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One of the country’s most loved entertainers, Dame Jools Topp, leaves behind a “massive legacy” after her death at age 68, says manager Arani Cuthbert.
Jools, who was living with breast cancer, died on Saturday, her family confirmed on Monday morning. In 2008, she and her sister Lynda were inducted into the New Zealand Music Hall of Fame, and on Friday the twins received the 2026 Country Music Honours for Contribution to New Zealand Country Music.
Cuthbert, who managed the Topp Twins from 1992, told Midday Report that Dame Jools and her sister, Dame Lynda, touched countless lives.
“I think the diversity of the Topp Twins' audience is just beyond imagination really. I don't know any other artist in New Zealand who reached so many corners of Aotearoa and really connected with many people from all walks of life.”
Starting out as buskers and political activists, the twins were everywhere in the ’80s, Cuthbert says.
“They were performing at universities and jumping up on tables at the cafeteria and then you'd see them along Queen Street on a Friday night busking.
“There were many protest marches in the early '80s… anti-nukes, Reclaim the Night and of course the Springbok tour. And their songs were a playbook for that protest era.”
Their mix of comedy, music and spontaneity won hearts, but it was their love for people that audiences connected with, she says.
“And through that, they managed to change people's attitudes. I mean, at that point in the mid-80s, I don't think the media even printed the word lesbian.”
They weren’t divisive in their politics and never put others down, she says.
Their humility and generosity also stood out. They would rescue animals on the roadside while touring, or help a hitchhiker with “some wads of cash” to keep going.
“There was no one else like them and there never will be. They were just an incredible force and really unique and humble.”
Their impact reached overseas too. Their West End show earned a five‑star review in the ’90s, and they headlined festivals from Canada’s folk circuit to women’s and LGBT events in North America.
“But Aotearoa always called them home, and particularly for Jools. She loved being at home on her farm and with her animals.
“And I do think her kind of no-nonsense, non-celebrity approach is what contributed to the enduring nature of their career. They were still performing up until quite recently, and that's 40 years of entertaining people.”
Marian Burns, the twins’ go‑to fiddler who toured and recorded with them, told Afternoons the news has left a void inside her and “in country music, around our land, our world”.
“I just can’t believe it. I’m very sad," she said on Monday.
Burns described the twins as “supreme entertainers” and musicians, with Dame Jools able to get a laugh without saying a word.
“She even played the pot lids with the Auckland Philharmonic Orchestra with William Tell Overture… you can look at the 2011 clip and you just wet your pants watching it.”
She recalled a flat tyre in a rural area while travelling in a caravan. Burns considered calling AA, but Dame Jools simply changed the tyre herself.
“I was so inspired, so I went home and learned how to change a tyre.”
During a touring exhibition for the Topp Twins, former prime minister Dame Jacinda Ardern revealed she’d bought their caravan in a TradeMe auction to use as a mobile electoral office, AudioCulture's Chris Bourke wrote. She described picking it up from Dame Jools’s farm, when the caravan door fell off.
In a post on Instagram, Ardern wrote she was thankful for the twins’ contribution to New Zealand.
"You can't really describe an icon, but you can thank them.”
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon also paid tribute, calling Dame Jools a New Zealand icon.
"She lived a life of purpose, she made the country a happier place, and she leaves a legacy of humour, warmth, and joy that will endure," he wrote on Facebook.
In a video tribute played at the Country Music Honours in Gore on Friday night, country singer Tami Neilson described meeting the pair years earlier.
"Jools said, 'when the door opens for you in this business, especially as a woman, you need to shove your foot in that door and kick it open and hold it open for others to follow though behind you'."
"And that's exactly what they did for me. They're a foundation on which I stand, and a standard to which I always strive."
The Topp family’s statement said a celebration honouring Dame Jools’ life would be announced.
