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Ben Campbell is a musician and executive, who was the former bassist for New Zealand alternative rock band Atlas and pop-rock band Zed. [1]
Ben Campbell's musical career began with his band Zed who released two multi-platinum albums Silencer (2000) and This Little Empire (2003).
Silencer debuted at number one on the Official New Zealand Music Chart, quickly achieving triple platinum status, and creating six hit singles. The single "Renegade Fighter" was also the number-one song in New Zealand for the year 2000.
Zed toured and recorded in New Zealand, Australia, America and Europe, playing shows supporting artists like Robbie Williams, Coldplay, Seal, Bon Jovi, The Calling and Ash.
Zed received several 2001 New Zealand Music Awards including Album of the Year, Best Group and Best Male Vocalist in 2001. [2]
In 2002 Ben Campbell established Elements Music Ltd, an independent music label based out of Christchurch, New Zealand, licensed and distributed by Warner Music Ltd. Through Elements, Campbell produced and released Leap of Faith by Robert Lamm, a live album and DVD.
In April 2005 Zed disbanded. In Hollywood, California, producer Hank Linderman (The Beach Boys, Eagles) introduced Campbell to 19-year-old American solo artist Sean Cunningham. Introduced mainly for songwriting collaboration, they decided to form the band Atlas, which Campbell managed and released through his label Elements Music.
"Crawl" was their first commercially available single, released in 2007. It is one of the most successful New Zealand rock songs of the 21st century, staying atop the charts at #1 for nine weeks. It won the New Zealand Music Award for Highest Selling NZ Single. [3] It was featured on their gold selling record Reasons For Voyaging .
After playing shows with Silverchair, Powderfinger and the Stereophonics, Atlas disbanded in 2008.
Ben Campbell is currently working on a musical collaboration project with Blindspott guitarist Marcus Powell. He is working from Tandem recording studios in Christchurch producing and developing Christchurch artists and mentoring for the New Zealand Music Commission.
Elements Music has expanded from being a record label to include promotion, management and production.
Campbell is also the co-founder of artist/musician collective/agency Fourwatt. [4]
The music of New Zealand has been influenced by blues, jazz, country, rock and roll and hip hop, with many of these genres given a unique New Zealand interpretation. A number of popular artists have gone on to achieve international success including Lorde, Split Enz, Crowded House, OMC, Bic Runga, Benee, Kimbra, Ladyhawke, The Naked and Famous, Fat Freddy's Drop, Savage, Gin Wigmore, Keith Urban, Flight of the Conchords, and Brooke Fraser.
Salmonella Dub is a dub/drum n bass/reggae/roots band from New Zealand. The band was formed in 1992 by Andrew Penman, Dave Deakins, and Mark Tyler. The band has toured extensively throughout New Zealand, Australia, and Europe, including the UK and Ireland.
Briolette Kah Bic Runga, recording as Bic Runga, is a New Zealand singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist pop artist. Her first three studio albums debuted at number one on the New Zealand Top 40 Album charts. Runga has also found success internationally in Australia, Ireland and the United Kingdom with her song "Sway".
Malo Ioane Luafutu, also called Jeshua Ioane Luafutu, and better known by his stage name Scribe, is a New Zealand rapper of Samoan descent. He achieved two solo number ones on the singles chart from his debut album, The Crusader, which was released in 2003 in New Zealand and later certified four times platinum. He also reached number one as a featured artist on P-Money's 2004 song "Stop the Music", and in 2010 on R&B singer J.Williams' single "You Got Me".
Zed is a New Zealand pop rock group, which formed as Supra in 1996 in Christchurch by Ben Campbell on bass guitar, Nathan King on lead vocals and guitar, and Adrian Palmer on drums. In 2000 they added a second guitarist, Andrew Lynch. Their debut album, Silencer (2000), peaked at No. 1 on the New Zealand Albums Chart; while their second album, This Little Empire, reached No. 3. Their top 10 singles are "Glorafilia" (1999), "Renegade Fighter" (2000) and "Hard to Find Her" (2003). They toured New Zealand, Australia and United States before disbanding in 2004. They have reformed periodically including in 2017 and again in 2019.
Shapeshifter are a live drum and bass act from New Zealand. They are known for their live shows and blend of heavy soul with drum and bass. They have made appearances at Glastonbury, The Big Chill, Big Day Out, Parklife plus sold-out performances across Europe, Australia and New Zealand.
The following lists events that happened during 2001 in New Zealand.
The Exponents, formerly The Dance Exponents, is a New Zealand rock group led by vocalist and songwriter Jordan Luck.
Silencer is the debut studio album by New Zealand rock band Zed. It was produced and engineered by David Nicholas at Revolver Studios in Auckland, New Zealand, with final overdubbing and mixing at Mangrove Studios, north of Sydney, Australia. Recording sessions were over in seven weeks, but not before all band members and production staff were struck by influenza. The album was first released in New Zealand on 27 August 2000, via Universal Music Group. The album debuted at number one on the Official New Zealand Top 40 Albums chart, quickly achieving triple platinum status, and creating six hit singles. "Renegade Fighter" was also the number one song in New Zealand for the year 2000. In 2001, Silencer earned the band three wins at the New Zealand Music Awards including 'Album of the Year', 'Top Group', and 'Top Male Vocalist'. A bonus disc edition was released in early 2001, containing ten bonus tracks and three music videos, "Renegade Fighter", "Come On Down" and "Driver's Side".
Nathan King is a musician, singer and songwriter from Christchurch, New Zealand.
Stellar was a New Zealand pop/rock band led by vocalist Boh Runga, sister of acclaimed recording artist Bic Runga. They have had four RIANZ top 10 singles and two No. 1 albums. The band's signature song is "Violent", which at the 2000 New Zealand Music Awards won the Single of the Year award, as well as winning Runga an award for best Songwriter. The band won seven awards, among them the Best Album award for their debut, Mix. This was followed up by 2001's Magic Line and 2006's Something Like Strangers. The band officially disbanded in 2010 after releasing their greatest hits compilation.
Boh Runga is a New Zealand recording artist and was the lead singer and guitarist in New Zealand rock band Stellar. Boh is the older sister of Bic Runga and Pearl Runga who are also musicians.
Atlas were a New Zealand rock band which was formed in 2005 and disbanded in late 2008.
Siren Records was an independent music label based in Auckland, New Zealand formed in 2000.
Raymond John Patrick Columbus was a New Zealand Benny Award-winning singer and songwriter, television host, music manager and entertainer, with a career spanning six decades. As the lead singer of Ray Columbus & the Invaders, his best-known hit was "She's A Mod".
The Experiment is the first solo studio album by New Zealand singer-songwriter Dane Rumble. Released by Rumble Music and Warner Music on 29 March 2010, it follows two years after the split of his hip hop group Fast Crew. Rumble found it difficult to write music for himself, and therefore deviated to the pop rock genre. The Experiment includes elements of dance-pop and pop rap, and lyrically focusses on personal issues. Rumble produced the album with Jonathan Campbell. In July 2010 Rumble embarked on The Edge Winter Jam: The Experiment Tour, which had him perform in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch.
Six60 is a five-piece New Zealand band that formed in 2008. Their self-titled debut album was released on 10 October 2011 on their own label Massive Entertainment. The album was produced and mixed by Tiki Taane and debuted at number one in the New Zealand charts and was certified gold within its first week of release. Their first two singles "Rise Up 2.0" and "Don't Forget Your Roots" reached number one and number two respectively on the RIANZ singles chart and were both certified double and triple platinum. In 2018 the band won five Vodafone New Zealand Music Awards and were the most streamed artist by New Zealanders on Spotify. On 23 February 2019, Six60 became the first New Zealand band to play a sold-out concert at the Western Springs Stadium, to a crowd of 50,000 fans.
Sean Cunningham is an American musician, singer-songwriter, recording artist, and former lead singer of New Zealand rock band Atlas (2005–2008) formed with Ben,, and most known for its debut album, Reasons for Voyaging (2007).
Ladi6 is a recording artist of Samoan descent. She spent six months living in Berlin and touring Europe in both 2010 and 2011. Her debut album Time Is Not Much debuted at number 4 on the New Zealand Top 40 Album chart. and her second album The Liberation Of... debuted at number 6 and was certified gold. Her single Like Water was certified platinum in June 2011. She has won many awards, including Best Female Solo Artist and Best Urban Hip Hop Album at the 2011 New Zealand Music Awards and Best Urban/Hip Hop Album at the 2009 New Zealand Music Awards. The current line-up of the wider Ladi6 group is Ladi6, her partner Parks and Julien Dyne. Ladi6 has been called "New Zealand's answer to Erykah Badu".
The Liberation Of... is the gold-certified second album of Christchurch-born singer-songwriter/rapper Ladi6, released in November 2010. It was nominated for Album of the Year and won Best Urban/Hip Hop Album at the 2011 New Zealand Music Awards. It also won the 2011 Taite Music Prize and Best Urban Album at the 2011 Pacific Music Awards.