Bic Runga is one of just a handful of artists who have truly earned the term iconic. Her songs are etched into the country’s consciousness.
Since her first single Drive in 1996 – a top ten hit when she was just twenty –she has been awarded almost every musical honour in her country, including the prestigious APRA Silver Scroll Songwriting Award (the New Zealand equivalent of an Ivor Novello), a brace of Tui’s (New Zealand’s Grammys) and mulit-platinum discs.
Her debut album Drive (1997) went platinum seven times; Beautiful Collision followed in 2002 (eleven times platinum) and Birds in 2005 (triple platinum).
She has shared stages with Neil and Tim Finn and members of Radiohead and Wilco. Her songs Good Morning Baby and Sway featured in the soundtrack of the 1999 film American Pie and in 2005 she appeared in the movie Little Fish (as a Vietnamese lounge singer) with Cate Blanchett and Sam Neill.
In January 2006, The Queen made her a member of the New Zealand Order of Merit in the New Zealand New Year’s Honours List.
