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Neil Mullane Finn is a New Zealand singer-songwriter and musician. He is best known for being a principal member of Split Enz with his brother Tim, the lead singer and a founding member of Crowded House, and a touring member of Fleetwood Mac. Finn joined Split Enz in 1977 after the departure of founding member Phil Judd and influenced a shift away from band's art rock roots and towards a new wave and pop-oriented sound. Gradually rising in creative prominence within the band, he came to write the majority of the band's successful songs in the 1980s, including "One Step Ahead", "History Never Repeats", "I Got You", and "Message to My Girl".
Hayley Dee Westenra is a New Zealand classical crossover singer and songwriter. Her first internationally released album, Pure, reached number one on the UK classical charts in 2003 and has sold more than two million copies worldwide, making it one of the fastest selling albums in her country's history.
Kurt Erik Nilsen is a Norwegian pop/country singer. He won the first season of the Norwegian reality show Idol, which aired on TV 2 in May 2003. He then won a one-off international version of Pop Idol called World Idol on 1 January 2004, featuring winners of the various national Idol shows.
Donald McGlashan is a New Zealand composer, singer and multi-instrumentalist who Is best known for membership in the bands Blam Blam Blam, The Front Lawn, and The Mutton Birds, before going solo. He has also composed for cinema and television. Among other instruments, McGlashan has played guitar, drums, euphonium and French horn.
Anthony Cosmo Callea is an Australian singer-songwriter and stage actor who rose to prominence as the runner-up in the 2004 season of Australian Idol. Callea's debut single, a cover of Celine Dion and Andrea Bocelli's song "The Prayer", is the fastest-selling single by an Australian artist; it held the number-one spot on the ARIA Singles Chart for five weeks, a record for the debut single of an Australian Idol contestant, and was the second-highest-selling Australian single of the 2000s (decade)
Rock music in New Zealand, also known as Kiwi rock music and New Zealand rock music, rose to prominence first in 1955 with Johnny Cooper's cover version of Bill Haley's hit song "Rock Around the Clock". This was followed by Johnny Devlin, sometimes nicknamed New Zealand's Elvis Presley, and his cover of "Lawdy Miss Clawdy". The 1960s saw Max Merritt and the Meteors and Ray Columbus & the Invaders achieve success. In the 1970s and early 1980s the innovative Split Enz had success internationally as well as nationally, with member Neil Finn later continuing with Crowded House. Other influential bands in the 1970s were Th' Dudes, Dragon and Hello Sailor. The early 1980s saw the development of the indie rock "Dunedin sound", typified by Dunedin bands such as The Clean, Straitjacket Fits and The Chills, recorded by the Flying Nun record label of Christchurch. New Zealand's foremost hard rock band Shihad started their long career in 1988. Since 2018 this title is now undoubtedly held by New Zealand Māori metal band Alien Weaponry who have achieved huge success in Europe and the USA.
Keith Lionel Urban is a New Zealand-born Australian-American singer, guitarist, and songwriter known for his work in country music. Recognized with four Grammy Awards, Urban also received fifteen Academy of Country Music Awards, including the Jim Reeves International Award, thirteen CMA Awards and six ARIA Music Awards. Urban wrote and performed the song "For You" from the film Act of Valor, which earned him nominations at both the 70th Golden Globe Awards and at the 18th Critics' Choice Awards in the respective Best Original Song categories.
Flight of the Conchords is a New Zealand musical comedy duo formed in Wellington in 1998. The band consists of multi-instrumentalists Bret McKenzie and Jemaine Clement. Beginning as a popular live comedy act in the early 2000s, the duo's comedy and music became the basis of the self-titled BBC radio series (2005) and, subsequently, the HBO American television series (2007–2009). Most recently, they released the HBO comedy special Live in London in 2018. The special was concurrently released by Sub Pop as their fifth album.
Rosita Vai is a New Zealand singer who rose to musical fame as the winner of the second season of New Zealand Idol in 2005. Now married, she is also known as Rosita Gibbons. Prior to her win, Rosita managed to stay out of the "bottom three" placings for the entire competition, the only contestant to have done so in the history of NZ Idol. The very first female crowned New Zealand Idol, she also appeared on TV2's Showstoppers and Pop's Ultimate Star, which featured various winners from New Zealand Idol and PopStars; however, she was voted out in the second week of the competition.
Hollie Smith is a New Zealand soul singer-songwriter based in Auckland, New Zealand. Her four solo albums Long Player, Humour and the Misfortune of Others, Water or Gold, and Coming In From The Dark have all reached number one on the RIANZ albums chart, making her one of the most successful female New Zealand artists of the 21st century.
Anne Crummer is a New Zealand pop singer and songwriter of Cook Islands descent who has seen success in both a solo career and as part of various musical groups.
Daniel Rodriguez is a Puerto Rican American operatic tenor from New York City. He became known as "The Singing Policeman" in his former work with the New York City Police Department, due to his role as one of the department's designated National Anthem singers. In the aftermath of the September 11 terrorist attacks, he received widespread attention with his rendition of "God Bless America", which he sang at memorial events and on television. This led to an offer of formal training from Plácido Domingo. Rodriguez has recorded numerous albums and appeared as lead tenor in several operas. He regularly appears in support of his chosen charities, as well as performing a full domestic and international concert schedule.
Jennifer Cecily Ward-Lealand is a New Zealand theatre and film actor, director, teacher and intimacy coordinator. She has worked for 40 years, appearing in over 120 theatre performances: Greek, Shakespeare, drama, comedy, devised, and musical theatre. Her screen credits include the 1993 movie Desperate Remedies as well as appearances in The Footstep Man, the soap Shortland Street and Australian comedy series Full Frontal.
Daniel Boys is an English musical theatre actor, who was a contestant on the BBC talent series Any Dream Will Do in 2007 before becoming known as a stage actor in various musicals including Avenue Q, Spamalot and Falsettos.
Jason René Castro is an American acoustic/folk-pop singer, songwriter, and real estate agent. He was the fourth place finalist on season seven of American Idol. After Idol, he signed a recording contract with Atlantic Records, and his self-titled debut album was released on April 13, 2010.
Stan Walker is an Australian-born New Zealand singer, actor, and television personality. In 2009, Walker was the winner of the seventh season of Australian Idol. He subsequently signed a recording contract with Sony Music Australia. In December 2009, Walker released his debut studio album, Introducing Stan Walker, which included the hit single, "Black Box". The album debuted at number three on the Australian ARIA Albums Chart and was certified platinum by the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA). It also appeared on the New Zealand Albums Chart at number two and was certified triple platinum by the Recording Industry Association of New Zealand (RIANZ).
Gary Michiel Daverne is a New Zealand musical arranger, composer, conductor, director and producer.
Titanium was a New Zealand pop boy band formed in Auckland in 2012 from the winners of The Edge radio station's competition to create New Zealand's first authentic boy band. The Edge radio station hosted auditions across New Zealand and eventually six young men were selected for the group consisting of members, Zac Taylor, Andrew Papas, Jordi Webber, Shaquille Paranihi-Ngauma, Haydn Linsley and T.K Paradza. They released their debut single, "Come On Home". The single debuted at number one on the official New Zealand Singles Chart on 17 September 2012. Titanium released their debut studio album, All For You in December 2012. They became the first New Zealand band to have three songs in the Top 40 Singles Chart at one time.
Massad Barakat-Devine, known mononymously as Massad, is a New Zealand pop musician. He co-hosted the TV2 show The 4.30 Show, along with Eve Palmer and ex-The Erin Simpson Show presenter Michael Lee.
Paul Michael Matthews is a New Zealand musician, songwriter, and record producer based in London (UK). He co-founded I Am Giant in 2008 and is the band's bass guitarist and songwriter. He was also the bass guitarist for New Zealand bands Stylus and Tadpole. Matthews also began producing records in 2002 with Blindspott's Self-titled Triple Platinum debut album. Matthews has since produced music for Six 60, Opshop and Setting Fire to Stacey among others.