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Post by martindn on Jan 10, 2009 2:39:58 GMT
Don't worry about the length of your posts Cherany. Some of mine have been pretty long too. It is nice to give good value for money (even when there isn't any). And I enjoyed reading your story anyway. It is always nice to hear how people discovered Hayley. Martin
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Post by Richard on Jan 10, 2009 8:36:01 GMT
Lovely story, Cherany!  Thanks for posting it in such great detail.  Best Wishes, Richard  |
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Post by postscript on Jan 10, 2009 10:19:18 GMT
I am sorry I missed the original post by Steve that Cherany quoted. To think that someone not a Kiwi, came across Hayley and siblings in situ before it all began. In fact to have been there over the period before it happened and when things started to happen. Who else in the world but the Westenra siblings (probably Hayley's initiative) would think of putting up a sandwich board saying why they were no longer appearing there?
Now that is new news, I've not heard before.
Peter S.
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Post by Richard on Jan 10, 2009 12:48:29 GMT
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Dave
Administrator
HWI Admin
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Post by Dave on Jan 10, 2009 14:02:32 GMT
Hi Richard, Oh never mind...  Peter, Steve's post may not be what it seems... Cheers, Dave |
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Post by Cherany on Jan 10, 2009 16:29:42 GMT
Don't worry, Cherany, I thoroughly enjoyed reading it. You carry on and we'll see you in the Maestro category before you know it!  No she won't, you know, not with every post as long as that, Cherany won't have enough hours in the day to post them!  Too true! |
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Post by petertong on Jan 31, 2009 9:10:52 GMT
Hi fellow Hayley nuts, I actually discovered Hayley about a year before I really discovered her. I was researching some strange topic and surfing on it when I ran across an interview by some old man sitting in a chair with this pretty girl sitting across from him. I think the interview took place in Boston. Anyways I loved her accent straight away and listened for about 5 minutes or so and thought okay this is a young artist that is pretty whom i've never heard of that has a cool accent. So I just went on to other things. It was about a year later that I was on youtube and came across her singing in a video at a an ice skating extravaganza in Canada... When she started to sing I was just like wow... tears. Her voice was just SO beautiful. After that I couldn't get enough of listening to her voice... especially the very high notes. And I've been a fan ever since... although lately I've not been listening to her as much. I also credit Hayley for getting me into genealogy as well... and thereby for finding some of my long lost Nova Scotia relatives. You see I had told my mother that I wouldn't mind going to that Celtic Colours festival... and she mentioned something which I did not previously know... which was that we had tons of relatives up in Nova Scotia. So I ended up doing my family tree... and found them... and then as a test case I also did Hayley's family as a sort of scientific experiment to see how related I was to any random person with English blood (15th cousins  ... I probably should not have done that as Hayley is a living person (I literally had to catalog all the Westenra's in ChristChurch to determine how they were all related to each other) but I love research and didn't know any better at the time so hopefully she forgives me for my ignorant exhuberance with regards to her very unique surname It was fun research wise though. I can honesty still say (after doing dozens and dozens of trees for friends) that Hayley has not only the most amazing voice I've ever heard, but she also has the most amazing family tree i've run across... Of course I still get chills every time i hear her sing high notes.... and when she attends public functions with nobility in attendance I usually know how she is related to those people lol... Cheers, Peter T. |
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Martin
Global Moderator
HWI Management Team
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Post by Martin on Jan 31, 2009 10:21:55 GMT
Hi All I think it was in early 2006 when we got one of those free cd's in a Sunday newspaper supplement. This particular one was a classical cd comprising every "popular" classical artist of the time. The first track on the cd was "Pokarekana Ana" and when I heard it I instantly thought that I like that. In fact, I liked it a lot! Not much happened then until Spring 2006 when I bought the Odyssey UK special edition cd and was completely left speechless. Not only had I never heard a singer like that before but also every track became an instant favourite. "Pure" then became an immediate must for my collection. Later that summer I first saw Hayley live at a dinner/concert near Runnymede, backed by Fiona and Ian, and the rest as they say is history. I wonder now what would have happened had that cd not been in the newspaper? The simple answer is that I would still be writing this post today but describing a different sequence of events. Always did believe in fate. Martin ps My one big disappointment is that I can no longer find that first discovery cd. |
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Post by roger on Jan 31, 2009 10:26:19 GMT
I was researching some strange topic and surfing on it when I ran across an interview by some old man sitting in a chair with this pretty girl sitting across from him. I think the interview took place in Boston. Hi Peter, Huh, he'll love that! Actually, the "old man" is not much older than I am! It is Gary Scovil who was a great friend of Simon's (one of HWI's founders) who was very active in Hayley's Yahoo Discussion Group (which was also run by Simon). Yes, the interview took place in Boston and was recorded as an HWI exclusive. For anyone who hasn't seen it, the videos are available on HWI, here: Roger |
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Martin
Global Moderator
HWI Management Team
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Post by Martin on Jan 31, 2009 12:04:42 GMT
Hi Roger
Thanks for highlighting this video interview, it was delightful.
I never ever realised that Hayley had given an exclusive interview to HWI. How did we manage that?
Best wishes
Martin
ps Whatever came of the bag?
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Post by petertong on Jan 31, 2009 21:09:15 GMT
Hi Roger, LOL... thanks for clarifying that. Maybe he isn't old after all... and I'm just misremembering i.postimg.cc/9fYxy370/smilie-big-grin.gif It was fun watching it even though I had no idea who Hayley was at the time. I must give Hayley credit for something else though too... and that is now I have a much great appreciation for New Zealand and what a beautiful place it is as well as an appreciation for how the city of ChristChurch started and the trials and travails of those first settlers there... Oh well I hope Gary doesn't kill me for the old comment I was researching some strange topic and surfing on it when I ran across an interview by some old man sitting in a chair with this pretty girl sitting across from him. I think the interview took place in Boston. Hi Peter, Huh, he'll love that! Actually, the "old man" is not much older than I am! It is Gary Scovil who was a great friend of Simon's (one of HWI's founders) who was very active in Hayley's Yahoo Discussion Group (which was also run by Simon). Yes, the interview took place in Boston and was recorded as an HWI exclusive. For anyone who hasn't seen it, the videos are available on HWI, here: Roger |
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Post by Caitlin on Feb 1, 2009 6:33:10 GMT
Hi everyone I love all the interesting stories in here. I remember specifically what I was doing. I was working on a paper for school and listening to a new age radio station on my computer. All of a sudden this picture of a dark haired girl caught my eye, and then I tuned into the music. It was "Who Painted The Moon Black." I loved the song so I immediately stopped writing my paper and searched Hayley Westenra. This was long before Pure was released in the US, and it never occurred to me that I might buy it online from somewhere else. In any case, I survived on the samples on Hayley's official site for months until I could buy Pure. <3 Caitlin |
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Post by fusilier23 on Feb 1, 2009 19:28:36 GMT
Depends on what you mean by discovered her. I think I first HEARD of her back in my Charlotte Church fan days when the forums there were a little friendlier to other artists, but' I'll freely admit that I didn't pay too much attention to her then. After Charlotte started to implode personally and professionally I turned my focus to Hayley, saw her in NYC, and the rest is history.
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Post by martindn on Feb 1, 2009 21:05:30 GMT
Depends on what you mean by discovered her. I think I first HEARD of her back in my Charlotte Church fan days when the forums there were a little friendlier to other artists, but' I'll freely admit that I didn't pay too much attention to her then. After Charlotte started to implode personally and professionally I turned my focus to Hayley, saw her in NYC, and the rest is history. I think we are pretty friendly to everyone here. We have all these boards threads for other artists. Hayley is the best, I don't think we live in fear of anyone else! Martin |
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Post by I-H-F on Feb 1, 2009 22:19:38 GMT
After Charlotte started to implode personally and professionally I turned my focus to Hayley, saw her in NYC, and the rest is history. I wouldn't say she imploded. I'm sure most of us seen the photographs of Charlotte in the papers, after her infamous nights on the town. But what do you expect? She was only about 18 or 19 then, out with her friends enjoying herself. Its hardly a crime. Yes, she took a different musical direction (wrong decision, in my opinion). Maybe she wasn't happy with what she was doing, musically. Who knows? Now she settled, with two kids. Has her own TV show, and seems happy. Good luck to her, I say. |
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