Total Man

Very smart clean vinyl with a good cover showing shelf wear and 5 cm split on bottom seam.

Shane was born in England as Trevor  Hales, but went by the name Shane or Shane Hales.

Shane's first outing in New Zealand music  was when he became a member of the Pleazers in 1966 as a replacement for Bob Cooper in their line-up. He stayed with them  until they broke up in June 1967, by which time he already had ideas of his own  about setting up a band he wanted to call the Shane Group. He set off to  Wellington along with his friend from the Pleazers,  Gus Fenwick, to recruit new musicians for his group. He couldn't find the right  people at the time and decided to put his idea on hold for a short time when he  was offered the job of becoming front man for Auckland band Jamestown Union.

Shane decided only to stay with them for a  short while, leaving to have another attempt at forming the Shane Group.  This time he got back together with Gus and took Arthur Young from Jamestown Union with him. He added Mike  Wilson on guitar and Glen Absolum on drums, and with Gus on bass, his line-up  was complete. They had a residency spot at the 1480 Village in Durham Lane  in Auckland, but by 1968 Shane had decided to go it alone as a solo performer under the name Shane. The remnants of the  Shane Group he left behind became the nucleus of the Apple by  adding Bruce Sontgen as their vocalist.

Before going truly solo, Shane convinced  Eldred Stebbing of Zodiac Records to record him with a Bee Gees song  called "The Town Of Tuxley Toymaker", backed with "Breaking My Heart" in 1967.  It received good airplay in Auckland, which helped it make the local charts, but  nationally it didn't get a look in.

In 1968, TV Producer Kevin Moore was  looking for a replacement singer for his TV show "C'mon", as current vocalist Mr Lee Grant was London bound. After Kevin's  first series of auditions, Gene Pierson,  an Australian singer based in Auckland was in the front running for the spot.  After the audition, Gene invited Kevin Moore and Phil Warren to check out his  live act. Not a smart move, as the backing group that night was the Shane Group.  After the show, Kevin and Phil approached Shane and asked him to come along for  an audition. Initially he didn't want to as he felt loyal to the other members  of his group, but after thinking about it for a few days he went along and after  his audition was offered the job.

With this success he now officially left  the Shane Group. The new series of "C'mon"  started in mid 1968 and immediately the NZBC started receiving enormous amounts  of fan mail for Shane. Sure proof that television is the best exposure as a  career-booster. Another regular "C'mon" performer at that time was Ray Columbus and he became Shane's manager  and record producer. His first official solo single, on the Festival label, was  "I'll Take You With Me"/"Mountain Of Love" and it sank without a trace.  Undeterred, Ray chose a John Denver song as the next one, and put one of  his own on the reverse. "Leaving On A Jet Plane"/"Something To Shout About".  "Jet Plane" didn't quite make the national charts, but did very well in Auckland  where it became a top 5 song.

Over the summer months, the "C'mon" team  went on a series of national tours, and by the time the next series of "C'mon"  screened in 1969, Shane had been offered a record contract with HMV, which he  was happy to have. The record companies had a lot of power with their artists  around that time. HMV selected Harry Nilsson's "Cuddly Toy" with "Go Ask  Your Man" on the reverse, as his first single and Shane wasn't overly happy with  the choice, as the Monkees version had been around for more than a year.  Again it was a top 3 hit in Auckland, but never made the national charts.

They certainly hit the jackpot with their  next pick. "Saint Paul" was an obscure Terry Knight song based on the "Paul  McCartney is dead" rumours that were circulating at the time. "Saint Paul"/"Too  Late For Years" was released in August and within three weeks it was at the  number one spot on the national charts, a position it held for six weeks. Peter  Dawkins was Shane's producer and as a result of this hit he got him back into  the studio immediately to record enough tracks to release an album. The result  was "Rainy Day Man" and it sold well for Shane.

Saint Paul" was also entered into the  1969 Loxene Gold Disc Awards and as expected had no trouble taking out the title  of best local record of the year. The follow-up single in December was "Lady  Samantha"/"The Drifter". "Lady Samantha" was a song written by a couple of  unknowns at the time, Bernie Taupin and Elton John. Shane's  version was given a very distinctive guitar track by Tom Thumb's Mike  Farrell. The single also did well on the national charts, reaching number 3.

Early in 1970, former Pleazers guitarist, Bruce "Phantom" Robinson  became Shane's musical director. They began work on Shane's second album "A  Natural Man", from which the title track was released as the next single with  "Meet On The Ledge" on the reverse.

Peter Dawkins found a song that he gave to  Shane and Bruce to listen to. They thought it would make a good single, but more  for a group than a soloist, so they put together some of the top musicians  around at the time to form a group for a one-off project. The group was called Zonk and consisted of Shane on vocals, Bruce Robinson on lead guitar,  Rufus Rehu on keyboards, Bruno Lawrence on drums, and Rick White on bass guitar. Craig  Scott and Alan Galbraith were  both also there to lend a hand. Rufus and Bruno were currently with Quincy Conserve at the time and Rick White  was with Tom Thumb. The single they released in 1970 was "Heya"/"Along  Life's Road".

"St Paul" was released overseas and  started doing very well in Europe, especially Germany. So Shane and Bruce  Robinson set off to do a tour of Germany. They left on a cruise ship and had a  stopover in New York on the way. While they were in transit, Shane's next single  "Get It Together"/"Tired Of Running" was released back home. Meanwhile, the Zonk single was released in the US, where it received favourable reviews.  United Artists, whose label the single had been released on wanted to line up  some gigs to support the single, but unfortunately Shane had now left New York  and was on his way to Europe. In England, United Artists wanted to do the same  thing, but Shane was committed to a two month tour of Germany and had to turn it  down.

After the tour Shane returned to London  and signed with Red Bus Music as a songwriter. He also managed to record some  tracks at Abbey Road Studios. Back in New Zealand, another single, "No  Regrets"/"Song Inside Me", was released from his second album. Things were  looking good for Shane, when unfortunately disaster struck. His fiancé was  killed in a car accident and devastated, Shane returned to New Zealand. He was  unable to cope with the grieving process, and turning to his music, he went into  a long recording session and put down enough tracks for another album. It  included most of the tracks he had written in London and also two songs, "I  Didn't Get To Loving You" and "Sixteen Seasons" as dedications to his fiancé  Jan. The "Sixteen Seasons" was a reference to the four years they had spent  together. The album was called "Straight Straight Straight" and released in  1971. The only single to come from the album was "Burn Burn"/"John Hope

The closest he came to British stardom was  with the heavy metal band Killa Hz, a popular support act in the late  seventies. This band also included Leith Corbett, from The Dave Miller Set. In 1980, Shane fell off stage during a performance and broke his  pelvis. During his recuperation, Killa Hz disbanded, and in December 1981  he returned to New Zealand.

He struck a deal with WEA in 1982 and  began recording again. His first single for them was "Starting Out All Over  Again"/"You Can't Change Me". He followed this in 1983 with "Don't Play That  Song Again"/"Too Good To Stop Now" and a 12" single "Total Man"/"Another Night  With The Boys"/"You Can't Change Me".

In 1986 Ode released an album in their  Portrait series called "Portrait '68-'86", which included most of Shane's hits  and two new songs which they released as a single, "We've Got All Night"/"Tear  It Up".

In 2001 EMI released a long awaited CD  called "Saint Paul - The Very Best Of Shane". This has all his singles, plus the  very first solo song he did, and the Zonk single, plus some album tracks.