The Topp Twins have been announced as the New Zealand Herald Entertainment Heroes for 2022

Beloved Kiwi entertainers Lynda and Jools Topp have been announced as the New Zealand Herald Entertainment Heroes for 2022.

Each year the New Zealand Herald profiles extraordinary New Zealanders who have made a difference in the entertainment world. The award celebrates entertainers who spread joy, fight for causes, champion equality and make a difference.

And this year’s winners have done all that while fighting cancer behind the scenes.

For 40 years the Topp Twins have entertained New Zealanders, beginning their careers as singers, playing at home, then at small gigs and parties.

"If there was a party at home or something like that, we’d get the guitars out and sing. And it seemed that Jools and I knew every old song that had ever been written. We just knew them," says Lynda.

"And then we started to get gigs and start performing. And then the comedy and the characters came out from that."

Characters like Ken and Ken, Camp Mother and Camp Leader are all ingrained in the childhood memories of millions of New Zealanders.

"We had characters that people could identify with. Everybody knows a Ken, or Uncle Ken, or a mum like Camp Mother and Camp Leader. People just identified with those characters.

"We knew the New Zealand psyche too. We had an understanding of what New Zealand was in the 80s and 90s."

When it comes to a bond, it’s clear that what the 64-year-old Dames share runs deeper than a sisterhood.

"We’ve been together ever since we were born - we’ve never not been together. You always know somebody’s got your back and that’s an amazing feeling to have. You know that somebody is there no matter what. No way that I can ever be on my own."

But for the first time in their lives the twins did have to go it alone after being diagnosed with cancer - Lynda for the first time and Jools for the second - during Covid lockdowns.

The risk they posed to each other’s health was too great and the geographical distance too large.

However, the twins are determined not to see the health obstacles they face as "a battle."

Instead, they choose to think of it as "just getting better" and themselves part of a team of New Zealanders fighting the same disease.

And the twins reckon they've got more left in the tank to give their adoring fans.