Deepgrooves was an Auckland, New Zealand-based independent record label formed in 1991 by Bill Lattimer, Mark Tierney[1] and Kane Massey. Tierney left the label eighteen months after the initial release and Lattimer followed two months later. Massey continued with the label for approximately ten years working as producer or executive producer on over 20 albums. Deepgrooves is widely seen as being one of the labels at the forefront of the birth of New Zealand's modern music industry in the early 1990s.
Distributed by Festival Records (NZ) Ltd., Deepgrooves was responsible for a series of influential jazz and urban releases including early recordings and production work from Zane Lowe,[2]Phillip Fuemana, Justyn Pilbrow, Simon Holloway, Mike Hodgson, Anthony Ioasa, Joost Langeveld and Andrew Morton (aka The Submariner). Throughout the 1990s, the label and its artists were nominated for numerous New Zealand Music Awards[3] including, but not limited to, Most Promising Group and Most Promising Female. It secured wins for Jazz Album of the Year twice. The label also registered numerous Top 10 and Top 40 chart placings over the decade, with its biggest commercial success being the 1994 NZ number one hit, "Hip Hop Holiday" by the group 3 The Hard Way, the first New Zealand hip hop single to reach number one.
In 1994, Massey established the label's in-house recording studio and film production company, Kaiun Digital, with Chris Sinclair and Dean Mackenzie. In addition to officially recording and filming the majority of the label's material, Kaiun also went on to record a number of award-winning albums for other New Zealand artists. Most notable was Dam Native's Kaupapa Driven Rhymes Uplifted (1997), produced by Zane Lowe, and numerous recordings for Philip Fuemana's Urban Pasifika record label. Massey also started a sub-label called Lost Records, to release guitar-based music from the likes of Greg Fleming, Thorn, and Jordan Reyne.
Although Deepgrooves recorded over 20 albums during its 10-year life span, a number from the label's later years still remain unreleased. The label ceased production at the end of the decade.
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.
Flying Nun Records is an independent record label formed in Christchurch, New Zealand, in 1981 by music store manager Roger Shepherd.
OMC, or Otara Millionaires Club, were a New Zealand music group, then duo, with vocalist Pauly Fuemana later becoming the sole member. OMC was best known for the 1995 hit "How Bizarre", named one of the greatest New Zealand songs of all time by the Australasian Performing Right Association. The full name of the band is a tongue-in-cheek reference to Ōtara's status as one of the poorest suburbs of Auckland.
Alexander Zane Reid Lowe is a New Zealand radio DJ, live DJ, record producer, and television presenter.
The music of Niue has a long history. Niue is a Polynesian island in the South Pacific. Though independent, it is in free association with New Zealand.
New Zealand Hip Hop derives from the wider hip hop cultural movement originating amongst African Americans in the United States. Like the parent movement, New Zealand hip hop consists of four parts: rapping, DJing, graffiti art and breakdancing. The first element of hip hop to reach New Zealand was breakdancing, which gained notoriety after the release of the 1979 movie The Warriors. The first hip hop hit single, "Rapper's Delight" by the Sugarhill Gang, became a hit in New Zealand when it was released there in 1980, a year after it was released in the United States. By the middle of the 1980s, breakdancing and graffiti art were established in urban areas like Wellington and Christchurch. By the early 1990s hip hop became a part of mainstream New Zealand culture.
Recorded Music NZ is a non-profit trade association of record producers, distributors and recording artists who sell recorded music in New Zealand. Membership of Recorded Music NZ is open to any owner of recorded music rights operating in New Zealand, inclusive of major labels, independent labels and self-released artists. Recorded Music NZ has over 2000 rights-holders.
How Bizarre is the only album by the New Zealand musical group OMC, released in 1996. It was first released on 27 September under the Huh! recording label, issued by PolyGram New Zealand, and manufactured and marketed by Mercury Records on 25 February 1997 in the United States. The album garnered a surprised, but generally positive reaction from critics; it was considered so bold and unique that it could not be compared to anything, and journalists struggled to classify it as one thing or another. How Bizarre reached number 5 in its native New Zealand and number 40 on the Billboard 200, spawning four singles: the title track, "Right On", "On the Run" and "Land of Plenty". It was also certified Gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), denoting sales of over 500,000 copies in that country, becoming the best-selling Urban Pasifika album.
Straitjacket Fits formed in Dunedin, New Zealand in 1986 and were a prominent band in the Flying Nun label's second wave of the Dunedin sound.
Urban Pasifika is a New Zealand subgenre of hip hop, which drew from alternative hip hop and R&B influences, and blended with Pacific Island or Māori instrumentation and traditional songwriting and singing and rapping in a variety of Polynesian languages, such as Māori, Samoan, Niuean and Tongan. The genre's genesis in the 1980s blossomed into a unique, globally enrapturing cultural scene in its homeland of Auckland, especially in the next decade. Urban Pasifika is one of the most popular music genres to arise from New Zealand, and helped cement Auckland's reputation on the world stage as a major countercultural city, and the most Polynesian city in the world.
Paul Lawrence Fuemana was a Niuean-New Zealand singer, songwriter and musician from Auckland. One of the first globally successful pioneers of his country's unique style hip-hop, Fuemana was one of New Zealand's greatest popular music icons of the 1990s.
Simon Grigg is a New Zealand music businessman, writer, broadcaster, publisher, producer, DJ and archivist. Born in Auckland, New Zealand, he attended Palmerston North Boys High, Auckland Grammar and the University of Auckland.
Breaks Co-Op is a New Zealand band, formed in 1997, initially recorded with Deepgrooves Entertainment and more recently with EMI.
3 The Hard Way are a New Zealand hip hop group formed in 1994. They are best known for their two New Zealand number one singles, "Hip Hop Holiday" from 1994, and "It's On " from 2003.
"How Bizarre" is a song written and recorded by New Zealand musical group OMC. It was released in December 1995 as the lead single from their only album of the same name and went on to top the charts of at least five countries: Australia, Austria, Canada, Ireland, and New Zealand. Outside New Zealand, OMC is generally considered a one-hit wonder; they had a further few successful singles in New Zealand, including "On the Run" and "Land of Plenty". The song was featured in the 1998 movies Palmetto and Disney's The Parent Trap and plays at the start of the first episode of the second season of American sitcom Clueless.
Proud: An Urban Pacific Streetsoul Compilation is a 1994 New Zealand hip hop and R&B compilation album. It was released in New Zealand by Second Nature Records and in Australia by Volition Records, and later rereleased in New Zealand by Huh! Records in 2000. Proud has been described as "one of the most important NZ releases in the past decades" by New Zealand music industry figure Simon Grigg.
Murray Ernest Cammick is a New Zealand popular music journalist, photographer and record label founder. He has been a significant figure in New Zealand popular music since the late 1970s.
The Pacific Music Awards are an annual New Zealand music award ceremony that honours excellence in Pacific music in New Zealand. The awards honour musicians who primarily work in the Pacific Island style of music from the Cook Islands, Fiji, Niue, Samoa, Tonga, Tokelau or Tuvalu, and also in urban and gospel genre categories.
Philip Fuemana was a New Zealand musician. Affectionately known as "the Godfather of South Auckland", he was highly regarded for his work in South Auckland in establishing the Urban Pasifika sound.
Pan Am was an alternative rock band from Auckland, New Zealand.
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