

As part of a life-long career in music, singer-guitarist Willie Hona was a member of iconic Pacific reggae band Herbs. Joining in 1983, he became the band’s charismatic frontman and a well-known face on stages and screens in Aotearoa throughout the 80s.

This video is for ‘Long Ago’, with thanks to NZ On Screen. The title track to the album released in 1984, Hona told AudioCulture “‘Long Ago’ is a country song. I wrote that about my mum and things that happened long ago with my mum, really”. It was one of the many songs written for Herbs by Hona, alongside ‘Listen’ and ‘Nuclear Waste’.

Moe mai rā e hoa.

Photo credit: Kevin Hill