He later formed a new group called 'Desiree' in 1977. As with the 'Supertones', he continued to not only play for their own gigs or bookings, but was in great demand to back many up & coming artists at the time, as well as some old favourites like Tex Morton, when he visited New Zealand and requested Murray to back him...

'Desiree' was a Show-band capable of holding it's own with the best in New Zealand. He also started the Tauranga Country & Western group and was instrumental in helping start other Country & Western groups New Zealand wide.

In the early 1980s, he decided to shift to Australia to live in Queensland, and he thought there might be better music opportunities over there as well, and in 1982, he formed the 'Country Knights' Show-band, in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, and this band played at venues like the Cherribah Resort at Warwick, and the Terranora Lakes Country Club, etc, and were in great demand all over the state of Queensland.

Murray began playing a steel guitar at the age of 14 yrs, and won his first talent quest around the same age. Unfortunately, teachers were few and far between in New Zealand, so Murray is really 'self taught' especially when it came to pedals

Over the years he has formed many bands, and most of them were never out of work. He has backed a number of artists, among whom was Tex Morton who used Murray to record a song he composed called Beautiful Queensland.
Other names were Maria Dallas, Brendan Dougan, Patsy Rigger, Suzanne Prentice, Peter Posa and more. All of these artists were from NZ.

The Australian side came later when Murray and his family arrived in Brisbane in 1981. The first band he joined was Blue Kentucky in Brisbane who used to back up Bill and Bluey Masters, John McSweeney and others.
Dave Reynolds used Murray on his album 'Second Time Around'.

Murray is a versatile player who can play anything from Hawaiian to Country to 50's & 60's Rock 'n' Roll.

Murray has taught rhythm guitar, bass guitar, ukelele, banjo, and pedal steel guitar. Because Murray has a patient personality, he makes a good teacher and has had countless pupils over the years.

His pedal steel has been his main love all of his life, but one thing Murray never did was put the steel before his family commitments. A drunk once said to Murray, at a big show in Auckland, that he would never make it to the top because he wouldn't step on the right toes and he always put his family first. I guess that drunk was right, but Murray never regretted it.

Murray formed the Country Knights show band in Brisbane in 1984 and they played at many resorts such as Cherribah Resort at Warwick, Terranora Lakes Country Club, and were in great demand throughout South East Queensland. They also toured to Mount Isa for a time.

One of Murray's NZ bands in 1966 won the New Zealand Ballroom Dancing Competition and although Murray didn't consider his band to be a Ballroom Dance Band, they did very well.

The acoustic lap steel is still in our keeping and Murray used to put it on his bike to go lessons after school. It is still in the original case, and remember he was 14 yrs old when he got it and he's 65 yrs old now. It was given to him by an Uncle who bought it for his daughter who didn't want to learn so Murray got it. It was 2nd hand then! It has 6 strings and is approximately 100 years old now. It used to belong to a guy in Auckland who used to teach guitar. Murray said he also thinks it came from Hawaii originally.