Johnny Tahu Cooper
New Zealand rock and roll musician and entrepreneur
Johnny Tahu Cooper (23 July 1929 – 3 September 2014) was a New Zealand entertainer and performed both in the country and rock and roll genres. He had the distinction of recording the first rock and roll song in New Zealand.
Background
He was also known as The Maori Cowboy, was a pioneering New Zealand rock and roll musician and entrepreneur. His cover of "Rock Around the Clock", a song popularised by Bill Haley & His Comets, is considered to be the first rock and roll song recorded in New Zealand. His 1955 single, "Pie Cart Rock 'n' Roll", was the first original rock song recorded and released in New Zealand. His song, "Look What You've Done", was covered by Johnny Devlin and became a national favourite, appearing in the 1994 film Once Were Warriors.
Death
Cooper died at his home in Naenae on 3 September 2014 at age 85.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Johnny Tahu Cooper” as new Zealand rock and roll musician and entrepreneur. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
Why this record matters
The subject matters to the people & ideas register because the source frames it as new Zealand rock and roll musician and entrepreneur. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
Chronology provides the most reliable spine for this subject; interpretation should follow only after identities and dates are secure. The source revision retrieved here is dated Apr 24, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q110620677. VIAF identifies the subject as 19151595798005470003. The Library of Congress control number is no2018002965. None of the 3 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1929, 2014, 1955 and 1994.
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This entry incorporates text from “Johnny Tahu Cooper” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.