Six60 | |
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Background information | |
Origin | Dunedin, New Zealand |
Genres | |
Years active | 2008–present |
Labels |
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Members |
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Past members |
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Six60 is a New Zealand pop rock band formed in Dunedin, Otago in 2008. The band consists of Matiu Walters (lead vocals, guitar), Ji Fraser (lead guitar), Chris Mac (drums, bass guitar), and Marlon Gerbes (guitar, bass guitar, synthesiser).
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. [4] 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. [5]
In 2018 the band won five Vodafone New Zealand Music Awards and were the most streamed artist by New Zealanders on Spotify. [6] 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. [7] On 24 April 2021, Six60 played the first concert at Auckland's Eden Park Stadium, to a crowd of 50,000 fans. It was the closing of the Six60 Saturdays country-wide tour and the largest concert of 2021. [8]
In February 2024, founding member Eli Paewai left the band, citing his "personal journey with music is coming to an end". [9] [10]
Six60 was formed in Dunedin; the founding members met while attending University of Otago. The band created their name from the street number of the house they lived at in Dunedin, 660 Castle Street. [11] As Ji Fraser said, "That's where it all began. It was the beginning of everything. It was a place that meant so much to us." [12] In July 2021 the band bought 660 Castle Street and created four $10,000 performing arts scholarships at the University of Otago. [13]
Their local following developed from Dunedin to other student hubs around the country such as Auckland, Waikato, Christchurch and Wellington. [14]
Six60's original EP, released in 2008, contained a track called "Someone to Be Around". [15] This track was left off their debut album but remains one of their most popular songs.
Six60 have a quadruple platinum number-one debut album with triple platinum-selling single "Don't Forget Your Roots", two double platinum-selling singles "Only to Be" and "Rise Up", two platinum-selling singles "Forever" and "Special", and one gold-selling single "Lost".
In early March 2013 the band was featured on George FM Breakfast's 'Damn! I Wish I Was Your Cover' series covering Rudimental's "Feel the Love".
In 2014, their song "Run for It" was featured on the trailer of ITV drama series Prey , starring John Simm. [16] [17]
Chris uses a MOOG Voyager / Ernie Ball Musicman Sting Ray Bass guitars. Matiu and Ji both play Fender Strats, Gibson Les Paul electric guitars, and Gibson and Maton acoustic guitars while Marlon uses an MS2000 / Muse VIP / Fender Strat. Eli plays KDrums drums.[ citation needed ] Matiu's younger brother Niko Walters debuted as a musician in 2019, [18] and has performed as an opening act for Six60. [19] [20]
Title | Album details | Peak chart positions | Certifications | |
---|---|---|---|---|
NZ [5] | AUS [21] | |||
Six60 |
| 1 | — | |
Six60 |
| 1 | — |
|
Six60 | 1 | 8 |
| |
Castle St |
| 1 | 47 |
|
"—" denotes an album that did not chart in that country. |
Title | Album details | Peak chart positions |
---|---|---|
NZ [5] | ||
The Grassroots Album |
| 2 [26] |
Title | Album details | Peak chart positions | Certifications |
---|---|---|---|
NZ [5] | |||
The Six60 Collection |
| 5 | RMNZ: Platinum [27] |
Title | EP details | Peak chart positions | Certifications |
---|---|---|---|
NZ [5] | |||
Six60 |
| — | |
iTunes Session EP |
| 15 | |
Six60 |
| 2 |
|
Title | Year | Peak chart positions | Certifications | Album |
---|---|---|---|---|
NZ [5] | ||||
"Rise Up 2.0" | 2010 | 1 |
| Six60 |
"Don't Forget Your Roots" | 2011 | 2 |
| |
"Only to Be" | 5 |
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"Forever" | 2012 | 11 |
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"In the Clear" (featuring Paul Mac) | 12 | |||
"Lost" (featuring APO) | 20 |
| ||
"Forever (Movie Version)" | 2013 | — | Vaterfreuden OST | |
"Special" | 2014 | 1 |
| Six60 (2) |
"So High" | 2015 | 10 |
| |
"White Lines" | 5 |
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"Purple" | — [A] |
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"Stay Together" | — |
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"Exhale" | — |
| ||
"Don't Give It Up" | 2017 | 4 |
| Six60 EP |
"Rivers" | 32 |
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"Closer" | 14 |
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"Rolling Stone" | 20 |
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"Vibes" | 9 |
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"Up There" | 37 |
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"The Greatest" | 2019 | 3 |
| Six60 (3) |
"Please Don't Go" | 2 |
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"Raining" | 8 |
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"Never Enough" | 10 |
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"Long Gone" | 2020 | 5 |
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"Sundown" | 6 |
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"Fade Away" | 9 |
| Non-album singles | |
"All She Wrote" | 2021 | 1 |
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"Pepeha" | 2 |
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"Before You Leave" | 2022 | 3 |
| Castle St |
"Never Been Tonight" | 39 |
| ||
"—" denotes a recording that did not chart in that country. |
Title | Year | Peak chart positions | Certifications | Album | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
NZ [5] | NZ Artist [53] | AUS [54] | ||||
"Catching Feelings" (Drax Project featuring Six60) | 2019 | 3 | 1 | 43 | Drax Project | |
"Always Beside You" (Coterie featuring Six60) | 2022 | — [B] | 11 | — |
| Coterie |
Title | Year | Peak chart positions | Certifications | Album | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
NZ [5] | NZ Art. [59] | ||||
"Someone to Be Around" | 2008 | 39 | 12 |
| Six60 (2008 EP) |
"Lost" | 2011 | — | 12 | Six60 | |
"Finest Wine" | — | 5 |
| ||
"Home" | 2013 | — | 9 | iTunes Session | |
"Waterfalls" | — | 6 | |||
"Mother's Eyes" | 2015 | — | — |
| Six60 (2) |
"Kia Mau Ki Tō Ūkaipō / Don't Forget Your Roots" [62] | 2019 | 10 | — |
| Waiata / Anthems |
"Universe" | — [C] | — | Six60 (3) | ||
"Ghosts" | 21 | — |
| ||
"Tomorrow" | 28 | — | |||
"Tahi" | 2022 | — [D] | — | Castle St | |
"Hang On" | — [E] | — | |||
"Nobody Knows" | — [F] | — | |||
"Say It Now" | — [G] | — | |||
"Pepeha" (live acoustic) | 2024 | — [H] | — | The Grassroots Album | |
"Forever" (live acoustic) | — [I] | — | |||
"Someone to Be Around" (live acoustic) | — [J] | — | |||
"Rivers" (live acoustic) | — [K] | — | |||
"—" denotes a recording that did not chart in that country. |
Six60: Till the Lights Go Out is a 2020 documentary film, directed by Julia Parnell, highlighting the bands humble beginnings to reaching global success. [14]
Awards | Year | Type | Song or album | Notes |
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New Zealand Music Awards | 2011 | Single of the Year | "Rise Up 2.0" | Nominated |
Breakthrough Artist of the Year | "Rise Up 2.0" | Nominated | ||
Peoples' Choice Award | Nominated | |||
New Zealand Music Awards | 2012 | Single of the Year | "Don't Forget Your Roots" | Won |
Best Group | "Six60" | Won | ||
Peoples' Choice Award | Won | |||
Highest selling New Zealand Single | "Don't Forget Your Roots" | Won | ||
Highest selling New Zealand Album | "Six60" | Won | ||
Radio Airplay Record of the Year | "Don't Forget Your Roots" | Won | ||
Album of the Year | "Six60" | Nominated | ||
Best Electronica Album | "Six60" | Nominated | ||
New Zealand Music Awards | 2013 | Highest selling New Zealand Album | "Six60" | Nominated |
New Zealand Music Awards | 2015 | People's Choice Award | Won | |
Album of the Year | Six60 | Nominated | ||
Single of the Year | "White Lines" | Nominated | ||
Best Group | "Six60" | Nominated | ||
Best Pop Album | "Six60" | Nominated | ||
Highest selling New Zealand Single | "Special" | Nominated | ||
Highest selling New Zealand Single | "So High" | Nominated | ||
Highest selling New Zealand Album | "Six60" | Nominated | ||
Radio Airplay Record of the Year | "Special" | Nominated | ||
New Zealand Music Awards | 2016 | Highest selling New Zealand Single | "White Lines" | Won |
Radio Airplay Record of the Year | "White Lines" | Won | ||
Highest selling New Zealand Album | "Six60" | Nominated | ||
New Zealand Music Awards | 2017 | Highest selling New Zealand Single | "White Lines" | Nominated |
Highest selling New Zealand Album | "Six60" | Nominated |
Mitch James is a New Zealand singer, songwriter and guitarist from Auckland. He is best known for his songs "Bright Blue Skies", "Sunday Morning", "No Fixed Abode", "Move On" and "21" which have featured in the Official New Zealand Music Charts. His self-titled first album debuted at No. 2 on the New Zealand chart, No. 1 on the NZ Artist Album Chart and has since been certified Platinum by Recorded Music NZ.
"The Greatest" is a song by New Zealand band Six60, released as the lead single from their third album Six60 in July 2019. The song was a commercial success, becoming triple Platinum certified in New Zealand. In 2023, a new Māori language version of the song, "Te Taumata", was used as the theme song for the 2023 Te Matatini kapa haka festival.
"Please Don't Go" is a song by New Zealand band Six60, released as the second single from their third album Six60 in October 2019, on the same day as their song "Raining".
"Raining", also known by the title "It's Been Raining", is a song by New Zealand band Six60, released as the third single from their third album Six60 in October 2019, on the same day as their song "Please Don't Go".
"Pepeha" is a song by New Zealand band Six60, performed bilingually in English and Māori. "Pepeha" is the band's second song to be recorded in Te Reo Māori, and was released as a single in 2021 to coincide with Te Wiki o te Reo Māori. The song was written by Six60 band members Marlon Gerbes and Matiu Walters, alongside Te Reo experts Mahuia Bridgman-Cooper, Jeremy Tātere MacLeod and Sir Tīmoti Kāretu.
Nikora "Niko" Walters is a New Zealand contemporary soul and R&B musician. Debuting in 2019, Walters is best known for the "Not My Neighbour" (2020), which was certified double platinum and was one of the top singles of 2021 in New Zealand. Walters released his debut album Escape in 2020, followed by White Flag Waves in 2022.
Castle St is the fourth studio album by New Zealand band Six60. The band's second collaboration with American music producer Malay, Castle St debuted at number one on the New Zealand Albums Chart.
Coterie is a four-member Australian-New Zealand band. Formed from four brothers who were born in New Zealand and grew up in Perth, Western Australia, the band received recognition for the 2021 single "Cool It Down", which was a hit in New Zealand.
Six60 is the third extended play by New Zealand band Six60. The release was a wide-scale commercial success in New Zealand, debuting at number two on the New Zealand albums chart, and being one of the top-performing releases in New Zealand between 2017 and 2021.
"Someone to Be Around" is a song by New Zealand band Six60. Originally released on their limited-release extended play Six60 in 2008, the song was performed live on the group's 2013 iTunes Session EP. The song was added to the 10th anniversary of their debut album Six60 in 2021, and became the most played song of New Zealand origin on New Zealand airwaves in 2022.
"Before You Leave" is a song by New Zealand band Six60, released as a single in August 2022 as the lead single from their album Castle St.
"Sundown" is a song by New Zealand band Six60, released as the final single from their third album Six60 in August 2020.
"Long Gone" is a song by New Zealand band Six60, released as the fifth single from their third album Six60 in March 2020.
"Never Enough" is a song by New Zealand band Six60, released as the fourth single from their third album Six60 in December 2019.
"Rivers" is a song by New Zealand band Six60, released as the second single from their 2017 extended play Six60.
"Closer" is a song by New Zealand band Six60, released as the third single from their 2017 extended play Six60.
"Rolling Stone" is a song by New Zealand band Six60, released as the fourth single from their 2017 extended play Six60 (2017).
"Vibes" is a song by New Zealand band Six60, released as the fifth single from their 2017 extended play Six60.
"Up There" is a song by New Zealand band Six60, released as the sixth and final single from their 2017 extended play Six60.
"Never Been Tonight" is a song by New Zealand band Six60, released as a single in September 2022 as the second single from their album Castle St, alongside the track "Nobody Knows".