THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, July 12, 1995 TAG: 9507110303
SECTION: MILITARY NEWS PAGE: A12 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY KERRY DEROCHI, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 73 lines
Every weekend, Shane Archbold puts on the uniform of a country music singer: Black jeans with a silver-studded belt. Cowboy boots and wide brim hat. Long-sleeve black shirt with a giant red flame stitched across the middle.
He stands in one corner of Miss Kitty's lounge, five other members of ``The Right Combination,'' beside him. For hours, he strums a rhythm guitar and croons about things like lost love, laying low and empty childhood promises.
It's hard to believe he's an operating room technician from New Zealand.
Archbold, 27, a hospital corpsman at Portsmouth Naval Medical Center, has earned a reputation as an up and coming, if unlikely, country music star. He's won the last two talent shows at the hospital and has been tapped to sing the national anthem during this week's change of command ceremony for Rear Adm. William J. McDaniel.
He is currently recording an album with his band, using four songs of his own.
``It's just a matter of digging deep and saying this is what I want to do,'' Archbold said last week, during a break from surgery.
His background reads like the plot of one of his songs.
Adopted as an infant, Archbold was raised in Christchurch, New Zealand. He grew up in the picturesque city, playing in rock bands and mimicking the sounds of stars like Willie Nelson and Buddy Holly.
Seven years ago, his career as a musician was struggling when he was contacted by his natural mother. She invited him to visit her in Florida. She told him he had a brother and a sister, a family he never knew he had.
Archbold decided to come to the United States. He hasn't gone back.
Five years ago, he joined the Navy, following the path of his natural father, who had retired as a master chief.
``I kept hearing voices, join the service, join the service,'' Archbold said.
He opted to train as a hospital corpsman and chose the operating room as his speciality. He was assigned to the Portsmouth hospital in 1991.
His job is to prepare the operating rooms for surgery and make sure the surgeon has the proper instruments. He works in orthopedics, handling cases such as knee and total joint replacements.
``You can derive a lot by just helping somebody,'' Archbold said. ``Out of everything this gives me the greatest satisfaction.''
Sort of like singing.
Four years ago, Archbold began touring local music stores looking for contacts that would help him break the local market. He saw a notice for a lead singer to play with the house band at Miss Kitty's. He auditioned for the job and got it.
He adopted the stage name Shane Warner. He liked the sound. Slowly, his following grew. Two years ago, the band opened for Harborfest. They've played at the Peanut Festival and other civic events throughout Hampton Roads.
Archbold hopes to use the band as a springboard to a national singing career.
If it doesn't work, he plans to study to become a nurse practitioner or a nurse anesthetist, making medicine a career.
He was picked by McDaniel to sing the Star Spangled Banner at this week's change of command ceremony. He's studying the words.
``I was afraid I'd start singing and finish with ``God defend New Zealand,'' he said. ILLUSTRATION: Photo
RICHARD L. DUNSTON/Staff
Twenty-seven-year-old Shane Archbold, whose stage name is Shane
Warner, is the lead singer for the house band at Miss Kitty's lounge
in Virginia Beach.
by CNB