BillKath.com
Title
Auckland Storyteller, Magician, Puppet Lady, Folk Musicians - top childrens and family entertainers Bill and Kath Worsfold (Birthday Party, Barn Dance, Ceili Musician, Caller)
Description
Bill was born and raised in Northland, New Zealand, spending his childhood on a dairy farm, and his later youth on Auckland's North Shore. His Northland roots later led him to write a collection of great songs about the area. I grew up in Southern Ontario, Canada (where in my teens I was part of an all-girl trio that sang at fairs, etc.), and moved to Auckland in my early twenties. We both have long histories as folksingers and musicians.
We first worked together in 1979, when we formed Auckland based Irish band "Napper Tandy". Bill was lead singer and played guitar, tenor banjo and bouzouki, and I sang and played piano-accordion.
In 1981 we moved to Sydney and joined a band as full time career musicians, playing school shows and barn dances. When the band broke up the next year, we decided to continue as a duo. We learned lots of Australian songs, learned to call barn dances, and did many and various gigs - concerts, dances, walkarounds, street fairs and kids shows. Friendships with other immigrant musicians in Sydney stimulated our interest in folk music from other parts of the world (especially Latin America and Eastern Europe), and eventually led us to develop the WORLD OF MUSIC show that we introduced to New Zealand schools in 1993.
