Lap Guitar

This is the lap steel guitar of Bill Sevesi. Wilfred Jeff was born in Tonga in 1923, he was better known by his stage name Bill Sevesi. Bill moved to NZ in 1934. A gifted steel guitarist, he played in his first band, Billy Boy and the Hawaiians, as a 16 year old. Over the course of the next 60 years he would go on to record more than 50 albums and composed more than 200 songs including 'Bye Bye Baby' which topped the local charts in 1949. Sevesi received the Queen's services medal for his contribution to the music industry in 1995, and 3 years later was awarded the Jerry Bird Lifetime Achievements Award and inducted into the Steel Guitar Hall of Fame in St. Louis, Missouri. Bill Sevesi and His Hawaiian Islanders had a long time residency at the renowned Orange Ballroom on Newton Rd. In 1966 Bill was the first to record three young school girls, who went on to make a name for themselves as The Yandall Sisters.