Malcolm McNeill is New Zealand's best known jazz singer, based in Christchurch, who has been a major influence to the jazz sound in New Zealand. He has performed and recorded with a range of international performers, including jazz legend Cleo Laine and opera diva Kiri Te Kanawa. With the latter, he recorded a well-received popular music album, called Heart to Heart. He has recorded with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra and has nine studio albums.

Dame Kiri Jeanette Te Kanawa, ONZ, DBE, AC (pronounced /ˌkɪri tɨ ˈkɑːnəwə/; born 6 March 1944, Gisborne, New Zealand) is a New Zealand / Māori soprano who has had a highly successful international opera career since 1968. Acclaimed as one of the most beloved sopranos in both the United States and Britain she possesses a warm full lyric soprano voice, singing a wide array of works in multiple languages from the 17th to the 20th centuries. She is particularly associated with the works of Mozart, Strauss, Verdi, Handel and Puccini.

Te Kanawa's voice has been described as having "a vibrant but mellow quality that is ample in size without being overly heavy or forced"^{[citation needed]}. Music critics have consistently praised the freshness and warmth of her voice^{[citation needed]}. The sheer beauty of Te Kanawa's voice made her one of the leading operatic sopranos internationally of the 1970s and 1980s. She found particular success in portraying princesses, noble countesses and other similar characters on stage, as her naturally dignified stage presence and physical beauty complemented these roles well.

There are at least four different people called Te Kanawa.

One is the ancestor of the Ngāti Te Kanawa iwi of the Tainui confederation of iwi. He was born before 1700 and lived in Hangatiki.

Another was a chief of the Ngāti Maniapoto, another Tainui iwi. He was alive in the early 19th century. Te Kanawa was a warlord of Maniapoto; he settled disputes with a taiaha within Tainui or outside Tainui. Some of these disputes were boundary disputes, hence the Ngāti Hari connection. The boundary line between Tu Wharetoa and Maniapoto and the marae Hia Kaitupeka by Taumarunui. He is represented by an amo on their carved meeting house.

Another was a chief of the Ngāti Katoa. He was killed in the campaign known as Putu-karekare (or Patu-karekare, or Te Karekaernga), which was fought at Kawhia in the time when Ngāti Katoa were the tangata whenua. This was before Te Rauparaha had left Kawhia around 1820.

Angela Ballara: "Taua".

Pei Te Hurunui: "King Potatau"

Another was a chief of the Ngāti Mahuta and Ngāti Naho iwi, and was one of the principal chiefs of the Waikato Māori. He was a close confederate of Pōtatau Te Wherowhero, the first Māori King, and lived from c. 1770 to c. 1860. He was also known as Tuhoro Te Kanawa and was signatory to the treaty signing at Kawhia. He was one of the eight chiefs who sat with Pōtatau at Haurua Pā, which stood where the Waitomo golf links are now.

Steven Siro Vai (born June 6, 1960) is an American guitarist, songwriter and producer who has sold over 15 million albums. After starting his career as a music transcriptionist for Frank Zappa, Vai recorded and toured in Zappa's band for two years, from 1980 to 1982. He began a solo career in 1983, has released eight solo albums and won three Grammy Awards. He has also recorded and toured with Public Image Ltd., Alcatrazz, David Lee Roth and Whitesnake. Vai has been a regular touring member of the G3 Concert Tour which began in 1996. In 1999 Vai started his own record label Favored Nations, intending to showcase as he describes, "...artists that have attained the highest performance level on their chosen instruments."

Vai began playing guitar in 1973, at the age of 13. In 1974, he took guitar lessons from guitarist Joe Satriani and played in local bands, one of which was called "The Steve Vais". He was influenced by guitarists including Jimi Hendrix, Jeff Beck, Brian May, Jimmy Page, Glen Buxton, and jazz fusion guitarist Allan Holdsworth. Vai attended the Berklee College of Music, afterwards recording a promotional piece for them in which he spoke about auditioning for Frank Zappa at age 20.