John Edward Rowles was born on 26th March 1947 in Whakatane and raised in Kawerau in the Bay Of Plenty. His parents were Eddie and Phyllis Rowles. Eddie played on the wing and three-quarter for the Maori All Black's in 1938, and was also a talented singer. John had five sisters, Georgina, Carol, Gabrielle, Cheryl and Tania, and two brothers, Edward and Wally. Edward unfortunately died when John was two, and out of respect for him, John adopted his name as his middle name throughout his career. Wally had a small singing career himself, originally going under the name Frankie Price, before changing to Frankie Rowles.

John's musical background is quite extensive with his first performance being at the age of 10, when he entered a local talent quest and sang 'All Shook Up', taking out first prize. Whilst still at school he organised a group called the Shadows, named after the original group, and John played lead guitar. His father managed the group and they played at local dances at weekends. He was encouraged by his father and he even bought him his first electric guitar.

For more information check out the muzic.net.nz Profile for John Rowles

John Rowles first debuted in the Official New Zealand Top 40 Albums on 13 October 2008 with the album The Singer And The Songs. There are three entries by John Rowles in the charts.