NZ Recording Guru Stebbing Dies

Eldred Stebbing, the father of New Zealand’s recording industry, died Dec. 7. He was 88.

Leaving school at age 10 after the death of his father, Stebbing started out running a sound system company supplying audio equipment for public gatherings in the 1930s.

In 1958 he set up a recording studio in the family home’s basement where acts including the La De Das and Dragon recorded.
His record label Zodiac had its biggest hit – and New Zealand’s first international chart success – in 1963 with Ray Columbus & The Invaders’s “She’s A Mod.”

His 40-year-old Stebbing Recording Centre remains the country’s sole DVD manufacturing centre.

Stebbing received a lifetime achievement award at the NZ Music Awards in 2002, and was made a member of the NZ Order of Merit in 2004.