Lady Killers' sweet 16 - TOGETHER WE'RE HEAVEN

Suzanne, Jackie and Tina are in perfect harmony on stage and off – but when they’re on tour, they can still give each other a shock!

- Fleur Guthrie

It was simply love at first note. In 2005, when iconic Kiwi singers Suzanne Lynch, Jackie Clarke and Tina Cross were fatefully brought together to perform in charity concerts for survivors of the Boxing Day Tsunami in Thailand, they knew instantly there was magic between them.

“We met by accident and sky rockets went off,” explains Jackie. “We thought we had to do something more together.”

So over several cups of coffee, the idea for a vocal group was formed. Band names were thrown about until someone noted, “Well, we’re ladies doing killer songs…” and The Lady Killers was born!

Now the sensational songbirds are celebrating 16 sweet years of singing together with a birthday concert in Auckland this month and a newly-released single Just One Look.

As entertaining off the stage as on it, the trio gather for the Weekly photoshoot, oohing and aahing over the clothes – before one steals another one’s outfit – while having each other in stitches talking about wardrobe requests and sharing tales of emergency toilet stops. It’s obvious what goes on tour, does definitely not stay on tour.

“One thing I’ve learned over 16 years, is you have to be very careful about telling Jackie if you are in any sort of embarrassing strife,” laughs Tina, 62.

“We had a Waitangi concert eight years ago and I was flying from Wellington to WhangaÌ„rei on the day of the show. I was running late and wanted to go to the loo, but didn’t have time. So I got on the flight by the skin of my teeth and after take-off asked the flight attendant where the toilets were.

She replied, ‘There are no toilets on this plane.’ So for an hour and 10 minutes I just about died,” she recalls.