Hollie Smith (born 17 November 1982) is a New Zealand soul singer-songwriter based in Auckland, New Zealand. Her four solo albums ''

Long Player The LP (from "long playing" or "long play") is an analog sound storage medium, a phonograph record format characterized by: a speed of rpm; a 12- or 10-inch (30- or 25-cm) diameter; use of the "microgroove" groove specification; and ...

Humour and the Misfortune of Others ''Humour and the Misfortune of Others'' is the second studio album by New Zealand soul singer Hollie Smith. It was released on 15 March 2010. Reception Russell Baillie of The New Zealand Herald gave the album five stars, praising its "big angr ...

, Water or Gold,'' and ''Coming In From The Dark'' have all reached number one on the

RIANZ Recorded Music NZ (formerly the Recording Industry Association of New Zealand (RIANZ)) is a non-profit trade association of record producers, distributors and recording artists who sell recorded music in New Zealand. Membership of Recorded Mus ...

albums chart, making her one of the most successful female New Zealand artists of the 21st century.

Early years

Smith attended

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The List of New Zealand urban areas by population, most populous urban area in the country and the List of cities in Oceania by po ...

's Willow Park Primary School, Takapuna Normal Intermediate and

Rangitoto College Rangitoto College is a state coeducational secondary school, located on the North Shore of Auckland, New Zealand. Serving years 9 to 13, Rangitoto has a school roll of as of making it the largest "brick-and-mortar" school in New Zealand (on ...

. In 1999, as a 16-year-old, Smith made the album ''Light From a Distant Shore'' after winning Best Female Vocalist at the National Jazz Festival of NZ. This album of

Celtic music Celtic music is a broad grouping of music genres that evolved out of the folk music traditions of the Celtic people of Northwestern Europe. It refers to both orally-transmitted traditional music and recorded music and the styles vary considerab ...

was produced by her stepfather, Steve McDonald. One of these early songs with McDonald, featuring Smith, would eventually be sampled for a track by US rap artist DMX for his album ''Year Of The Dog... Again''.

Career

In 2003, Smith moved to

Wellington Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by me ...

singing with

TrinityRoots TrinityRoots (1998–2005, 2011–present) are a band based in Wellington, New Zealand. Although they are commonly associated with New Zealand reggae they also embody a stripped back, jazz and soul-influenced rhythmic sound, which often ...

. She recorded an album '' Home, Land and Sea'' and toured with the band. She also featured on Fat Freddy’s Drop's track ‘Hope’ and performed on Concord Dawn and Recloose’ albums. In 2005, the 5-track ''Hollie Smith EP'' was released, featuring her own compositions. In 2005, the single "

Bathe in the River "Bathe in the River" is a single released by New Zealand supergroup Mt Preservation Society featuring New Zealand soul singer Hollie Smith. It appears on the soundtrack for the 2006 New Zealand film '' No. 2''. The single peaked at No. 2 on t ...

", written by

Don McGlashan Donald McGlashan (born 18 July 1959) 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 ci ...

and featuring Smith, was released. The song, from the

soundtrack A soundtrack is recorded music accompanying and synchronised to the images of a motion picture, drama, book, television program, radio program, or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack o ...

of the New Zealand feature film, No. 2, was a significant hit, spending 22 weeks in the NZ Top 10 and went on to win the APRA Silver Scroll. In 2005, Smith signed a multi-album record deal with

Manhattan Records Manhattan Records is an American record label, owned by Universal Music Group and operates as a branch of Capitol Music Group. Company history Manhattan Records was formed in 1984 by Bruce Lundvall and was later renamed EMI Manhattan Records af ...

, part of the Blue Note Label Group. Hollie would then record in New York City with producer and keyboard legend James Poyser (The Roots), Adam Blackstone (Kanye West, Justin Timberlake) and Jeff Lee Johnson (Erykah Badu, Aretha Franklin). The deal then collapsed upon the sale of Manhattan Records/EMI to Universal, which forced the singer to use the profits of her first album release, ''Long Player,'' released in 2006, debuting at #1 and going on to sell Gold, to get out of the deal with Blue Note. During this time she opened for artists Bob Dylan and Coldplay on the New Zealand legs of their tours. After a forced two-year absence from the music industry, Smith released the album ''

'' on 15 March 2010, and would debut at #1 and become certified gold. She followed this soon after with the "Hollie and The Last S.O.S Tour" in New Zealand. 2011 saw the release of a collaborative album Smith produced with Electric Wire Hustle member Mara TK titled "Band of Brothers Vol. 1", which received a 4 star review from the NZ Herald's Russell Baillie, describing it as "a sideways step but still highly approachable". In 2012, Smith, with fellow singer/songwriters

Anika Moa Anika Rose Moa (born 21 May 1980) is a New Zealand recording artist and television presenter. Her debut album '' Thinking Room'', was released in September 2001, which reached number one on the New Zealand Albums Chart and provided two T ...

and Boh Runga, embarked on a sold-out national acoustic church tour of New Zealand. Later that year Smith,

, and Boh Runga starred in an online video campaign supporting

gay marriage Same-sex marriage, also known as gay marriage, is the marriage of two people of the same sex or gender. marriage between same-sex couples is legally performed and recognized in 33 countries, with the most recent being Mexico, constituting ...

, alongside other New Zealand singers

and Boh Runga, as well as Olympian

Danyon Loader Danyon Joseph Loader (born 21 April 1975) is an Olympic champion, former world record holder swimmer from New Zealand, based in Dunedin. He remains the national record holder in the 400 metre freestyle short course. He swam for New Zealand a ...

and former

Governor-General Governor-general (plural ''governors-general''), or governor general (plural ''governors general''), is the title of an office-holder. In the context of governors-general and former British colonies, governors-general are appointed as viceroy t ...

Dame

Catherine Tizard Dame Catherine Anne Tizard (née Maclean; 4 April 1931 – 31 October 2021) was a New Zealand politician who served as mayor of Auckland City from 1983 to 1990, and the 16th governor-general of New Zealand from 1990 to 1996. She was the first ...

. In 2013 Smith,

, and Boh Runga released a collaborative album titled "Anika Boh Hollie". Following this they embarked on a national tour of concerts at wineries around New Zealand with the internationally acclaimed New Zealand group

Fat Freddy's Drop Fat Freddy's Drop is a New Zealand seven-piece band from Wellington, whose musical style has been characterised as any combination of dub, reggae, soul, jazz, rhythm and blues, and techno. Originally a jam band formed in the late 1990s by mus ...

. Later in 2013, Smith was selected to perform at the Australasian World Music Expo in Melbourne, which resulted in an invitation to perform at the prestigious

Montreal Jazz Festival The Festival International de Jazz de Montréal ( en, Montreal International Jazz Festival) is an annual jazz festival held in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The Montreal Jazz Fest holds the 2004 Guinness World Record as the world's largest jazz fes ...

in July 2014. There, she headlined her stage with her band as part of the Les Soirees jazzy series of free outdoor concerts, performing two concurrent sets in front of an estimated audience of over 50,000. Reviewer Sharonne Cohen from US jazz magazine

JazzTimes ''JazzTimes'' is an American magazine devoted to jazz. Published 10 times a year, it was founded in Washington, D.C. in 1970 by Ira Sabin as the newsletter ''Radio Free Jazz'' to complement his record store. Coverage After a decade of growth ...

went on to describe how Smith's "...powerhouse outdoor performance captivated thousands". From there Smith's northern hemisphere tour continued with a concert in New York at the

Rockwood Music Hall Rockwood Music Hall is a music venue at 196 Allen Street on the Lower East Side of Manhattan in New York City. Owner Ken Rockwood, aka "The Professor", opened the establishment in 2005 as a small bar and music venue. Today, the venue features ...

and further concerts throughout UK/Europe including several for the New Zealand Commonwealth Games team in Glasgow. In July 2015, Smith signed a deal with Warner Music NZ and then in September of that year released the single "Lady Dee", followed by the 2016 release of her album "Water Or Gold", which would debut at #1 on the NZ Top 40 Albums Chart, and see New Zealand Music Award nominations for 'Album of the Year' and 'Best Female Solo Artist'. In 2016, Smith completed two tours of New Zealand and a tour of Australia to promote the release of the album. In 2019, her bilingual collaboration with Teeks, ‘Whakaaria Mai/How Great Thou Art’ received widespread acclaim and would see her perform it at a concert in remembrance of the Christchurch terrorist attack victims. Hollie then guested on the 2020 COVID-19 lockdown hit ‘Stay’ with an all-star line up that featured Stan Walker, Ria Hall, Kings,

Troy Kingi Troy Kingi (born 1984) is a New Zealand musician and actor from Northland, first receiving media attention when he appeared in the 2013 film '' Mt. Zion''. Kingi is a multi-instrumentalist, is known for his 10/10/10 project: the plan to release ...

, among others. In early 2021 Smith worked alongside Don McGlashan again for the TVNZ series Waiata Anthems, on an episode that documented the making of a bilingual te reo Māori version of ‘Bathe In the River’, titled ‘Korukutia’. In October 2021, five years after the release of ''Water Or Gold'', Smith returned with her fourth solo album, ''Coming In From The Dark''. An album which saw her collaborating with some of New Zealand’s top musicians, including the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, TEEKS, Sole Mio and Raiza Biza. Upon release, the album debuted at #1 on the NZ Top 40 Albums chart, making it the fourth number one for Smith. In October 2022, Smith won the second season of the

Masked Singer ''Masked Singer'' is an international music reality game show franchise. It originated from the South Korean program '' The King of Mask Singer'', developed by Munhwa Broadcasting Corporation. Format The format features the celebrities who per ...

NZ, as 'Bedazzled Unicorn'.

Personal life

In 2010, Smith ended an "intense" relationship with C4 presenter

Clarke Gayford Clarke Timothy Gayford (born 24 October 1976) is a New Zealand radio and television broadcaster, presenter of the fishing documentary show ''Fish of the Day''. He is the fiancé of New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern. Education and career ...

Discography

Studio albums

As featured artist

* '' Home, Land and Sea'' (2004) Trinity Roots * ''Hiatus on the Horizon'' (2005)

Recloose Matthew "Recloose" Chicoine is an American electronic music producer, DJ and musician hailing from Detroit, Michigan, US. He is known for numerous releases on independent dance labels like Planet E, Rush Hour, Peacefrog, Studio !K7, Sonar Kollekt ...

* '' Chaos by Design'' (2006)

Concord Dawn Concord Dawn is a New Zealand drum and bass group, active since mid-1999, consisting of Matt Harvey (aka Matty C). Until 2010, Evan Short was one half of the group. They were courted by local electronic music label Kog Transmissions and release ...

* ''Steps in Time'' (2006) Solaa * ''

Based on a True Story Based on a True Story may refer to: Albums * ''Based on a T.R.U. Story'', by 2 Chainz, 2012 * '' Based on a True Story...'', by Blake Shelton, 2013 * ''Based on a True Story'' (The Del-Lords album), 1988 * ''Based on a True Story'' (Fat Freddy's ...

'' (2007)

EPs

Singles

Awards

, - , 1996 , Hollie Smith , Tauranga Jazz Festival – Best Vocalist , , - , 2007 , ''Long Player ,

New Zealand Music Awards The Aotearoa Music Awards (previously called the New Zealand Music Awards), conferred annually by Recorded Music NZ, honour outstanding artistic and technical achievements in the recording industry. The awards are among the most significant that ...

– Album of the Year , , - , 2007 , Hollie Smith – ''Long Player'' ,

– Best Female Solo Artist , , - , 2007 , Hollie Smith – ''Long Player'' ,

– Breakthrough Artist of the Year , , - , 2007 , Hollie Smith ,

– Best Aotearoa Roots Album , , - , 2007 , Jeremy Toy & Hollie Smith – ''Long Player'' (Hollie Smith) ,

– Best Producer , , - , 2010 , Hollie Smith – ''Humour and the Misfortune of Others'' ,

– Best Female Artist , , - , 2010 , Hollie Smith – ''Humour and the Misfortune of Others'' ,

– Best Aotearoa Roots Album , , - , 2012 , Hollie Smith – ''Band of Brothers Vol.1'' (Hollie Smith & Mara TK) ,

– Best Roots Album , , - , 2016 , Hollie Smith – ''Water Or Gold'' (Hollie Smith) ,

– Best Album , , - , 2016 , Hollie Smith – ''Water Or Gold'' (Hollie Smith) ,

– Best Female Vocalist ,

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, Hollie 1983 births Living people New Zealand women singer-songwriters New Zealand people of English descent People from Auckland People educated at Northcote College New Zealand LGBT rights activists 21st-century New Zealand women singers Māori-language singers