As Andrew Lloyd Webber once said “it took time to understand the man”. He was right – how can we ever hope to truly understand Love.

But thanks to Tommy’s rich legacy of music, we can at least begin to get a privileged insight into the real man… behind the legend.

 “I’m just a boy with extrordinary gifts…trapped in a warehouse of carpet and forklifts
-- ” Tommy Love – “Where I belong”

For Tommy Love, escaping life as a storeman at the Love family’s carpet warehouse, was but the first step into the musical stratosphere that would take him all the way from Naenae to Nevada…

“Maybe I’ll make it from storeman to foreman, and just maybe ignorin my dream…
-- ” Tommy Love – “Where I belong”

You may know Tommy Love as an extremely talented and glamorous singer/songwriter, entertainer and philanthropist, but Dale Thomas Love began life as just an ordinary boy in a humble little nation at the bottom of the South Pacific called New Zealand.

“There is a life far away from this place, for talented children regardless of race…”
 Tommy Love – “Where I belong”

It seems clear that even early on, Tommy’s political views were being formed through his multi-cultural upbringing in the Hutt Valley’s proudest suburb. Perhaps it was here at Naenae Intermediate that Tommy first discovered the extraordinary love that would make him such a favourite with the ladies – as evident in TV talent show-winning song he wrote as a teenager.

“I just wanna find your inner lady tonight…
” Tommy Love – “Fly, fly away”

But as Tommy matured, his songs began to signify a return to his political roots, where philanthropy was now centrestage – especially his benevolence for the little ones.

“And help other children by singing a song
And then when they’re tired they all get to sleep
They’re not made to work and they have lots to eat
And there’s only carpet in one kind of style
It’s rich and it’s red and it rolls out for miles…”
Tommy Love – “Where I belong”

Could this be a veiled political statement expressing Tommy’s distain for the sweatshops of South-east Asia – and perhaps even the darker corners of the Hutt Valley? Or is Tommy merely expressing his frustration with his own brother Ian’s treatment of the working man? The proletariat’s lament when one’s creativity is stifled by carpet…

Either way it only serves to demonstrate an eponymous and ever-developing ability to love – such a love that would lead Tommy to later write:

“I did it for chance, I did it for fate, I did it for criminals who want to go straight”
Tommy Love – “I did it for rock”

Even the condemned were not out of reach for Tommy, and when his love found a power even beyond individuals, Tommy somehow managed to straddle on the one hand love of a nation and on the other hand a healthy respect for the environment.

“I did it for nations and tiny crustaceans
” Tommy Love – “I did it for rock”

Now Tommy was clearly becoming aware of the burden that comes with being a superstar.

“You know we can’t have rock… without rocksponsibility
” Tommy Love -“Rocksponsibility”

Are we any the wiser? You be the judge. After all in Tommy’s words “Sometimes it’s hard to be a man, but you know I do the best I can” Tommy Love – “Hard to be a man”. Perhaps even he doesn’t know what it is to be him. But one thing is for certain - he still has so much more to say…

Stay tuned for Tommy’s new autobiographical musical, starring himself…
“Tommy Love - “One Love, One Life, One Dream”

“Plumbing the depths of sincerity.”
Teresa O’Connor – Nelson Mail

“What does it mean? Don’t ask. You shouldn’t have to… I think we know what he means.”
Denis Welch – The Listener