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BIC RUNGA Born in 1976, Briolette Kah Bic Runga is the third daughter of Maori soldier Joseph Runga and Chinese cabaret singer, Sophia, who met and fell in love in Malaysia during the Vietnam war. Growing up in the “underwhelming” New Zealand suburb of Hornby in Christchurch, the Runga family listened to the Carpenters, Shirley Bassey, Dusty Springfield, the Mamas & the Papas, and the Beatles sung in Chinese. At age 4 Bic heard her mother play ‘Diamonds are Forever’ and found the experience frightening. “I remember I didn’t really know why music would make you feel like that.” Although she had no formal music training, Bic started learning drums at age 11, and later learned the basics on guitar and keyboards. She began composing her own songs and joined high school bands. Choosing between art school and music, Bic decided to move to Auckland where she found Sony’s address in the phone book and sent in some demo tracks. Bic’s resulting debut single ‘Drive’ won the hearts of New Zealanders in 1995, shooting into the top ten and winning the prestigious Silver Scroll songwriting award in 1996. Follow-up single ‘Sway’ ensured Bic’s place in the hearts of New Zealanders and paved the way for her debut album, Drive. As well as singing, Bic played guitar, mellotron, xylophone and drums. Much record company deliberation took place over the role of producer before 20 year-old Bic took the production reins herself and subsequently mixed the album in LA with Matt Wallace (Faith No More, John Hiatt.) Drive entered the album chart at number one and remained in the top ten for twenty consecutive weeks, eventually selling seven times platinum, making it the highest-selling local artist album ever!! Bic spent the following two years on a gruelling touring and promotional schedule in the United States, including playing the Lilith Fair tour alongside Bonnie Raitt and Emmylou Harris. She also returned to New Zealand to join Tim Finn and Dave Dobbyn for the Together In Concert tour. All the while, Bic was gathering experience and inspiration to put into her next album, although getting it made was no simple process. Over a period of three years Bic worked with twelve different engineers in five cities – Los Angeles, New York, Christchurch, Wellington and Auckland. “I put myself through school again making this music, in terms of learning,” said Bic of her second self-produced effort, on which she plays piano, drums and guitar. Beautiful Collision was released internationally in 2002 and surpassed eleven times platinum sales in New Zealand, beating the record set by Drive five years earlier and setting the benchmark higher still. The album received rave reviews in Uncut and Mojo, and hit single ‘Get Some Sleep’ reached the top ten in Japan and Ireland as well as the top 40 in the UK singles chart. In New Zealand the release was lauded with three Tuis, including recognition for Bic’s production efforts with the award for Best Producer. After all of this Bic took a break andf moved to Paris for most of 2003 and 2004. There in the quiet removal from her homeland bic discovered a love of Serge Gainsbourg and classic pop 60’s pop songs. After a stint as soloist on the famous Finn Brothers world tour, Neil Finn immediately jumped at the chance to contribute guitar/piano to a new record – to be recorded as ‘live’ as possible in New Zealand with an ensemble of players. Taking the production reigns herself, Bic’s approach harked back to jazz recordings of the 50s with arrangements reminiscenty of classic Bacharach or Gainsbourg records. Mixed by Simon Gogerly (Massive Attack, U2,Tracey Thorn, Yusaf Islam), Birds is another demonstration of Bic’s artistic endeavours that belie her relative youth. For Press Inquiries contact: 212.532.4650 |
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For more info contact: Sioux Zimmerman © 2006 Magnum PR & Management
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