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Bic
Runga pronounced Beck was born in Christchurch New Zealand. She is of Chinese
and Maori origin. Part of a musical family Bic is the younger sister of
Boh Runga from Stellar*. In 1997 she recorded and released her debut album
Drive. This went to number one in NZ had six top twenty singles and is over
seven times platinum. It became the best selling album of all time in NZ
by a NZ artist. Tom Bailey created two mixes of her first single "Drive" "Drive Doordarshan Mix) and "Drive
Interstellar Over Drive Mix" and these where included on the cd to her
single Bursting Through. Her hit single "Sway" from the Album featured
on the soundtrack to the film American Pie along with "Good Morning Baby"
a duet with Dan Wilson from Semisonic. Bic writes and produces all
the music on her albums and plays many of the instruments including keyboards
and guitar.
Her
second album Beautiful Collision follows the success achieved by Drive.
It also hit the number one spot in NZ. After picking up a handful
of awards from The NZ Tuis New Zealand's equivalent of the Grammy's she
moved back to the top spot now having spent more than a year on the charts.
Beautiful Collision went over six times platinum in its first year
and now holds the record as the best selling NZ album ever now at eleven times
platinum also holding the
record for most weeks spent on the chart.
You could be forgiven for not having heard of Bic Runga for despite her phenomenal success in her home country Bic is still relatively unknown in the UK. She does have a loyal following of NZ people living in the UK as well as an ever growing band of brits who have discovered the joys of her musical talents and Beautiful sometimes delicate voice. She played to a packed venue at the Union Chapel in 2003 and her shows at The Garage have been sold out. Bic deserves more recognition worldwide. With the UK release of Beautiful Collision on the 15th September her profile in the UK is sure to increase. |
| 27th April 2006: | Bic's
new album Birds will now be released in the UK on 15th may. Say After Me will
be the first single on the 8th May but it looks like this may be download
only. The video for the song can be viewed here in either 56k or 256 for
broadband. Say
After Me 56k Video Say
After Me 256k Video The next single for NZ will be That's Alright.
Bic wil be touring around the UK to promote the album in May and June. She is also lined up to play the sold out V festival in August. The dates for the 2006 UK Tour are as follows. May 2006. June 2006. Tue 2 BIRMINGHAM GLEE CLUB
Thu 1 LIVERPOOL ACADEMY 2
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| 16th Nov 2005: | Bic
has just released her new album called Birds in NZ The first single from the
album is Winning Arrow and the album features top kiwi musicians such as Neil
Finn and Anika Moa. The album was recorded as live as possible and is much
darker than Bi'c previous effort. The tracks are as follows.
1. Winning Arrow 2. Say After Me 3. Listen 4. Birds 5. Ruby Nights 6. No Crying No More 7. If I Had You 8. Captured 9. That's Alright 10. Blue Blue Heart 11. It's Over. The Winning Arrow video and samples of all the tracks can be heard at www.bicrunga.com
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| 6th August 2004: | Bic Runga's album
Beautiful Collision is now 10 times platinum in NZ and has spent more than 100
weeks on the chart. It beats the previous records held by Split Enz.
Bic will appear on the BBC1 show Heaven And Earth in the UK. The show will be broadcast on Sunday the 8th August at 10.00am and Bic will play live in the Studio.
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| 6th July 2004: | BBC Norfolk has
put up a review of Bic Runga's Norwich show the review can be read here.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/norfolk/music/gigs/bic_runga_arts_centre.shtml
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| 18th June 2004: | Bic Runga played a
great sell out show at Glasgow's King Tuts as part of her current UK tour. She
was supported by American singer David Meade and Australian singer Pete Murray
who played great half hour acoustic sets. Pictures from the concert have been
added to the site and can now be viewed here. http://homepage.ntlworld.com/peter.finnegan/king_tut's.htm
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| 4th June 2004: | BBC
Norwich has put up a competition to win concert tickets for the show at
Norwich on 21st June. There is also a great interview with Bic by Zoe
Applegate. Thanks to Zoe for the news and the link.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/norfolk/music/celebrities/bic_runga.shtml Bic Runga's second UK single release date has been put back slightly. Something Good will now be released on the 21st June. The tracks will be Something Good, Get Some Sleep Live on Janice Long Radio 2, Wishing On A Star CSO live version and Something Good video.
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| 27th April 2004: | Dates
of Bic's UK tour have been released and she will be touring the country in
June. All the gigs will be acoustic except for London Shepherds Bush which
will be with the full band. Here are the dates and venues for the tour.
08 Liverpool Academy
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| 29th March 2004: | Bic
Runga has been doing well in Ireland. The single got to no.22 and the album as
high as 15. Currently the single is at 41 and the album at 28 its fourth week
on the chart.
The album was released in the UK last Monday and has entered the UK charts at no.55. A new ad for the album has been getting a lot of showing on TV. Sony UK states that Bic will be doing a regional tour of the UK to promote the album.
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Bic
Runga featured in an article in the Sunday Times. A copy has now been added
to the site. Many Thanks to Chris Wales for scanning and sending me this
article. Bic
Runga Sunday Times Article
Get Some Sleep will be released on 8th March and not the 3rd as previously stated. The single will include Get Some Sleep album version and Bursting Through Live With The Christchurch Symphony Orchestra. Beautiful Collision will also be re-released later in the month. The track list has been changed slightly with the omission of Good Morning Baby and A Day Like Today. This cd will now include Bic's hit single Sway. The UK video
for Get Some Sleep has been added to the play list of digital music channel
The Amp. You can now vote for the video. Radio 2 has also added the song
to its C play list. Please request the song on the radio.
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| 14 February 2004: | Bic has
made an exclusive new video for the UK for the release of her single Get
Some Sleep on March 3rd. This great new video can be viewed at the Sony
Music UK site in three different connections speeds. http://www.sonymusic.co.uk/bicrunga/
The original video for the song seen in New Zealand and
Australia can also be watched via http://www.sonymusic.com.au/
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| 09 February 2004: | Bic Runga
is featured in the latest issue of Mojo magazine the February edition of
the mag has an article and picture of Bic that touches upon Beautiful Collision
and success back home in New Zealand. I have put up a scan of the article
which you can view through this link. Bic
Runga Mojo Article .Mojo
had Beautiful Collision at no.34 in their list of top 50 albums of the
year and Uncut magazine featured it at no.32.
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Beautiful
Collision continues to grace the NZ charts with its presence moving from
10 to no.8. It has now been on the NZ album chart for a total of 76 weeks
and is approaching 9 times platinum.
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| 16th January 2004: | Bic Runga
is supporting Aqualung on their two man tour of the UK. The dates for the
tour are as follows:
Bristol St Georges Hall Saturday 24th January Brighton St Georges Church Sunday 25th January Manchester Lowry Monday 26th January Milton Keynes Stable Tuesday 27th January Norwich UEA Wednesday 28th January London St James Piccadilly Thursday 29th January Edinburgh Reid Hall Saturday 31st January Leeds City Varieties Sunday 1st February Warwick Arts Centre Monday 2nd February Colchester Arts Centre Tuesday 3rd February Leicester Music Cafe Wednesday 4th February Bic will
also play shows with her band at The Scala London 3rd March 04
The first
single in the UK from the album Beautiful Collision will be "Get
Some Sleep". The single will be out on 8th March and may include remixes
specifically for this UK release. When the time comes please request this
song or the great promo video for the song on radio and on the music channels.
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| 17th November 2003: | A new Bic
Runga cd has been released today in NZ called Bic Runga With The Christchurch
Symphony Orchestra. The tracks where recorded live at a special concert
in the Christchurch Town Hall. Bic performed a few of her own songs plus
a few cover versions and one brand new track. The cd is available online
at http://www.realgroovy.co.nz
and http://www.netcd.co.nz
A dvd entitled Natures Best has been released in NZ. It follows a 3 part cd collection of the Top 100 NZ songs of all time. The dvd features four Bic Runga videos Sway, Drive Bursting Through and Suddenly Strange as well as two Stellar* videos Violent and Part Of Me. Other artists featured include Crowded House and Split Enz. Bic continues
to keep a strong presence in the NZ top ten. Her album Beautiful Collision
is now at no.8 and has been in the top ten for 69 weeks. It is now over
7 times platinum.
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Beautiful
Collision the second album from Bic Runga was released in the UK on the
15th September. It includes two bonus tracks. Good Morning Baby a duet
with Dan Wilson from semisonic as featured on the American Pie soundtrack
and a track called A Day Like Today.
Bic
Recently played three live acoustic tracks for Janice Long on Radio 2 as
well as being interviewed by Janice. She received a great response from
listeners and the phone lines where red hot for the competition to win signed
copies of the album.
There
has been no official news that there will be a single release from the
album but it would almost certainly be Get Some Sleep. The video is currently
playing everyday on Vh1 UK on the show greatest hits and you can catch
a segment between shows called Vh1 Introduces Bic Runga that features video
clips and exclusive interviews.
After
Bic's sell out gig at the Union Chapel London she has had a residency at
The Garage London playing sell out acoustic sets on the 1st, 8th, 15th,
and 22nd of this month to rave reviews from the press. To check out the
reviews visit. http://www.sonymusic.co.uk/bicrunga/reviews.html
For
all the latest news and info visit:
http://www.bicrunga.com/
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