He grew up with ten siblings:[1] five sisters (Virginia, Margaret, Josephine, Annette and Helen) and five brothers (David, James Richard, Robin and Peter).
[3] In 1967, whilst studying at Silverstream College, Parry auditioned as drummer for a band called the Sine Waves, who later renamed themselves the Fourmyula.
After the band split in 1971, Parry returned to England and spent two years obtaining a diploma in marketing and advertising from the College for Distributive Trades in London.
Later in 1977, he helped convince Polydor to sign Siouxsie and the Banshees after listening to "Hong Kong Garden" from the BBC's John Peel sessions.
After the meeting, Robert Smith invited Parry to watch them perform at the Laker's Hotel in Redhill on 27 August.
[10] Along with engineer Mike Hedges, Parry then recorded the Cure's first album Three Imaginary Boys at Morgan Studios, which was released in May 1979.
The next four studio albums released were Purple Hearts' Beat That!, the Passions' Michael & Miranda, the Cure's Seventeen Seconds and the Associates' The Affectionate Punch, all in 1980.
The left-field alternative station was a "mix between bFM and early Radio Hauraki" according to Parry, who was managing director.