Signed to Viking by Ron Dalton, Morrinsville country singer Maria Dallas bookended her career with her two biggest hits. In 1966 her very first single, ‘Tumblin’ Down’, written by Taranaki-born Jay Epae, took out the Loxene Golden Disc Award. The spritely novelty song ‘Pinocchio’, by New Zealand writers June Littin of the Fair Sect, Mel Chandler and Des Huia, chalked up an impressive six weeks at No.1 in August 1970. The track was another to benefit from extensive TV exposure, being one of seven performed by Dallas on that year’s Studio One series. At just 1:43 long and backed with the “exotic” ‘Umm Bala Bomba’, by Christchurch songwriter John McDonald, this was to be Dallas’s final hit.