The Beginning

Born in Suva / Fiji 1961 to Jessie Rae and Dan Costello. My Mother was of Rotuman/Samoan/Scottish
decent and my Father pure Irish, both were born in Fiji. Brought up in cattle country Tavua / Yaqara .
My father had a cattle ranch and that's where I learned to ride horses at a very young age. Still today,
the smell of cow and horse manure is sweeter to me than a bunch of frangipani's.

We moved to Lautoka when I was 5. I went to school at ST. Thomas' Primary in Lautoka and I started
my first band while still in grade 7 "The Fleet Swingers". My Younger brother "Vince" was the lead
singer and keyboard player, "Mani Rounds" on bass, I was on Guitar and "George Moore" who by the
way is still in my band today, was on drums. We were too young and too broke to own our own
equipment back then, so whenever we were needed for a gig, we hired the gear from a band called
"Gypsy Wreckers". Our first gig earned us a grand total of $15.00 for the night. Boy, we were
creaming it!! Potato chips and ice creams all round. This was the life!!

My brother "Vince" and I went on to Whangarei in New Zealand to attend high school. My most vivid
memories of high school in NZ, were the cold nights shivering under my blankets with my little
tape/player beside my ear listening to music from back home in Fiji. I excelled in sports and enjoyed
playing Rugby/Soccer/Athletics [100/200 meters] while at school and even got picked to represent
"North Auckland" Under 17's in Soccer. Because of that I was often called up to play for higher/older
grades in Rugby to utilize my kicking skills. I was really homesick though and came back to finish my
last year of high school at "Marist Brothers" high school in Suva. I wasn't very academic at school and
so music soon took over its rightful place in my life. I won the school talent quest that year and was
then invited to perform at "Suva Grammar" high school as a guest artist at their Talent Quest with our
school band "Marist Rock". My wife Corrina, who was attending "Suva Grammar" at the time and was
there that night, said I was a real big show off, but I think that's where she really fell in love with me.

After winning a few local Talent Quests I joined "The Beachcomber Boys" at the tender age of 17 and
moved out to Beachcomber Island Resort where I spent the next 8 years of my life. I was in paradise!
Sea & Sun, spear fishing, water skiing, windsurfing during the day and singing and playing for the
guests at night. This is where I learned how to speak proper English [laugh]. I would practice for hours
on end every day and the Island environment was an important ingredient that ultimately resulted in the
way my music sounds today. It was so easy back then to write music with inspiration coming from the
sound of the waves on the shore, beautiful sunsets, soft ocean breezes and the occasional bikini
walking past when I'd look up from pen & paper.



I completed my first solo recording in 1979 and released an album called "Tropical Sunset" on the
Procera label in Suva. What a dud that was and I was too busy trying to sound like "Neil Diamond"
instead of finding what Danny Costello Junior sounded like. I was called that back then because my
dad was obviously ‘senior". In 1980 I decided to try again and so I wrote a whole lot of new songs,
got all the top musicians in Suva to back me up and then called in the three top female singers for
backing vocals. How they all agreed to do this project with me, I still don't know to this day, but they
did and what a contribution they made. "Max Baran" the sound engineer at the time, could talk a
monkey out of a tree and so I believe it was his sweet mouth that convinced all these top dudes to join
up with me. "Sakiusa Bulicokocoko" who had already completed a dozen recordings, was famous
pacific wide and who had already completed an album with the Sydney Orchestra, was on acoustic