Pahnie Jantzen

Pahnie Jantzen's musical career began at 14 with a family group in his home town - Wanganui, New Zealand. He became a carpenter and moved to Australia: working in various towns, and played at night in a number of groups. He based himself in Brisbane when Greg Doolan invited him to join the Wak as bass player. The magic Maori brought Louis Armstrong's music alive, and provided an insight into Stevie Wonder. When Wickety Wak retired in 1990 Pahnie admitted to feeling a little lost. For 16 years he'd had his 'family' of four brothers with him and they were constantly flying here and driving there, with almost every day in a different town. After a year Pahnie settled into life without Wak and started his solo career, which included a short stint with the band, Three Dimension. Pahnie appeared in made for TV movie called 'Survive the savage seas completed in 1992. The part played was of 'first Mate' . After completing a brief acting stint he later joined Peter and Robbie in Out of Wak. Pahnie performed with his wife Ngaire in the highly successful duo Pinkke Champagne.From 1995 onwards Pahnie performed in a duo with either Rob Rosenlund or Tony Jeffrey . On March the 28, 2013 Pahnie passed away from a brief battle with cancer, he was age 74.