Herbs produced a stream of reggae hits with some of the country's top talent. In the 1980s and the first half of the '90s, Herbs had 10 top 20 singles hits. Herbs also worked alongside
UB40, In 1986, "
Slice of Heaven" with
Dave Dobbyn reached number one on both the New Zealand and Australian charts. In 1989 they played on
Tim Finn's hit "Parihaka" and in 1992
Annie Crummer fronted the hit single "
See What Love Can Do." Around this time the band forged into producing, providing instrumentation for Samoan singing sensation John Parker. The album titled
Another Girl produced a local hit, a reggae-funk inspired cover of the Maori folk song "E Papa". In 1989, the band was assisted by
Eagles member
Joe Walsh, who produced, played slide guitar and sang on the band's
Homegrown album, which featured a cover of "
Walk Away Renee", originally recorded by
The Left Banke. Walsh announced he had joined Herbs, but the union lasted less than a year. Walsh gives credit to the members taking him to 'the ruins at
Hawke's Bay', where he had 'a moment of clarity' – for inspiring him to pursue sobriety. They also provided two songs to the 1990 film,
The Shrimp on the Barbie: A cover of the
Peggy Lee song "Mañana (Is Good Enough for Me)" and "Listen". Herbs are considered pioneers of the
Pacific reggae sound, Tama Renata died in November that same year. Dilworth Karaka, the primary founding member who remained with the band since its inception, died on 7 March 2026, aged 75. ==Members==