When The Cats Away – Reuniting After 33 Years!

When The Cats Away are reuniting after 33 years to honour their beloved friend Margaret Urlich.

ONE NIGHT ONLY
AUCKLAND TOWN HALL
SUNDAY, 1 OCTOBER
TICKETS ON SALE FRIDAY VIA TICKETMASTER

One of New Zealand’s most cherished bands ever, When The Cat’s Away, will reunite for the first time in 33 years in a special, one-night-only event, to farewell their friend and fellow bandmate, Margaret Urlich, who sadly lost her life last year.

A TRIBUTE TO MARGARET URLICH at Auckland’s Town Hall on Sunday, 1 October will feature the four original members of the Hall of Fame group Debbie Harwood, Annie Crummer, Dianne Swann and Kim Willoughby, performing their biggest hits including Melting Pot and Asian Paradise.

The multi-media event will honour the extraordinary life of the singer described as a “true and rare talent, who lit up any room”, a four-time winner of New Zealand Female Vocalist of the Year, winner of Best Selling New Zealand Artist of the Year, an Aria-award winner, a mother and a friend. Proceeds from this event will go to Margaret’s family.

The event will also feature original members of the When the Cat’s Away backing band, Brett Adams and Gary Verberne on guitars and Holidaymakers’ maestro Barbara Griffin on keys, as well as The Band of Gold who have been Debbie and Margaret’s NZ band for the past 14 years. To honour Margaret’s solo career, there will be some very special guests joining When the Cat’s Away for performances of her songs Escaping, Only My Heart Calling, Room That Echoes, Boy in the Moon and more.
Founding member Debbie Harwood says the band, whose The Melting Pot Tour was the biggest tour in NZ music history, playing to over 85,000 people one summer, wanted to do something special to honour Margaret.

“Sadly we didn’t get to say goodbye,” says Debbie. “Marg lived in New South Wales, Covid and the closed borders meant we just couldn’t get there. We wanted to celebrate her life in the best possible way singing the songs we loved performing together.

Pre-sales to A TRIBUTE TO MARGARET URLICH begin today. All remaining tickets will be available at 9am this Friday, July 28. This is a one-off event and a rare chance to see some of New Zealand’s most successful artists together, performing a collection of our best-loved songs.

About When the Cat’s Away
When the Cat’s Away were a New Zealand vocal supergroup formed in 1986 for fun only to become one of our most successful bands ever.  Inducted into the New Zealand Music Hall of Fame in 2021 as a group, all members have also been honoured individually as inductees. Some background on the artists:
About Margaret
Margaret fronted Peking Man best known for their No1 hit ‘Room That Echoes’ before joining  When The Cat’s Away in 1986.  Margaret had phenomenal success with her debut album ‘Safety in Numbers’ in 1989. New Zealand born Urlich saw her first album steadily build into a major hit on the Australian charts.  By 1991, ‘Safety in Numbers’ had gained the singer three platinum albums in Australia and a No.1 platinum album and No1 single, ‘Escaping’, in her homeland.   Her second album ‘Chameleon Dreams’ took Margaret to Los Angeles where she wrote two songs with Ian Prince one of the key contributors to Quincy Jones ‘Back On The Block’ project.  Margaret completed the writing/production on the album with Tony Swain (best known for his work with Alison Moyet and Spandau Ballet). ‘Chameleon Dreams’ achieved Platinum Status in Australia and New Zealand.  On her third offering ‘The Deepest Blue’ Margaret returned to her partnership with British writer/producer Robin Smith.  Then in 1998 the seeds were sown for what was to become Margaret Urlich’s fourth album ‘Second Nature’.  Murray Thom of ‘The Great NZ Songbook’ fame, having always been a staunch exponent of Margaret’s, released her fourth album ‘Second Nature’.  With Eddie Rayner from Split Enz as producer this is an album of great songs written by great New Zealanders.  Margaret Urlich was a serious songwriter/performer, with a touch of dance floor diva and was an enthralling live performer.
https://www.audioculture/profile/margaret-urlich

About Debbie
In 1986 Debbie gathered together some young recording artists (and friends) to form the Kiwi phenomenon When the Cat’s Away that in the late 80s was named ‘Top Group’ at the NZ Music Awards as well as celebrating a gold album and the No 1 single Melting Pot.
Debbie also won Most Promising Female Vocalist in 1985, Most Promising Group in 1987 and was a finalist in the category of Best Female Artist at the 2005 NZ Music Awards for her album Soothe Me.  She has had a lasting impact on the NZ music scene both as a musician and in management and mentoring roles within the music industry.  She has also been a broadcaster for radio and television including reviewing music on Newstalk ZB as well as hosting her own show on Viva.  Debbie performed for the Queen and the Dalai Lama and sang on the official song for the Commonwealth Games in 1990. She joined Jimmy Barnes’ and Diesel’s bands as backing vocalist and toured Australia for two years in the early 90s.
Since 1996 Debbie has produced several albums (she was a finalist for Producer of the Year at the NZ Music Awards for her album Peaches) and owned a recording studio in Devonport with her former husband Rikki Morris called The Bus. For five years Debbie sat in the producer’s seat … singing on and producing numerous singles and albums.
When the Cat’s Away toured and recorded again in 2001 and 2002 achieving Platinum sales for their live album with Sharon O’Neill and had yet another hit single with Asian Paradise.
Debbie worked solidly with her band Debbie Harwood & The Band of Gold from 2006 until a few years ago when she was diagnosed with heart failure.  In 2019 she released an EP of her own songs called The Sun and cites this as the most fulfilling musical experience of her life. In 2022 all of When The Cat’s Away’s recordings were digitized and made available on streaming platforms. Performing at the Town Hall for her dear friend Margaret is a rare chance to see Debbie perform live.
https://www.audioculture.co.nz/profile/debbie-harwood

About Annie
Her voice has become one of New Zealand’s best-loved and most travelled voices. That voice has taken her from Avondale to Paisley Park, from local talent quests to duets with Sting, and back to her Rarotongan heritage.
Annie’s first single went Top 20 in 1981 when she was just 16, but it would be 1985 when Annie was propelled to national prominence featuring on the Netherworld Dancing Toys #1 hit For Today.
This was backed up in 1987 with another #1 single, this time with When The Cat’s Away.
Annie released her first solo album, the platinum-selling Language in 1992, which featured the sounds of Cook Islands choirs and log drummers recorded during one of the many return trips Annie made to her parents’ homeland.
Over the next decade she toured extensively, both as a headliner and as opener for some of the biggest international names including Ray Charles, Michael Jackson, Paul McCartney and Sting.
In 1998 she took a sabbatical from her solo career to join the cast of the first Australian production of Rent, returning to Aotearoa in 2001 for a When The Cat’s Away reunion tour.
In 2003, Annie took another musical theatrical role in Australia, this time as Killer Queen in the first international production of We Will Rock You. She also took a quick trip to the UK to re-record the Queen classic Another One Bites The Dust with original members Brian May and Roger Taylor, Brian May saying Annie had “the voice of one in a million”.
Annie musical output has been prolific, recording albums with her father Will Crummer, working with prisoners on Songs From The Inside series and contributing to her track Hina Ki Ti to Waiata Anthems, as well as constantly gigging across the country.
In 2001 Annie was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award at the Pacific Music awards and in 2017 was appointed a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit in the Queen’s Birthday Honours.
https://www.audioculture.co.nz/profile/annie-crummer

About Dianne
Dianne began her career as vocalist and songwriter for her band Everything That Flies, she then went on to become one of the original members of When the Cat’s Away, and released a solo song Something Good, which achieved NZ Top 20 chart status and a Silver Scroll nomination.
Dianne left WTCA to continue her love of songwriting and moved to London and formed the critically acclaimed band The Julie Dolphin with Brett Adams. The couple moved back to New Zealand after 13 years in the UK and formed The Bads.
In 2018 The Bads were shortlisted for the coveted Taite Music prize, adding to an impressive list of achievements throughout her career including; playing live to 85,000 people, signing to two international labels, recording with Radiohead, having her song Birthday chosen as NME single of the week and touring Australia with Tim Finn and accepting an invitation to play at the Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium.
https://www.audioculture.co.nz/profile/dianne-swann

About Kim
Kim’s career began as an 18-year-old when her flatmates asked her to join the band The Gurlz. She later signed up for the Supervised Performing Arts Training Scheme run out of TVNZ and led by Sir Howard Morrison. Her time was cut short when she was talent-scouted for Billy T James’ television show. Kim picked up her acting experience on the job in her roles on the Billy T James Show and her on-screen charm was magnetic, leading her to be cast in the seminal 1986 film, Queen City Rocker.
Kim met Annie Crummer during a performance on the TVNZ show Hui Pacific, the duo becoming in-demand vocalists for many groups of the era, notably both featuring on Netherworld Dancing Toys’ much-loved anthem, For Today.
Having already formed friendships with Debbie, Margaret & Annie, Kim was then drafted into When The Cat’s Away. Originally intended to be a side-project, the band caught everyone by surprise when it became a bone fide cultural phenomenon, selling out nationwide tours for years and establishing the singers as household names.
Kim took time out from performing in the 90s to raise a family, re-emerging in 2001 for a Cat’s reunion, and once again, selling out shows up and down the country. A live album of the tour reinforced Aotearoa’s love of the group, with Platinum-certified sales and a Top 10 chart position.
https://www.audioculture.co.nz/profile/kim-willoughby