Fane Michael Flaws (16 May 1951 – 17 June 2021) was a New Zealand musician, songwriter, director and artist.

Career

Flaws was a member of bands including Blerta, Spats, and The Crocodiles. Until joining Blerta he was known by his second name Michael: Bruno Lawrence of Blerta insisted ''Fane'' was a better name. When he was in The Crocodiles, he wrote the song "Tears" with Arthur Baysting. The single reached number 17 in the New Zealand charts. He wrote songs for the films ''

Braindead ''BrainDead'' is an American political satire science fiction comedy-drama television series created by Robert and Michelle King. The series stars Mary Elizabeth Winstead as Laurel Healy, a documentary film-maker who takes a job working for h ...

'' and ''

Meet the Feebles ''Meet the Feebles'' (also known as ''Frogs of War'' in New Zealand as the film's English fake working title) is a 1989 New Zealand adult puppet musical black comedy film directed by Peter Jackson, and written by Jackson, Fran Walsh, Stephen ...

'', even voicing the Musician Frog in the latter. He animated the revamped titles for Radio with Pictures in 1986, a

Television New Zealand Television New Zealand (, "Te Reo Tātaki" meaning "The Leading Voice"), more commonly referred to as TVNZ, is a New Zealand state-owned media company and Crown entity. The company operates a television network, TVNZ+, streaming service, and 1N ...

programme featuring popular and alternative music. He was co-author, with Arthur Baysting and

Peter Dasent Peter Dasent is a New Zealand born composer, pianist and songwriter who has lived and worked in Sydney, Australia since 1981. He played keyboards in the bands Spats, and The Crocodiles. He leads the chamber-jazz group the Umbrellas, is writin ...

, of the children's book ''The Underwater Melon Man and Other Unreasonable Rhymes.'' The book was published in 1998, a CD in 1999. In 2011, an edition was published with a DVD. Musicians appearing include Chris Knox, Jenny Morris,

Neil Finn Neil Mullane Finn (born 27 May 1958) is a New Zealand singer-songwriter and musician. He is best known for being a principal member of Split Enz and for being the lead singer of Crowded House. He was also a member of Fleetwood Mac from 2018 ...

Tim Finn Brian Timothy Finn (born 25 June 1952) is a New Zealand singer, songwriter, musician, and composer. He is best known as a founding member of Split Enz. Finn founded the band in 1972 with Phil Judd and served as lead singer and principal songw ...

Renée Geyer Renée Rebecca Geyer (11 September 195317 January 2023) was an Australian singer who was an acclaimed jazz, soul and R&B musician.* 1st edition nline * 2nd edition rint She released 15 studio albums with '' Moving Along'' (1977) and ...

, Tony Backhouse,

Bic Runga Briolette Kah Bic Runga (born 13 January 1976), recording as Bic Runga, is a New Zealand singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist pop artist. Her first three studio albums debuted at number one on the New Zealand Top 40 Album charts. Runga ...

and

Boh Runga Boh Runga (born 14 March 1970) is a New Zealand recording artist and was the lead singer and guitarist in New Zealand rock band Stellar. Boh is the older sister of Bic Runga and Pearl Runga who are also musicians. Early life Runga was born ...

, the

Topp Twins The Topp Twins (born 14 May 1958) are the folk singing and activist sister comedy duo of New Zealand entertainers Jools and Lynda Topp. They are known for their country music influenced style, live shows and television performances. They ofte ...

Che Fu Che Kuo Eruera Ness (born 1974), better known by his stage name Che Fu, is a New Zealand singer, songwriter and producer. A founding member of the band Supergroove, as a solo artist he has gone on to sell thousands of albums both in New Zeal ...

& King Kapisi and

Dave Dobbyn Sir David Joseph Dobbyn (born 3 January 1957) is a New Zealand musician, singer–songwriter and record producer. In his early career he was a member of the rock group Th' Dudes and was the main creative force in pop band DD Smash. Since then h ...

. He also designed rugs, paints and created assemblage art works from found objects such as demolition timber and building fittings.

Short film

* Rodney and Juliet (1990)

Music videos

Directed unless otherwise noted

Awards

* Best Video at the New Zealand Music Awards, 1985 for

The Narcs The Narcs are an award winning New Zealand band, that formed in 1980 in Christchurch, New Zealand, by bassist Tony Waine, drummer Bob Ogilvie and guitarist Garth Sinclair – departed/replaced by Australian guitarist/singer songwriter Andrew/Andy ...

: ''Diamonds on China'' * Best Video at the New Zealand Music Awards, 1988 for Holidaymakers: ''Sweet Lovers'' * Best First Film at Clermont Ferrand Film Festival for ''Rodney and Juliet'' * Best TV Graphics, 1989 NZ LIFTA Awards for ''Radio with Pictures''

Commercials

* Lemon & Paeroa soft drink. (1991) * McDonald's (1991) * New Zealand Police – community service commercial on babysitting. (1981) * NZ Post (1991) * Rexona Dry Solid anti perspirant (1990)

Death

Flaws died on 17 June 2021, aged 70.

References

General references

* Dix, John, ''Stranded in Paradise'', Penguin, 2005. * Eggleton, David, ''Ready To Fly'', Craig Potton, 2003.

External links

Fane Flaws official websiteAudioCulture profile
* *
NZ On Screen biography and screenographyFane Flaws
on

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

Radio New Zealand InterviewFane Flaws
in artists profiles a
Dilana RugsTears – The Crocodiles, Music Video, 1980
NZ On Screen APRA Award winners New Zealand musicians New Zealand artists New Zealand children's writers 2021 deaths 1951 births {{NewZealand-writer-stub