Koi Boys' Love & Loss

The Maori crooners have found their voice.

- Carmen Lichi

They were labelled “very boy-bandy and done” by The Voice Australia judge Jessie J, who promptly kicked them off the hit show last year. But it was water off a duck’s back to Maori crooners The Koi Boys.

Indeed, following their unceremonious rejection from the show, the Kiwi-born, Gold Coast-based trio – Ngahere “Nuz” Ngatai, 32, Danny Faifai, 44, and Kevin Keepa, 47 – were inspired to write their debut album Meant to Be.

“Jessie J did give us a bit of a hard time, but it was just another wave of publicity for us,” grins the youngest band member and seasoned reality TV star Nuz, who has also appeared on The GC and The X Factor Australia. “One of the things we learnt from our time with her was to commit to everything we wanted to do with positivity.”

And the boys have had the last laugh – just a couple of months ago, their record went platinum in New Zealand!

“Geez, it was amazing getting the plaque,” says Rotorua-born Nuz – who is related to the late Sir Howard Morrison – talking to Woman’s Day on a visit home to Aotearoa. “Once we understood what platinum meant – in excess of 15,000 albums sold – we were really blown away.”

The Koi Boys played a celebratory show at Rotorua’s Lakeside Festival in March alongside the Auckland Philharmonic Orchestra, Annie Crummer and Jason Kerrison.