Bic Runga

Born on January 13, 1976 in Christchurch, New Zealand, Briolette Kah Bic Runga is known professionally as Bic Runga; a pop-rock singer-songwriter and folk artist of Malaysian and Maori heritage who scored an international hit with 1997's "Sway." She grew up in Hornby, Christchurch with a musical family – Bic Runga's mother, Sophia Tang, was a Chinese Malaysian lounge singer in Malaysia, and her sisters, Pearl Runga and Boh Runga, both went on to become musicians. Her father, Joseph Te Okoro Runga, is a Māori ex-serviceman and Bic Runga is of Ngāti Kahungunu descent. After learning to play guitar and drums, she explored her musical instincts in high school bands before graduating to local jazz groups as a teenager. She then formed Love Soup, a duo with Kelly Horgan, in 1993, and recorded her debut EP, Drive, in Wellington, but the following year upped sticks to Auckland in order to revise her sound. She sent her Drive demo to Sony who signed her to the label and the EP reached the Top 10 in New Zealand as well as earning her the APRA Silver Scroll award in 1996. A full album version of Drive came in 1997, featuring the hit single "Sway," which charted internationally while also winning awards At the 32nd New Zealand Music Awards. Two years later, her duet with Dan Wilson of Semisonic, "Good Morning Baby," was featured in the movies American Pie and Cruel Intentions. Bic Runga's second album, Beautiful Collison, was released in 2001 and topped the charts in New Zealand. She went on to amass three more albums: Birds (2005), Belle (2011) and Close Your Eyes (2016) and in 2016 was inducted into the New Zealand Music Hall of Fame. In 2021, Bic Runga released a new original song, "Kāore He Wā / There Is No Time."