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His diverse talents made this New Zealander a cult icon in his relatively short life. Born in Brighton, England, Bruno Lawrence (real name David Lawrence) settled in New Zealand as a pre-schooler and developed an early interest in the drums. He formed a dixie-land band at age 15 and made the various school and church dance rounds where he picked up the nickname Bruno. He veered quickly toward jazz and from 1961 made his living as a session artist. He played drums in a slew of jazz groups including "The Blockbusters," "The Measles," "Max Merritt and the Meteors," "The Electric Heap," "Quincy Conserve," "Fresh Air," "Littlejohn," "Blerta" and "Crocodiles" throughout the 60s and 70s, while tossing out his own singles here and there. Bruno moved slowly into the TV music scene and soon latched on to film and TV roles in between his musical gigs. A dark, very complex man, Bruno focused heavily on acting in the 80s and impressed in a number of strange, tense, intriguing performances, but the drums would remain his first love. In 1995, while working on a new film Cosi (1996) with Toni Collette, Bruno complained of chest pains and discovered he had inoperable lung cancer. He died within months of the diagnosis. A wife and five children survived. A biography entitled Bruno: The Bruno Lawrence Story was published in 1999 by Roger Booth. |
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