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Rim D Paul

'' 'An exciting voice, terrific rhythm and massive personality make him one to watch. Here’s a potential top liner if ever I saw one.’ (Review of Rim D Paul’s support act for Rosemary Clooney, The Sun, Sydney, 1966)''

Rimini Dennis Paul was born and raised in Rotorua, New Zealand, the son of blind musician Taiatini (Tai) Paul. His tribal affiliations include Ngāti Whakaue, Ngāti Pikiao, Ngāti Pūkeko, Ngāti Awa, Ngāti Whakahemo, and Ngāti Makino. Rim’s upbringing was rich with music, Maōri language, and culture. Known to Friends and Family as Dinny, he first became seriously intrested with music at Te Aute Māori Boys College in Hawkes Bay where he formed a singing group called the Teenage Rebels. When Rim left school 1958, he joined his father’s band, Tai Paul and his Pohutu Boys. Ike Metekingi was recruiting for the second Maori Hi Five Company showband when he spotted Rim D Paul in a Wellington talent quest in 1960. Rim initially joined the Maori Hi Quins as their bass guitarist. The showband left New Zealand for Australia, and Rim became their lead singer.

This was the beginning of the Maori Showband Invasion with the Hi Quins breaking all kinds of records and crowd attendances. The Hi Quins were ready to follow the sucessful Maori Hi-Five starting in Piccadilly, London and makin there way around Europe including Spain, France, Germany and Sweeden. Rim sang for the Hi Quins until Lynn Rogers joined the group in 1963. The following year, Rim left the Hi Quins and joined the Quin Tikis. He performed with them for three years, then in 1967 embarked on a solo career.

A career highlight was supporting American recording star Rosemary Clooney at Chequers nightclub in Sydney, at the time the No.1 Nightspot in all of Australia. Rim stood in as the Headlining Act for Rosemary for two nights due to illness. Standing ovations at each of the performances paved the way for Rim to be a regular feature on all major Australian TV Networks and the bookings came flooding in. Over the next 20 years Rim starred in all the major venues in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Gold Coast and Adelaide as well as performances in Hawaii, Phillipines, Bangkok, Japan, Hong Kong and New Zealand. Rim performed in two films by New Zealand director John O’Shea. Runaway was made in 1964, and Rim sang the title song. In 1966, he featured with the Quin Tikis and Howard Morrison in Don’t Let It Get You. Since his showband days, Rim’s involvement in Maōri music has continued, including collaborating with Kingi Ihaka and Paraire Huata to form the National Māori Choir in 1990 and has written several music education programmes for Kohunga Reo(Early Childhood Learning) through to Unversity.

He also served on the board of Puatangi, the contempary music arm of Toi Maori for over 15 years.

In 2008 he recieved the Music Industry Award at the Waiata Maori Awards for his contribution to the industry.