Shining Star

Very good vinyl,  clean gloss cover.

Allison Durbin was born in Auckland in 1950, where she grew up and attended Westlake Girls High. Having started singing at the age of 5, she spent six years with Uncle Tom's Friendly Road Children's Choir, along  with her six brothers and sisters. Whilst at high school, Allison began to haunt the local youth clubs, where she got to know the bands quite well. She was always hassling the bands at Dave Dunningham's Surfside to get them to let her get up on stage and sing a song or two, to show off her vocal talent. In 1963, she entered and won a talent quest at the Surfside Ballroom, prompting Dunningham to contact Eldred Stebbing from Zodiac Records.

Stebbing was impressed and before she had turned 14, Allison Durbin had recorded her debut single, "Count On Me"/"Lover's Lane", for Zodiac. It didn't sell very well, so another was tried, "Rules Of Happiness"/"Two Shadows" with the same result. It was her third single that got her going. She did a cover of "Can't You Hear My Heartbeat" with "Little Brother" on the reverse and this version out-sold the original by Herman's Hermits, giving Allison her first hit. She did one more single in 1965 for Zodiac called "Mix It Up"/"Little Girl Go Home".

In 1966 Allison then teamed up with the Mike Perjanik Band in the studio and released two singles on the Impact label. The first was "Sailor Boy"/"My Last Date", followed by "Borrow My Love"/"Don't Let It Happen". Before long she was featuring as the band's vocalist in their live work. Now only 16, she set off on a nationwide dance spot tour with special guest Tommy Adderley. After this, she did it again as part of the 'Impact Label Show", before appearing in a series of engagements in the South Island.

In October 1966, she and the Mike Perjanik Band moved across the Tasman for a residency at Sydney's Coogee Bay Hotel, before moving into the prestigious Latin Quarter in May 1967. After nine months, she left the band to pursue a solo career. She worked clubs and hotels, and returned briefly to New Zealand to tour with Gene Pitney. She was booked for a large amount of TV work, appearing on Bandstand, the Go Show, It's All Happening and others, all of which helped to put a professional gloss on her performances and win her new fans.

By the time Allison returned to New Zealand in late 1967, she was a professional. She'd learnt her craft and her television appearances displayed none of nervousness other 17 year olds betrayed. Now managed by Doug Elliot, she was signed up to a new contract with HMV in 1968.

Durbin's first HMV release was a cover of Morgana King's "I Have Loved Me A Man", backed with "Sand". Produced by Howard Gable, the song sold in excess of 30,000 copies in New Zealand, easily the best-selling local release of the year, spending two weeks at number one and collecting the 1968 Loxene Golden Disc Award. With little promotion, it also cracked the Australian charts, running abreast with the Morgana King version. Her first album "I Have Loved Me A Man" was also released at this time.