Daniel Keighley Photo: audioculture.co.nz
This week, music festival organiser and music manager Daniel Keighley died of cancer aged 63. Best known as the director of five of the Sweetwaters music festival. Initially held at Ngaruawahia and Pukekawa between 1980 and 1984, the Sweetwaters legacy disastrously ended after the 1999 event failed financially leaving Keighley bankrupt and owing about $2.7 million. He was ultimately jailed for fraud in 2000.
During his long career in the music business, Keighley also managed artists such as Muttonbirds and Screaming Mee Mees, and more recently founded the Parihaka Peace Festival and the Taranaki Access Radio station.
Longtime friend Trevor Reekie talks to Sam Wicks about his friend "who had a heart of gold".
