Bic Runga

Singer-songwriter

Bic Runga is one of New Zealand's most treasured musicians, a songwriter and performer whose voice is woven into the soundtrack of Kiwi life. Known for her crystalline vocals and timeless melodies, she has spent more than two decades creating songs that feel both intimate and universal.

Born in Christchurch to a Chinese-Malaysian mother and a Māori father, Bic grew up in a home filled with music, teaching herself drums, guitar, and piano. This curiosity and independence shaped her into an artist who not only writes and sings her own songs but often produces and arranges them too.

Her 1997 debut album, Drive, changed the face of New Zealand pop. Songs like "Sway" and "Drive" captured complex emotions with simplicity and grace. The album went multi-platinum at home, and "Sway" found its way onto Hollywood film soundtracks, carrying her songs far beyond Aotearoa.

If Drive announced her talent, Beautiful Collision in 2002 confirmed it. With hits like "Get Some Sleep" and "Listening for the Weather," the album became one of New Zealand's biggest-selling records. Its warmth and clarity reflected her unique artistry: sophisticated yet unpretentious, polished yet emotionally direct. Later albums, including Birds, Belle, and Close Your Eyes, showed her willingness to experiment and reinterpret her influences while holding onto the purity that first drew listeners in.

A multi-Tūī and Silver Scroll award winning artist, and the youngest inductee into the New Zealand Music Hall of Fame, Bic's influence can be heard in a new generation of New Zealand musicians who grew up with her songs on the radio and saw in her a model of artistic independence.

In 2026, she returns with a new album “Red Sunset,” recorded in Paris in the winter of 2025. Bic's gift has always been her ability to turn personal truths into shared experiences, inviting listeners into her gentle, thoughtful, and beautifully human world. Her first single, "It’s Like Summertime," embodies a sense of nostalgia and comfort, recalling a carefree past while also imagining a hopeful future. Written and produced by Bic Runga and Kody Nielson.

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