Bic Runga

Briolette Kah Bic Runga (born 13 January, 1976) MNZM is a New Zealand singer-songwriter whose first solo album, Drive, debuted at number one in the New Zealand charts.

Biography

Early life

Runga was born in Christchurch. Her mother, Sophia Tang, was a Chinese Malaysian lounge singer in Malaysia when she met Joseph Runga, a Māori soldier on leave from Vietnam. They both moved to New Zealand to live.

Runga grew up in Hornby, Christchurch surrounded by a musically-inclined family, and started recording songs with her sisters, Boh and Pearl, when she was only four years old. Runga's older sister Boh is now a vocalist in the New Zealand rock group Stellar*.

She learnt drums at the age of eleven, and guitar at about fourteen. Runga also learnt to play the keyboard at around this time. She attended Cashmere High School, joining high school bands and performing with local jazz groups by her mid-teens.

Early releases

Runga and Kelly Horgan entered the 1993 Xtrasmokefreerockquest in Wellington under the name of "Love Soup". They won third place and a music contract with Pagan Records. Using a QEII Arts Council grant, Runga recorded the first Drive EP in Wellington. Unsatisified with the direction that her music was being taken, she moved to Auckland in 1994 and spent a year writing and performing.

In 1995, she sent a new demo of "Drive" to Sony Music, who signed Runga in September of that year and bought her Wellington recordings from Pagan Records. Sony had her re-record the song with more instruments, but it was eventually her demo that was used on the upcoming album. It entered the Top 10 in New Zealand and won her the Silver Scroll Songwriting Award in 1996. She next released "Bursting Through", her first single from her upcoming album, also entitled Drive.

Drive (1997)

Early success eventually led to the release of her album Drive in 1997. Runga's song "Sway", along with a duet with Dan Wilson of Semisonic called "Good Morning Baby", both made their way into the film American Pie. Six singles were released from the album, while "Sway" was released in New Zealand, Australia, the United Kingdom, and Germany.

Beautiful Collision (2002)

Runga released her second solo album, Beautiful Collision, in 2002. It entered the New Zealand charts at number one and went on to become the best selling album in New Zealand.

Birds (2005)

Her third studio album, Birds, was released in New Zealand on November 28, 2005. It was her third studio album in a row to enter the New Zealand charts at number one. The first single, "Winning Arrow", can be heard at her official site (see links at bottom of page). Birds has currently sold up to 3xPlatinum in sales. It has nearly caught up to the big sales of Beautiful Collision

Discography

Studio albums

Drive (1997) - #49 Australia #1 New Zealand^*
Beautiful Collision (2002) - #41 Australia #1 New Zealand^*
Birds (2005) - #26 Australia #1 New Zealand #20 Ireland

Live albums

Live (2000) (with Tim Finn and Dave Dobbyn)
Live in Concert with the Christchurch Symphony (2003)

EPs

Drive "Lovesoup" EP (1995)
Live in Concert with the Christchurch Symphony EP (2004)

Singles

"Bursting Through" (1996)
"Sway" (1997) #10 Australia #1 Ireland
"Suddenly Strange" (1997)
"Roll into One" (1997)
"Hey" (1998)
"Sorry" (1999)
"Good Morning Baby" (1999) #15 New Zealand
"Get Some Sleep" (2002) #75 United Kingdom #3 New Zealand
"Something Good" (2002) #4 New Zealand
"Listening for the Weather" (2003) #14 New Zealand
"Winning Arrow" (2005) #23 New Zealand
"Say After Me" (2006)
"Blue Blue Heart" (2006) Due for September Release

Trivia

In 2000, she toured with Tim Finn and Dave Dobbyn and a live album of the tour (Together in Concert: Live) was released.
Runga has recorded not one, but two songs called "Drive". The first was her own, which appeared on her debut album of the same name. The second was a collaboration with fellow New Zealanders Strawpeople, providing guest vocals for their cover of The Cars' classic 1984 hit.
She moved to New York for a while, but then decided to move back to New Zealand, lived in Paris for a year, and then London. Runga has since returned home to New Zealand.
Runga played a 'Vietnamese lounge singer' in the 2005 film Little Fish, and covered Gene Pitney's "Something's Gotten Hold of My Heart".
Runga was made a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit in the 2006 New Zealand Honours List.
Regarding the pronunciation of "Bic": "'You say it Bec, rather than Bic,' explains New Zealand singer-songwriter Bic Runga. 'It's Chinese, it's a strange vowel sound which doesn't seem to translate in Australia. It means the colour of jade, which I suppose is just green.'" — "Bic from the brink" by Alexa Moses, The Sydney Morning Herald, September 13 2002

External links

Bic Runga | Bic Runga | Bic Runga

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