Dame Lynda Topp | |
---|---|
Born | Lynda Bethridge Topp 14 May 1958 Huntly, New Zealand |
Occupation | Entertainer |
Years active | 1975–present |
Known for | Topp Twins musical duo Lesbian activism |
Relatives | Jools Topp (sister) |
Dame Lynda Bethridge Topp (born 14 May 1958), is one half of the Topp Twins, a music comedy duo of New Zealand, the other member being her twin sister Jools Topp. Lynda Topp has been singing and entertaining with her sister for decades, touring live music and comedy performances as well as TV and film. Both sisters were appointed Dames Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit in the 2018 Queen's Birthday Honours. [1]
On 14 May 1958, Jean Topp gave birth to twin sisters Lynda and Jools in Huntly, New Zealand. They have an older brother Bruce and their father is Peter. Lynda Topp grew up with her family on a dairy farm in Waikato. [1] Topp attended Ruawaro Combined School during the 1960s and early 1970s. [2] Lynda and Jools started singing together for other people when they were five years old, when they were nine their brother bought them a guitar from money he had saved up. [3] [4]
After leaving Huntly College in 1976, Jools and Lynda Topp joined the New Zealand Territorial Force and were posted at the Burnham Military Camp near Christchurch for six weeks. [5] When they were 17, they performed at the Victorian Coffee Lounge (Montreal Street, Christchurch Central City). This brought them into contact with radical lesbian feminists. They both started identifying as lesbian from the late 1970s. [5] [6] Much of their life has been in the public eye and their mother was interviewed by Radio New Zealand about the closure of the Women's Weekly magazine in 2020 talking about how much her children had been featured in these magazines. [7]
Lynda enjoys hunting and fly fishing, which is why she chose to live in the South Island of New Zealand. [8] Lynda has done many things in addition to being an entertainer, including running a café with her partner Donna in Methven, Canterbury. [9] [10] In March 2013, Lynda married her long-time partner Donna Luxton, a preschool teacher. [11] [12] At the time of their marriage, same-sex marriage was not legal in New Zealand, so the couple entered into a civil union as a substitute for marriage. [12] Same-sex marriage was made legal in New Zealand just a few months after the wedding. [13]
On the birth of a new generation with Lynda being a grandparent and Jools being a grand aunt they admitted they didn't expect it when they were younger because as they said: "We're all gay", referring also to their brother. [9] Both Lynda and Jools Topp use their celebrity status with humour to inform people of issues such as feminism, Māori land rights, homosexual law reform and nuclear free and have been recognised by the LGBT community as being inspirational. [14] [15] [16] [17]
Before the third reading of the Marriage (Definition of Marriage) Amendment Bill, which ultimately passed and legalised same-sex marriage in New Zealand, the Topp Twins publicly endorsed the bill in a post on their website. [18] In a statement, Lynda said: [19]
Everybody should be able to stand up and say "I'm getting married". A Civil Union is demeaning, this idea that you will never be good enough, that your love is somehow less than or not as worthy. There's no romance to it. And today, I feel more romantic and more in love than I've ever felt in my life.
In March 2022 Lynda and Jools revealed that they had both been diagnosed with breast cancer in 2021. [20]
Topp ran for election to the Ashburton District Council Western Ward in the 2022 local elections. [21] She was unsuccessful, coming third with 777 votes. [22]
Lynda Topp along with her sister Jools has had a long career in entertainment in New Zealand. They sing country and folk music with harmonies often to raise people's social consciousness. As entertainers Lynda Topp leads the comedy and "works the audience", and mostly Jools plays the guitar and leads the song making. [8] Lynda focused on yodelling. [23] The Topp Twins' popularity arose from a regular stint busking in Auckland when they were in their early 20s. They got taken to court for causing obstruction on Queen Street because their crowd was too big. They won the case and benefited from the publicity. Soon after that they travelled and performed to university crowds around New Zealand. [23] [4] They are well known for their costumed comedic characters such as Ken & Ken, and Camp Leader and Camp Mother. They have been a lot on TV in character including in 2000 hosting a quiz show called Mr and Mrs, in which couples answered questions about how well they knew each other, and a 2014 to 2016 cooking show called Topp Country. [1] [24]
The Aotearoa Music Awards (previously known as New Zealand Music Awards (NZMA)) are an annual awards night celebrating excellence in New Zealand music and have been presented annually since 1965.
Year | Nominee / work | Award | Result | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|
2008 | Lynda Topp (as part of Topp Twins) | New Zealand Music Hall of Fame | inductee | [25] |
2018 Topp Country: A Culinary Journey Through New Zealand with the Topp Twins by Jools Topp and Linda Topp ISBN 9780473442972 Hardcover (New Zealand)
She has also released five best-selling children’s audio books. [26]
The Topp Twins have released a number of vinyls, tapes, and CDs.
Fane Michael Flaws was a New Zealand musician, songwriter, director and artist.
John James Campbell is a New Zealand journalist and radio and television personality. He is currently a presenter and reporter at TVNZ; before that, he presented Checkpoint, Radio New Zealand's drive time show, from 2016 to 2018. For ten years prior to that, he presented Campbell Live, a 7 p.m. current affairs programme on TV3. He was a rugby commentator for Sky Sports during the All Blacks' test against Samoa in early 2015 — a fixture he had vocally campaigned for while hosting Campbell Live.
Anika Rose Moa is a New Zealand recording artist and television presenter. Her debut studio album Thinking Room, was released in September 2001, which reached number one on the New Zealand Albums Chart and provided two Top 5 singles, "Youthful" (2001) and "Falling in Love Again" (2002). Moa competed at the Rockquest songwriting contest in 1998, which led to a recording contract. She is the subject of two documentaries by film-maker Justin Pemberton: 3 Chords and the Truth: the Anika Moa Story (2003), detailing her signing to a record label and the release of Thinking Room, and In Bed with Anika Moa (2010) on her later career.
The Topp Twins are the folk singing and activist sister comedy duo of New Zealand entertainers Jools and Lynda Topp. They are known for their country music influenced style, live shows and television performances. They often perform as characters, the most notable being the roles Ken & Ken, and Camp Mother & Camp Leader.
The following lists events that happened during 1958 in New Zealand.
St Cuthbert's College is a private (independent) Presbyterian-based day and boarding school for girls aged 4 to 18, located in Epsom, Auckland, New Zealand.
Leanne Pooley ONZM is a Canadian filmmaker based in Auckland, New Zealand. Pooley was born and raised in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, she immigrated to New Zealand in the mid-1980s and began working in the New Zealand television and film industry before moving to England where she worked for many of the world's top broadcasters. She returned to New Zealand in 1997 and started the production company Spacific Films. Her career spans more than 25 years and she has won numerous international awards. Leanne Pooley was made a New Zealand Arts Laureate in 2011 and an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit in the New Year's Honours List 2017. She is a member of The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
Tony Colin Veitch is a New Zealand former reporter and sports broadcaster. He hosted a Radio Sport breakfast show and Television New Zealand's ONE News 6pm sports news. Veitch resigned from all broadcasting roles in the wake of domestic violence revelations in 2008 and a conviction in 2009, but later regained significant roles at Newstalk ZB and Radio Sport, until late 2017.
Hayley Doreen Holt is a New Zealand television presenter and former snowboarder and ballroom dancer, who presents sports news on 1 News At 6pm. She co-presented TVNZ Breakfast from 2018 to 2020 alongside Jack Tame and later John Campbell, and earlier was notable for her appearances on several reality television series, as well as co-hosting a networked breakfast show on More FM from 2012 to 2013. She stood in the 2017 general election for the Green Party.
Dame Catherine Winifred Harcourt, known professionally as Kate Harcourt, is a New Zealand actress. Over her long career she has worked in comedy as well as drama in theatre, film, TV and radio.
Toni Street is a New Zealand television presenter and sports commentator. She is best known for co-hosting the New Zealand current affairs programme Seven Sharp alongside Mike Hosking, as well as presenting morning shows and sports reporting for One News.
The 2012 New Zealand Television Awards were the new name of the New Zealand television industry awards, following the demise of the Aotearoa Film and Television Awards. The awards were held on Saturday 3 November at The Great Room of the Langham hotel in Auckland, New Zealand, with highlights screening on TV ONE on Sunday 4 November. The New Zealand Television Awards took a similar format to the previous Qantas Television Awards, honouring excellence in New Zealand television and television journalism. This was the final New Zealand television awards presentation organised by Think TV, after Television New Zealand withdrew its support in 2013.
The 2009 Qantas Film and Television Awards were held on Saturday 5 September at the Civic Theatre in Auckland, New Zealand. The craft awards were presented in a separate awards lunch at the Civic Theatre Friday 4 September. Highlights from the main awards evening were broadcast on TV3.
The 2008 APRA Silver Scroll Awards were held on Wednesday 10 September 2008 at the Auckland Town Hall, celebrating excellence in New Zealand songwriting. The Silver Scroll Award was presented to Jason Kerrison, Bobby Kennedy, Matt Treacy and Clinton Harris for the Opshop song "One Day", and the country duo Topp Twins were inducted into the New Zealand Music Hall of Fame. The event also paid tribute to singer-songwriter Mahinārangi Tocker who had died earlier in 2008.
Leon Gordon Alexander Narbey is a New Zealand cinematographer.
The Topp Twins: Untouchable Girls is a New Zealand documentary film, directed by Leanne Pooley and released in 2009. The film profiles The Topp Twins, a lesbian comedy music duo from New Zealand.
Ruawaro is a rural community in the Waikato District and Waikato region of New Zealand's North Island, situated south of Lake Whangape and west of Huntly.
Dame Julie Bethridge Topp, known as Jools Topp, is one half of the Topp Twins, a music comedy duo from New Zealand; the other member is her twin sister Lynda Topp. Jools Topp has been singing and entertaining with her sister for decades, touring live music and comedy performances as well as performing in TV and film. The sisters were both appointed Dames Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit in the 2018 Queen's Birthday Honours.
Michèle Edith A'Court is a New Zealand comedian, writer and feminist. She has toured New Zealand and international venues with her standup comedy shows and in 2010 was awarded the Female Comedian of the Decade at the NZ Comedy Guild Awards. A'Court has appeared in many TV shows since the late 1980s including What Now, 7Days and The Project. She is a regular columnist with The Spinoff and the author of two books. She was appointed an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit, for services to the entertainment and comedy industries, in the 2023 New Year Honours.