NZ blues great mourned

NZ blues and soul music great Sonny Day (Hone Wikaira) has died from respiratory complications aged 64. Day launched his career in the late 1950s with his band Sonny Day and the Sharks, which later became Sonny Day and the Sundowners. He went on to play with the All Stars, Crow, Caravan, Sonny Day and the Breeze, and Tall Dark and Out of It. “He was a gentleman and he was a party animal,” said Day’s good friend and promoter, John Dix. “You could say that at the end he died because of his lifestyle – all those smoky clubs.” Sonny Day’s tangi was held at Motukaraka Marae in Kohukohu, Hokianga.