Carl Doy
Carl William Doy (ONZM) (born 1947 in Camberley, Surrey, England) is a British born New Zealand pianist, composer and arranger. One of New Zealand's most successful musicians, Doy is probably best known for his multi-platinum selling Piano By Candlelight albums.
Life and career
Doy was born in Camberley, Surrey. He drew an interest in music as early as six years of age after he fell in love with his grandmother's piano.[1] Although he did not have a formal music education at that time, he had a natural gift for playing by ear, which he then used to play popular songs of the day. It was only when he was in the Grammar School, his talents were identified by his music teachers who guided him to take the preliminary exams at the Royal College of Music. At 18 years of age, he won a scholarship to the Royal College of Music and studied piano, organ and composition there for two years.
In 1967, having achieved highest grades for theory in music, he joined the P&O Arcadia cruise ship as its resident pianist. He spent the next few years playing between the cruise ship job and in UK clubs as well. In 1971, he was appointed the Musical Director aboard the Ocean Monarch cruise ship, which was one of the pioneers to have a full entertainment unit aboard.
After few years of work on cruise ships at the sea, Doy decided to settle down to pursue his musical career in a different domain. That resulted in him moving to New Zealand in 1973 with wife Kathy. He started work at Television New Zealand, where he got himself established quickly as a session pianist and arranger. That was the beginning of his career as a very popular writer and arranger of music for thousands of radio and television programs over the next decade or so. The most significant work at that time was the Royal Variety Performance for HRH Queen Elizabeth II. He also arranged the Pope's Mass, which involved writing for two orchestras and a large voice choir. He had the opportunity to play and tour with a variety of visiting artists such as Shirley Bassey and The Seekers.
His immense success in popular commercial music scene started in late 1980s with the introduction of the best selling Piano by Candlelight sequel. Meeting with Murray Thom, ex head of CBS records was a big breakthrough for Doy and they decided to record an album with popular music/songs in CD format. This was beginning of the ever popular Piano By Candlelight series, which made its entry to the NZ charts at number one in its very first week Page text.[2]
Eight more albums were recorded over the next twelve years under the same series. The second CD named Piano By Candlelight 2 created a record in 1989 for most copies sold in New Zealand of a locally recorded album.
Dame Kiri Te Kanawa sang his arrangement of E te Tarakihi from Gisborne in the first live broadcast of the new millennium, to a worldwide television audience of over a hundred million people.
In 1992, he received the Benny Award from the Variety Artists Club of New Zealand Inc, the highest honour available to a New Zealand variety entertainer.[3]
Doy has completed five series as Musical Director for TVNZ's Dancing with the Stars, currently on hiatus. His Together Collection was featured on The Oprah Winfrey Show.
At the 2009 Queen's Birthday Honours, he was awarded Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit.[4]
Doy is a patron of the National Youth Theatre Company of New Zealand (NYTC).
Discography
Albums
Year | Title | Details | Peak chart positions |
Certifications |
---|---|---|---|---|
NZ | ||||
1987 | Piano by Candlelight |
|
3 |
|
1989 | Piano by Candlelight II | 1 |
| |
1990 | The Christmas Album | 20 | ||
1991 | Piano by Candlelight III | 2 |
| |
1993 | Piano By Candlelight Collection | 21 | ||
1995 | Night and Day | 9 | ||
1996 | Piano By Moonlight: Shadow of Your Smile | 5 | ||
1997 | In Loving Memory |
|
— | |
2000 | Piano By Candlelight: Entrée |
|
4 |
|
2002 | Together |
|
— | |
2003 | Piano By Candlelight: The Music of Barbra Streisand |
|
— | |
2008 | Music for Wine Lovers |
|
— | |
2008 | Music for Christmas Lovers |
|
— | |
2009 | The Very Best of Carl Doy |
|
10 | |
2011 | The Solo Album |
|
— | |
2011 | East West |
|
— | |
2011 | Lullaby: The International Love Language of Babies |
|
— | |
2011 | Hymns and Songs of Praise |
|
— | |
2013 | Songs of Love and War |
|
19 | |
"—" denotes a recording that did not chart or was not released in that territory. | ||||
References
- ↑ http://carldoy.com/biography/. Missing or empty
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(help) - ↑ , additional text.
- ↑ "Variety Artists Club of NZ Benny Award Recipients".
- ↑ "The Queen's Birthday Honours 2009". Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. 1 June 2009. Archived from the original on 17 February 2016. Retrieved 10 April 2010.
- 1 2 3 4 "Gold and platinum New Zealand albums to 2013". Te Ara. Encyclopedia of NZ. Retrieved 19 July 2015.