New Zealand musician Pauly Fuemana, who found international fame with his country’s biggest-selling record ever, How Bizarre, died in hospital yesterday after a short illness, according to media reports.
The 40-year-old recorded under the name OMC, or Otara Millionaires Club, whose 1995 single How Bizarre reached No. 1 in eight countries, including Canada, Australia and Ireland. It peaked at No. 4 on the radio chart in the US.
The song revolved around peculiar encounters with policemen and circus performers. But behind the catchy melody and Mariachi horns lurked a darker story, hinting at Fuemana’s upbringing in a crime-infested suburb of New Zealand’s biggest city.
“I put a lot of hidden stories in there so people could read between the lines and sense it for what it is instead of telling them, ‘Yeah, we got pulled over by the cops, and my mate got his head smashed in, and we got arrested, and they found some pot on him,’” Fuemana told Reuters in a 1997 interview.
Fuemana failed to match the success of How Bizarre, and was declared bankrupt in 2006, losing his house and other assets, including his songwriting royalties.
The Otara Millionaires Club was originally a rap group named for a suburb of Auckland where offshoots of Los Angeles’ Crips and Bloods gangs reigned amid fenced-off schools, run-down buildings and curfews. Brandishing machetes, the preferred means of settling gang disputes, the band would throw bottles at fans to hype them up.
When things got too hot, Fuemana quit the group in early 1995, took the name with him and recorded How Bizarre as a solo artist under the abbreviated moniker.
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