Singers and musicians (New Zealand)

Some New Zealand singers and musicians

Here is a list of well-known New Zealand singers and musicians, but there are many more. Some famous people have their own official websites or foundations, like the ones highlighted below.

Individual singers and musicians

Anika Moa

Dave Dobbyn

Lorde

Kimbra

Bic Runga

Kiri Te Kanawa

Rob Ruha

Stan Walker

Bands or Groups

L.A.B

Shihad

Six60

Split Enz

Supergroove

The Exponents

TrinityRoots

General websites

Use these websites to find information on famous singers, composers, music groups, musicians, and the history of music in Aotearoa.

Te Ara: The Encyclopedia of New Zealand

Te Ara is an excellent starting point for all questions about Aotearoa New Zealand. If we look down to the bottom of the page, we can see that the website belongs to the Ministry for Culture & Heritage, so the information is well-researched and reliable.

• Go down the page to the section on Creative and Intellectual Life.

• Select Music to find a range of stories on Composers, Classical musicians, Jazz and dance bands, popular music and more.

• The stories cover singers, choirs, bands, and musicians in Aotearoa.

NZ History

This is another great New Zealand website from the Ministry for Culture & Heritage. It has information on people, places and events in Aotearoa's history.

• Search the section called Culture and Society.

• Choose The arts and entertainment.

• New Zealand Music Month has articles about the celebration of New Zealand music in the month of May.

• Rock music festivals is about singers and bands performing music festivals around the country.

• You can also enter the name of a famous singer, such as Lorde to read an article about her.

Tips: We like sites like this because they’re reliable. You can tell because of their web address – they have either .govt or .ac, meaning they are from government or educational organisations. They’re also New Zealand sites, so relevant for us.

NZ Music Month

The promotion of New Zealand music in the month of May is funded by the NZ Music Commission. This site is updated every year to feature events promoting singers and musicians of Aotearoa.

• Select What is NZ Music Month? to read about the history of this yearly event.

• Explore Featured Stories to read about news, and past and future events.

Tips: Websites that have .com or .co in the address can have good information, but you need to assess how reliable it is. Check the About us link on the website, if you can find one. That can tell you what the company’s mission and values are.

Biographies

These websites will guide you to biographies of famous singers and musicians in New Zealand's history.

Dictionary of NZ Biography (DNZB)

DNZB is part of Te Ara: The Encyclopedia of New Zealand. It has more than 3000 biographies of famous New Zealanders who are no longer alive. This site includes around 500 biographies that are in te reo Māori.

• Use the search box to enter singers such as Ruru Karaitiana and Howard Morrison.

Audio Culture

The description is 'The noisy library of New Zealand music' and this website is great for listening to sample songs and video links of NZ artists.

• The Music Index section lets you search by Profiles, Record Labels, Genre and Decade.

• Go to Profiles to find a list of singers and bands in alphabetical order.

• For example, select Teeks to read his biography and listen to a few of his popular songs.

Tips: Websites with .com or .co in the address can have good information, but you need to assess their reliability. Check the About Us link on the website if you can find one. That can tell you the company’s mission and values.

New Zealand Music Hall of Fame

This is the official site of the New Zealand Music Hall of Fame. Awards are given out at the Aotearoa Music Awards or the Silver Scroll Awards. The site has biographies of past winners.

• Search for an artist by name at the top of the page eg 'The Clean'.

• Or you can browse all winners by going to the Inductees tab.

• For an overview of the history of New Zealand music you can go to NZ Music.

• Choose a decade from Explore by decade to get a playlist of music from that decade.

Books

Your local public library or school will have many books about famous people. It is a good idea to search individual musicians by name to find biographies.

Here are some suggested titles for general books about famous New Zealand music, singers, music groups and musicians:

• New Zealand's Top 100 History-Makers by Joseph Romanos.

• Lorde by Adrianna Morganelli.

• The Great New Zealand Songbook: autographs by Murray Thom.

• Kiwi rock chicks, popstars & trailblazers by Ian Chapman.

• Cover story : 100 beautiful, strange and frankly incredible New Zealand LP covers. Volume one by Steve Braunias.

SCIS no: 1870184