Johnny Devlin emerged as New Zealand’s earliest genuine rock and roll icon, a youthful sensation whose nationwide prominence and disruptive influence positioned him as the local answer to Elvis Presley. He entered the world on May 11, 1938, in the modest settlement of Raetihi and grew up in nearby Wanganui, where his first solo appearance occurred in 1951 when he yodeled at the town opera house. Following secondary school, he worked two years as a bank clerk while sporadically performing country and western material alongside his brothers in the River City Ramblers. During mid-1956, exposure to Presley’s “Heartbreak Hotel” instantly redirected his focus toward rock and roll; he quickly acquired additional Presley releases and began delivering those numbers on the amateur talent quest circuit. Adopting a ducktail hairstyle, flashy suits, and period hepcat slang, he fully embraced the lifestyle depicted in contemporary American teen films, which earned him a local reputation as an oddball.
Although he entered talent contests on a regular basis, meaningful recognition remained elusive until early 1957, when Johnny Cooper—who had issued New Zealand’s first rock recording, his version of Bill Haley’s “Rock Around the Clock,” two years earlier—discovered him. Cooper took on the role of mentor, after which Devlin’s trajectory accelerated sharply: he captured top prizes at talent events and drew larger, more fervent audiences. A steady engagement at Auckland’s Jive Centre further elevated his profile, with his precise Presley recreations regularly sparking intense adolescent excitement. By mid-1958 he had cut his first single, “Lawdy Miss Clawdy.” The release proved enormously popular, moving more than two thousand copies in Auckland during its opening month and ultimately surpassing the previously unseen ten-thousand-unit threshold. Widely hailed in print as “New Zealand’s Elvis Presley,” Devlin became a genuine sensation, drawing crowds of admirers at every appearance.
From November 1958 through May 1959, Prestige issued eight singles, three EPs, and one LP under his name, generating combined sales exceeding two hundred thousand copies. Accompanied by his group the Devils, he crisscrossed the country and performed to packed houses at every stop. More traditional segments of society, however, reacted with alarm to the frenzy and occasional damage that followed his shows, prompting an increasing number of theater managers to avoid booking the band and causing his momentum to fade. Devlin himself grew steadily disenchanted, as internal disputes backstage and questionable dealings at the label left him progressively repelled by celebrity. In May 1959 he and the Devils joined a package tour of Australia that also featured the Everly Brothers and Tab Hunter; upon their return the surrounding excitement had already subsided. Nevertheless, Devlin continues to serve as the standard against which subsequent New Zealand sensations are measured; only the Beatles ever surpassed his teenage following there, and he opened their 1964 New Zealand dates.
