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 10 albums in 10 genres across 10 years.

Biography

Troy Kingi was born in 1984 in

Rotorua Rotorua () is a city in the Bay of Plenty region of New Zealand's North Island. The city lies on the southern shores of Lake Rotorua, from which it takes its name. It is the seat of the Rotorua Lakes District, a territorial authority encompass ...

, and was raised in Rotorua,

Te Kaha Te Kaha is a small New Zealand community situated in the Bay of Plenty near Ōpōtiki. The New Zealand Ministry for Culture and Heritage gives a translation of "the rope" for . The full name of Te Kaha is Te-Kahanui-A-Tikirākau. Te Kaha is ...

and

Kerikeri Kerikeri () is the largest town in Northland, New Zealand. It is a tourist destination north of Auckland and north of the northern region's largest city, Whangarei. It is sometimes called the Cradle of the Nation, as it was the site of th ...

. Kingi is of

Te Arawa Te Arawa is a confederation of Māori iwi and hapu (tribes and sub-tribes) of New Zealand who trace their ancestry to the Arawa migration canoe (''waka'').Ngāpuhi Ngāpuhi (or Ngā Puhi) is a Māori iwi associated with the Northland region of New Zealand and centred in the Hokianga, the Bay of Islands, and Whangārei. According to the 2018 New Zealand census, the estimated population of Ngāpuhi is 165, ...

and

Te Whānau-ā-Apanui Te Whānau-ā-Apanui is a Māori iwi (Iwi is the Maori word for tribe) located in the eastern Bay of Plenty and East Coast regions of New Zealand's North Island. In 2006, the iwi registered 11,808 members, representing 13 hapū. History Early ...

descent. He began learning guitar at

Te Aute College Te Aute College (Māori language, Māori: Te Kura o Te Aute) is a school in the Hawke's Bay region of New Zealand. It opened in 1854 with twelve pupils under Samuel Williams (missionary), Samuel Williams, an Anglicanism, Anglican missionary, and n ...

Hawke's Bay Hawke's Bay ( mi, Te Matau-a-Māui) is a local government region on the east coast of New Zealand's North Island. The region's name derives from Hawke Bay, which was named by Captain James Cook in honour of Admiral Edward Hawke. The region is ...

, and formed his first band, Toll House, at

Kerikeri High School Kerikeri () is the largest town in Northland, New Zealand. It is a tourist destination north of Auckland and north of the northern region's largest city, Whangarei. It is sometimes called the Cradle of the Nation, as it was the site of th ...

. Toll House entered the

Smokefreerockquest Smokefreerockquest (SFRQ) is an annual music competition for intermediate and high school bands throughout New Zealand. The first Rockquest was held in 1988, and was organised by Christchurch radio station C93FM as a local event. The following ...

, winning the regional Northland competition. Since the early 2000s, Kingi has lived in Kerikeri. He studied at the

Music and Audio Institute of New Zealand Music and Audio Institute of New Zealand (MAINZ) is a faculty of the Southern Institute of Technology, focused on contemporary music and music-industry related education. MAINZ offers music and audio courses from Certificates to Graduate Diplomas ...

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 ...

, and on returning to Kerikeri fronted a number of short-lived bands, including Mongolian Deathworm, Kingkachoo, Troy Kingi and the Tigers, Full Moon Street and Typhoon Fools, while also working as a scuba instructor and fruit picking in Kerikeri orchards. Kingi's work with Typhoon Fools gained him more widespread attention, and led to him being cast in the film '' Mt. Zion'' (2013). Kingi also featured on the film's soundtrack, and after the film's release, toured New Zealand with the film's lead actor

Stan Walker Stan Walker (born 23 October 1990) is an Australian-born New Zealand singer, actor, and television personality. In 2009, Walker was the winner of the seventh and last season of '' Australian Idol''. He subsequently signed a recording contrac ...

. Kingi released his first

extended play An extended play record, usually referred to as an EP, is a musical recording that contains more tracks than a single but fewer than an album or LP record.

in 2013. His appearance in ''Mt. Zion'' led to further work as an actor, including ''The Pā Boys'' (2014) and ''

Hunt for the Wilderpeople ''Hunt for the Wilderpeople'' is a 2016 New Zealand adventure comedy-drama film written and directed by Taika Waititi, whose screenplay was based on the book ''Wild Pork and Watercress'' by Barry Crump. Sam Neill and Julian Dennison play "Uncle" ...

'' (2016). Kingi collaborated on the

song "

Aotearoa ''Aotearoa'' () is the current Māori-language name for New Zealand. The name was originally used by Māori in reference to only the North Island, with the name of the whole country being ''Aotearoa me Te Waipounamu'' ("North Island and South ...

" (2014), a song created part of a

Te Wiki o te Reo Māori ( en, Māori Language Week) is a government-sponsored initiative intended to encourage New Zealanders to promote the use of the Māori language which is an official language of the country. Māori Language Week is part of a broader movement to ...

project for a song sung in

Māori language Māori (), or ('the Māori language'), also known as ('the language'), is an Eastern Polynesian language spoken by the Māori people, the indigenous population of mainland New Zealand. Closely related to Cook Islands Māori, Tuamotuan, and ...

to reach number one in New Zealand, something that had not been seen since

Pātea Māori Club Pātea Māori Club is a New Zealand cultural group and performance act formed in the South Taranaki District, South Taranaki town of Patea, Pātea in 1967 as the Pātea Methodist Māori Club. In 1983, the group began to release Māori language, ...

's "

Poi E "Poi E" is a New Zealand 1984 number-one hit song by the group Pātea Māori Club off the album of the same name. Released in 1984, the song was sung entirely in the Māori language and featured a blend of Māori cultural practices in the song a ...

" in 1984. Kingi set himself the goal of releasing 10 albums in he span of 10 years, performing in 10 different genres. The first in this series was ''Guitar Party at Uncle's Bach'' (2016), a double album recorded live in seven days at

Lyttelton, New Zealand Lyttelton (Māori: ''Ōhinehou'') is a port town on the north shore of Lyttelton Harbour / Whakaraupō, at the northwestern end of Banks Peninsula and close to Christchurch, on the eastern coast of the South Island of New Zealand. As a landing ...

. At the

Waiata Māori Music Awards Waiata is a word in the Māori language meaning "song", and may refer to: * Māori music#Waiata * ''Waiata'' (album), a 1981 album by Split Enz * ''Waiata / Anthems ''Waiata / Anthems'' is compilation album by New Zealand artists, whereby th ...

, Kingi won the awards for best Māori pop artist and best solo male artist. His second album, the soul-psychedelic ''Shake That Skinny Ass All the Way to Zygertron'' (2017), featured "Aztechknowledgey", which was nominated for the

APRA Silver Scroll The APRA Music Awards are several annual and two-yearly award ceremonies run in New Zealand by Australasian Performing Right Association to recognise songwriting skills, sales and airplay performance by its members. APRA hold the annual Silver S ...

award. ''Holy Colony Burning Acres'' (2019) was a political

roots reggae Roots reggae is a subgenre of reggae that deals with the everyday lives and aspirations of Africans and those in the African Diaspora, including the spiritual side of Rastafari, black liberation, revolution and the honoring of God, called Jah ...

album featuring songs that discussed subjects including West Papua, the

Inuit Inuit (; iu, ᐃᓄᐃᑦ 'the people', singular: Inuk, , dual: Inuuk, ) are a group of culturally similar indigenous peoples inhabiting the Arctic and subarctic regions of Greenland, Labrador, Quebec, Nunavut, the Northwest Territories ...

Hawaiʻi Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only state ...

and

Aboriginal Tasmanians The Aboriginal Tasmanians (Palawa kani: ''Palawa'' or ''Pakana'') are the Aboriginal people of the Australian island of Tasmania, located south of the mainland. For much of the 20th century, the Tasmanian Aboriginal people were widely, and ...

, The album won the

Taite Music Prize The Taite Music Prize is an annual New Zealand music award event. It features the same-named prize awarded for the best album from New Zealand. The prize is named after respected New Zealand music journalist and broadcaster Dylan Taite, who die ...

in 2020. In 2020, Kingi released ''The Ghost of Freddie Cesar'', an album inspired by a cassette tape Kingi found in the belongings of his father, who disappeared in 2005. The cassette tape since went missing, and the album was a re-creation of what Kingi remembered of the tape, blended with his own interpretations and original content. The album was a commercial success, reaching number two on the New Zealand albums chart. Kingi's 2021 album, ''Black Sea Golden Ladder'', was written in four days at an apartment on Clyde Wharf in Wellington Harbour, as a part of the Matairangi Mahi Toi Artist Residency programme. The album was co-produced with New Zealand singer-songwriter

Delaney Davidson Delaney Davidson (born 15 December 1972) is a singer-songwriter from Lyttelton, New Zealand. He is known for his musical production, guitar work, and being a multi-instrumentalist. Besides his music, Davidson is also involved in graphics, vis ...

. Kingi plans to retire as a musician after releasing 10 albums, to become a music producer and a gardener at land he owns in

Ōkaihau Ōkaihau is a small town in the Northland Region of New Zealand's North Island, just north of Kaikohe. State Highway 1 passes through Ōkaihau making it fairly busy. Ōkaihau has a primary school (Ōkaihau Primary School) and a secondary scho ...

Personal life

Kingi's father disappeared around Christmas 2005, while driving between

and

. Kingi has five children with his wife Huia, and works with the Raid Movement, a group combatting youth suicide in Northland.

Discography

Studio albums

Reissues

Extended plays

Singles

As lead artist

As featured artist

Promotional singles

Other charted songs

Guest appearances

Filmography

Film

Television

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kingi, Troy 1984 births 21st-century New Zealand male singers 21st-century multi-instrumentalists Living people Māori-language singers New Zealand male singer-songwriters New Zealand record producers People educated at Te Aute College People from Kerikeri People from Rotorua Ngāpuhi people Te Arawa people Te Whānau-ā-Apanui people