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Story: Creative life

Split Enz

Audio file

One of New Zealand’s greatest pop bands, Split Enz first performed in December 1972 and became the first New Zealand group to achieve worldwide success. When lead vocalist Tim Finn left to start a solo career in 1984, the band broke up. However, it still enjoys iconic status. Listen to Split Enz perform ‘I see red’.

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Festival Mushroom Records

Licensed from Festival Mushroom Records. Permission of Festival Mushroom Records and Mushroom Music Publishing must be obtained before any re-use of this material.

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How to cite this page

Nancy Swarbrick, Creative life – Music, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/music/2057/split-enz (accessed 7 June 2026).

Story by Nancy Swarbrick, published 3 March 2009.