Eldred Stebbing

3 October 1921 – 6 December 2009. Owner of Key and Zodiac labels, Eldred Stebbing was one of New Zealand's recording pioneers and responsible for many of New Zealand's greatest records. Eldred and his brother started their recording service in the late 1930s, opening the first of several studios in the immediate post-WWII era. They began recording local acts and issued their first 78s in 1950 via Stebbing and Zodiac. Over the next four decades Zodiac and Key, which dominated the NZ local industry, released dozens of New Zealand acts, many of which were produced by Eldred, and sold a large number of records. In 2019 his Auckland studio is one of Australasia's biggest CD and DVD manufacturing companies. Stebbing died in December 2009 aged 88. His sons Robert Stebbing and Vaughan Stebbing continued the businesses and still own them.