WELLINGTON, June 26 — Sir Dave Dobbyn has no intention of retiring, even after a string of serious health battles. The 69-year-old New Zealand music icon was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in 2022, and has since faced prostate cancer and breathing problems. But in a conversation with journalist Bridget Jones, Dobbyn was clear: “Retirement doesn’t sit well with me.” “I thought there’d be some kind of off-ramp, but there isn’t,” he said.
“And I wouldn’t take it if there was, because I’d miss it too much. As they say, it keeps you young, it keeps you excited to be alive.” That’s the practical upshot for anyone wondering how a musician in his late 60s, facing multiple health setbacks, keeps going.
Think of it like this: Dobbyn’s drive to make music isn’t a hobby he can set aside. It’s the thing that gets him out of bed, even on the tough days. Dobbyn’s home, on a cool day, is described as cosy and jammed full of life.
Books line the lounge walls. Colourful scribbles stain a doorframe near the fridge, mapping his family’s growth — though the Dobbyns, the story notes, aren’t exactly tall stock.
A three-legged orange cat lounges on the back step before gently demanding to be carried upstairs for peace and quiet. Out back, at the end of the garden, sits his studio. It was already there when the family bought the place.
Unlike the bright family home, the studio has no windows. It’s dark, but more cocoon-like than dreary. Curved orange and beige brick walls radiate their own version of sunshine.
Inside, trinkets and mementos of a life lived large are perched everywhere: guitars strung from the ceiling, gold records leaning above a well-loved piano. Here’s what it means, in plain terms: Dobbyn has built a creative sanctuary that lets him keep working, even as his body throws new challenges his way.
The studio is the opposite of his family home — dark, quiet, a place to focus. It’s where the music still happens. Dobbyn might have a gold card in his back pocket — New Zealand’s public transport concession for seniors — but that’s as close as he’s come to hanging up his guitar forever.
He’s emphatic about that. The practical upshot for his fans is reassuring: Sir Dave Dobbyn isn’t done yet.
He’s facing Parkinson’s, prostate cancer, and breathing problems, but he’s still making music, still excited to be alive. For a man who’s given New Zealand so many anthems, that’s the news worth hearing.
