Margaret Urlich in 1989 Photo: Audioculture
New Zealand singer Margaret Urlich was living in Australia and working as a high school music teacher when she died of cancer last week aged 57.
Back in 1999, she spoke to RNZ about her music career and why she was happy to leave the industry behind.
Margaret Urlich - Peking Man Photo:
Although she always loved singing, Margaret said that because she was a shy and unconfident child, she never thought she'd be a professional.
But after a stint picking fruit in the South Island, the 19-year-old saw her brother Pat's new band Peking Man play their first gig in Devonport.
Seeing her charismatic and talented brother onstage was a "pivotal point", she said.
"I thought if he can do it, I can do it… I remember going home and thinking wow, I want to do that."
After hanging around rehearsals, Pat invited Margaret to do some backing vocals on demos and she eventually joined Peking Man as a lead vocalist.
"Pat was the lead singer, he was really good. I didnt feel confident enough to be out front. I literally spent the first six months so totally terrified that I would just look at my feet.
"I used to dance a lot because I was so nervous I didnt know what else to do. I thought I can't just stand here looking like an idiot … we were totally uncool."
Pat and Margaret co-wrote Peking Man's number one single Room That Echoes (1985) from their self-titled debut album.
But Pat always wanted to be the lead singer of the band, Margaret said, which led to competition between them that made the band unsustainable.
"People do like females as lead singers and I was getting a lot of attention… and I felt bad because it wasn't my band it was pat's band. I almost in a way felt guilty about the attention, and it wasn't good for me… Sibling rivalry and conflict between supporting your sibling and competing against your sibling - there's a whole can of worms there."
Peking Man did as well as they could in New Zealand, she said, and then tried, unsuccessfully, to establish themselves in Australia.
At one of the band's final shows in Auckland, local singers Debbie Harwood and Annie Crummer came backstage.
Debbie had the idea of getting a group of female vocalists together, and over cups of tea at Crummer's house, When the Cat's Away was formed with Kim Willoughby and Dianne Swann.
In 1988, that band had a number one hit with their cover of the song 'Melting Pot', but Margaret says for her the band was "never a big career move".
"It was just five friends having a really great time. And we were such idiots onstage. In a way, it really chilled me out a lot and for the first time, I contemplated having a solo career. I thought 'this is fun, I could keep doing this'."
When Sony Music first approached Margaret about making a solo album, she first thought it was a tall order but moving to Sydney in the late 1980s, a whole new world opened up.
At the time, Margaret loved the sound of the Australian band Rockmelons and enlisted their producer Robert Smith for Safety in Numbers, which was released in 1989.
Her first solo single 'Escaping' went to number one in NZ and Safety in Numbers went triple platinum in Australia.
"A lot of women bought the album who were similar to my age. I really reached the mass audience, which is quite hard to do actually. But once you get there you become a household name."
After Safety in Numbers, Margaret wanted to do a "dance-groove album" and in 1992 released the follow-up Chameleon Dreams.
Although it did "quite well" sales of Chameleon Dreams were nothing near Safety in Numbers and Margaret was feeling at a loose end.
"By that stage, my relationship with Sony had gone a bit stale. I just had a feeling this album wasn't going to do anything. I was a bit lacklustre, a bit stale, I suppose.
"By that stage, there were other female vocalists that had come along and I really thought what's the point?
"There was a period of six months where I really thought 'gee, that Woolworths job is looking really good."
Margaret went on to release the 1995 album The Deepest Blue and in 1999 Second Nature - an album of cover versions of New Zealand songs that would be her last.
At this point, Margaret said she no longer felt like she had a lot to "prove" as a performer.
"In your 20s you're striving to make your mark and it's nice not to have that pressure, not to pressure myself as much as I used to. I'm happy. I've got a happy relationship and I've got a family and it's kind of cool. I'm not so desperate to be successful."
Related:
Music 101 host Charlotte Ryan pays tribute to Margaret Urlich
NZ Live - Margaret Urlich and Debbie Harwood
Margaret Urlich talks to Jesse Mulligan about the 1985 album Peking Man
