Trivia

Most well known for his hit with the Invaders, "She's A Mod".

Lives in Auckland, New Zealand. Has a brother, Barry.

He hosted numerous television pop shows, including Ray Columbus presents New Faces, C'mon, Happen Inn and That's Country (which he co-created and helped sell to a US cable network). He was also a noted music manager, mentoring artists such as singer Suzanne Lynch.

In April 2014, he was reported to be terminally ill, from an immune deficiency condition caused by medication.

He suffered a heart attack in 2004, and a stroke in 2007 that left him partially paralysed.

As a solo artist, Columbus performed at Redwood 70, the first major modern music festival held in New Zealand, toured with The Rolling Stones, Roy Orbison and The Newbeats, as well as playing Royal Variety Performances and being an opening act of the 1974 New Zealand Commonwealth Games.

Ray Columbus was a New Zealand Benny Award-winning singer and songwriter, television host, music manager and entertainer, with a career spanning six decades.

Columbus released a biography in 2011, which stated that he had smoked for years and was a heavy drinker.

Columbus got his big break playing with the Downbeats Band, which later became Ray and the Drifters.

Columbus attended Xavier College in Christchurch and studied tap, but was more interested in the rock and roll of the era and formed his first band, The Dominoes, in 1959. Based in a church hall, in Addington, Christchurch, the band put on Saturday night dances. Often in the last bracket of songs for the night, Columbus would throw a big sombrero on the floor and dance around it while the band played the Mexican Hat Dance.