The 72-year-old was a familiar sight on Sumner beach and performing in venues across Christchurch.
Known as ‘The Piano Man’ by many, Eldred was easily recognised by his long white hair and beard.
The musician is remembered by many for his deep baritone voice and piano skills while performing at The Chancery before it closed due to the earthquakes.
“He had to go and play for the angels,” said close friend Clive Greenwood of Stig’s death.
“He would walk into a room and his smile would enhance everybody in that room. He would happily talk to anyone and make them feel special.”
Friends for 40 years, they would often go to concerts and share their love of music.
“He had such a unique voice. He would just sing around the piano and blow everyone away.”
Eldred was born in Sweden, but was adopted by an American couple and grew up in Los Angeles.
He was brought to Christchurch from The Playboy Club in Los Angeles to play at Ian McKenzie’s new piano bar at the Chancery. The city became his home when he bought his Sumner property 40 years ago.
Greenwood said Eldred was always keen for a talk on the beach.
“When we’d have a drink on the beach, I’d have his attention about 25 per cent of the time, and the other 75 per cent of the time people would come and whack him on the back and they’d be chatting away.”
Eldred featured in many international films, including playing a minion in Dick Tracey in 1990 and an army commander in King Kong in 2005. He had a leading role as Long John Silver in Return to Treasure Island in 1996.
Film producer Merryn Corcoran fondly remembers the time she spent with Eldred during the making of her studio’s film The Stolen.
“He is an amazing actor and he’s got a real presence on screen,” she said.
“He played a very strong, silent menacing part and he was fabulous to work with.”
He was also a professional voice actor with jobs in Los Angeles, San Francisco, and New Zealand.
Always on the go, Eldred typically spent three to six months of the year in Sumner, with the rest of his time divided between acting and music jobs around the world.
Eldred enjoyed dressing up as Santa Claus for many Christchurch events including Christmas in the Park and carols in Sumner.
“He was very enthusiastic and definitely had the look for it,” said Greenwood.
Eldred featured in a winning portrait painting for the Adam Portraiture Awards in 2020. The painting by artist Gwyn Hughes called Stig and the Taniwha won the people’s choice award.
Greenwood is planning an official farewell for Eldred with other close friends.
Queenstowners mourn ‘Stig, The Piano Man’
He first appeared in Queenstown in the ’80s, and was musical director for a homegrown musical, Exposed, which toured the country and even packed out an Auckland theatre.
In ’98, he played ‘The Prospector’ in the musical Rush!, based on the 1860s Arrowtown gold rush, written by Arrowtowners David John and the late Kevin Lynch, when it premiered in Dunedin.
His star turn was the haunting Ballad of Millie Hall.
Distinguished-looking with his lived-in face and white beard — he frequently played Santa Claus — he mentored Queenstown’s Wonky Donkey musician/songwriter Craig Smith.
"I used to go to his place in Sumner, Christchurch, and have cups of tea and let him listen to my music and say, ‘What do you think? Where do you think I can improve it before I release it?’, so he was a huge influence and help."
Like many, Smith mentions his deep, rich, "incredible" singing voice.
"I used to call it ‘chocolate over gravel’.
"He covered some people, some of the famous ones like Billy Joel, and often he would do much better versions than the original people who wrote them."
Veteran Queenstown muso Noel Coutts, who often performed with him, even in Warsaw, Poland, says he was "a gentleman, a great character, a good singer, a great entertainer and a good actor".
"With an accordion he wasn’t just on stage, he would get around the room, go behind the bar, that’s what he liked to do."
Another local muso, Nigel Hirst, who’d tune his electric piano, says he "always had a twinkle in his eye. He was a hard liver, he loved to party up".
"The Lady in Red was one of his big songs he loved to do.
"He had shows around the world, he was successful and he carved a good little niche for himself."
Local entertainer Simon Green, who met Eldred when they worked on Rush!, says he recalls a night at Queenstown’s Millennium Hotel, about ’97.
"We ended up drinking I don’t know how many Jack Daniel’s and sitting on the grand piano, and he was playing and we were both singing Harry Chapin songs, and he was the only person I ever met that had even heard of Harry Chapin, and he knew them all.
"We carried on till about 3am."
The pair used to message each other on their birthday — Eldred’s was just a few weeks ago.
"He was a legend," Green says, "and just a consummate entertainer, and intimate — just him and his piano or piano harpsichord or whatever he had.
"If there was a piano around, he was playing it."
Green adds: "He looked in his 70s when he met, and he hadn’t aged a day since then."
