'At what age did you decide you wanted to be a musician and why?'

 

'At the age of fourteen would be the proper age as I was interested in music once my brother used to play the guitar and I heard him play it that was about 12 or 13 but at fourteen its one of those instances in life when you hear a certain song, a certain tune, someone playing it and you think that’s just magical…. I heard a guy called Mark Kahi playing in the still of the night, it was very much like a picture in my mind I saw from hearing the song I had to play it I just knew I had to do that sort of music.'     

 

Gray went onto say that anything can ring a note in someone’s brain and influence them to follow that career and you should follow it if you really want to do it.

 

 

 

'Was being a musician your first choice of career?'

 

'It was, it definitely was. I did have a job, as being a musician wasn’t an opportunity to make a lot of money. So I had to take a job, I did electrical entrepreneurship initially, I didn’t enjoy that at all, it was sort of a family occupation from the large family I was part of, eight of us.

It was just my love I was passionate about it.'      

 

 

 

'Who has been your greatest influence on your music career and why?'

 

'I would have to say a guitarist called Ched Atkins and the reasons why is because he had the ability to play all forms of the guitar…SO to do that in a way that ignited audiences to go and see music he was massively famous and still is amongst guitarists.'  

 

 

 

'How important have your friends and family been in terms of realising your dreams?'

 

'That’s absolutely important in other words without those elements, and I come from a very close and big family and they supported me. My Father always used to say son you can do anything you put your mind to. And I will always remember that it was like someone instilling a total 100% faith in whatever I chose to do I could do it, Very important in todays world.'

 

 

 

'What three attributes do you think you require to succeed in today’s competitive world of music?'

 

'The first is obviously passion, you’ve got to have a passion to do whatever you do, and passion is the first one.

Dedication to learn in other words you’ve got to set a side time, you can’t just dream. You’ve got to put a set time for learning. A process of learning which you must install in your own self.    

An ability to listen, because that’s what you’ve got to do, you have to take it in.'

 

 

 

'What one piece of advice would you give to a young person embarking upon a new career path?'

 

'I guess there is one line which very important one is never give up, that’s not really the whole answer. I used to teach people about the pathway thing, follow that pathway you always get a fork in the road but once you decide on it you must follow that pathway and believe in it. Follow your pathway and never give up. Because it will al fall into place in the end, that reverts back to that original decision you made that decision to do it, you love it, your passionate therefore you must follow it through to the end to the point where you feel you are getting more and more successful. Never give up, you must never stop.'

 

Gray went on into further detail about never giving up and we see that with other great musicians and like them Gray continues to practice and never gives up or take shortcuts.     

 

 

 

'Can you describe the most defining moment of your music career?'

 

'The most defining moment that takes me to another level is when I had my first international hit record, which was more by luck than good management. This was in Japan and went to number 2 on the charts and opened doors, I flew, and I did all the big television shows in Japan. That also gave me my first ever live stage show of my own produced by the Japanese people at the Hilton hotel and in front of an international audience and television shows like TBS, young Japan all these big shows and suddenly you believe in your self, you’ve reached a different level from performing in New Zealand and of course you are open to an international audience. That’s the one that allowed me to kick on and get utter confidence.'    

 

 

 

'What does an average week of work consist of and how many hours a week do you put in?'

 

'I am now a concert promoter as well as a musician, so it would probably be ten hours a day. Included in that would be an hours practice. That wouldn’t be every day, but that’s averaging it out. The average would be one hour a day, and that would be pretty correct. Also I do exercise I walk twice a day twenty minutes so you need that to refresh the brain/the mind. Luckily I’ve got a great wife who makes beautiful food, so I always enjoy coming back for that!'

 

 

 

'What have you had to sacrifice in order for your music career to survive?'

 

'I had to sacrifice a lot of fun things, going to parties, however they did become a by-product of getting well known. I would always turn down going to a party because it would get in the way of the performance and the learning of television shows and recordings. Those are the sacrifices you have to make, because if you are not felling well and you have a performance coming up it’s not very smart. So you create a balance in your life.'

 

Gray emphasized that no matter what profession you are in a balance is key because if you don’t balance your life then problems will arise and will affect your career.        

 

 

 

'How important was your team in ensuring the success of your music career?'

 

'Ultra important! I always choose the best in their crafts and always try and find out a lot about them. I have a really good team, great sound technicians who know my sound; I can trust their judgement. We have a team of people we use as regularly as possible.'

 

Gray went on to say that everyone is very important and all play a great role in his concerts.

 

 

 

'What is the greatest challenge you have faced and how did you overcome this?'

 

'The greatest challenge would be the acceptance in New Zealand of my overseas success. New Zealand is a small isolated country in this part of the world where we are, and therefore the New Zealand people have the seeds mentality and it’s not a nasty thing it’s in built into a new young nation faraway from the rest of the world, and so the seeds mentality won’t accept success often by someone like me when I was overseas and came back after a couple of years even though there was plenty of media about me the inbuilt resistance from organisations like the New Zealand broadcasting division, they would resist and be like, who do you think you are? Coming back, just because you are famous and well known over there doesn’t mean to say we are going to give you any work. So that was one of the biggest challenges actually because they were very resistant to giving me domestically any chances. So how did I overcome that? I overcame that by going out to the ordinary people who did accept me, meet them, I worked seven days a week often-travelling round for seven years doing that and building up an audience.'

 

Gray went onto say that you really have to connect with the audience and make them remember you and make yourself a positive factor to their life so they support you.    

 

 

 

'In your own words, what is the key to success?'

 

'The biggest driving force is the belief that there are no limitations to what you can do. Once you develop that particular statement you know you can do anything and suddenly it’s almost like you’ve got this incredible power of I can actually do anything, your first step is your most important one.  There’s no limitations there isn’t! You aren’t limited by your own doubts. It covers all fields, I think you will find if you talk to any one I have worked with people like Denny Hulme, Ed Hillary that’s exactly what they always thought, there is no limitation to what I can do, I can climb Everest, drive my fast car and win the race. I can do it! If we create doubts we’ve got a problem!'