Wellington City Libraries

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Bill Lake

Decade(s) active:

From AudioCulture:

At a board meeting of the stalwarts of Wellington’s R&B scene, Bill Lake would sit near the top of the table. From the moment he stepped off the boat from Australia in 1967 – over half a century ago – Lake has been heavily involved in the dissemination of blues and roots music in the city. He has also been a leading songwriter, for groups in which he has been a member – The Windy City Strugglers, The Pelicans, and The Living Daylights among them – and for many other artists. Lake describes himself as having “parallel careers”. As well as a dedicated songwriter, guitarist and band leader since the late 1960s, Lake has been a scholar – of Mississippi country blues, and of philosophy. His PhD on Wittgenstein has been a lifelong project, so too has writing songs about characters that are unmistakeably from Wellington – as are the musical settings. (Read more...)

Elsewhere online:

On our catalogue:

Music we hold — on our catalogue

The majority of our Wellington CD collection is available from our Te Awe Branch in Brandon St, or able to be reserved for free from our Distribution Centre in Johnsonville.

We say:

Bill Lake arrived in Wellington from Canberra in 1967, bringing with him an extensive knowledge of country blues styles and formidable skills on guitar, harmonica and vocals.
Over the years Bill has also developed in to one of the country’s best singer-songwriters. He has also fronted some of Wellington’s most loved bands such as the Pelicans the Living Daylights and his current vehicle the Laconics, as well as the Windy City Strugglers.


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