Bic Runga

Born in Christchurch in 1976, singer/songwriter Bic Runga rose to superstardom in her native New Zealand before reaching adulthood. Raised in a musical household—her mother had performed in Malaysian nightclubs throughout the 1960s—she took up drums at eleven and soon joined local jazz ensembles as a vocalist. After mastering guitar and keyboards she began writing original material, and in 1994 she moved to Auckland to launch a professional career. The following year, at nineteen, she issued her first Sony single, “Drive,” which climbed swiftly into the national Top Ten and earned her the 1996 Silver Scroll Award for songwriting achievement.

Following a tour supporting Neil and Tim Finn, she released the follow-up single “Bursting Through” and, in 1997, the Top Ten hit “Sway.” Later that year her self-produced debut album Drive appeared and swept New Zealand’s major music honors. During the closing years of the decade she lived for a time in New York City, where she started composing songs for her next record; after returning home she resumed writing and, in August and September 2000, joined Tim Finn and Dave Dobbyn for a nationwide tour that yielded the 2001 live album Together in Concert: Live.

Beautiful Collision reached stores in 2002. Issued worldwide, the album achieved four-times platinum status in New Zealand, prompting a bonus-disc reissue the next year and ultimately receiving ten-times platinum certification. In 2003 Runga launched her own Nu Shoo label and soon embarked on further live dates. Her follow-up to Beautiful Collision, Birds, arrived in 2005, entering the New Zealand charts at number one and earning triple-platinum recognition. An extended hiatus followed; during that period she issued the rarities set Try to Remember Everything in 2008. She resumed recording with Belle in 2011, then oversaw the 2012 compilation Anthology. After another five-year pause she returned with the covers collection Close Your Eyes in 2016, the same year she was inducted into the New Zealand Music Hall of Fame.