Joanne Monique "Joe" Cotton, is a Canadian-born New Zealand pop singer who gained recognition as a member of the girl group

TrueBliss TrueBliss were a New Zealand pop girl group formed in April 1999. The band were formed on the popular television show ''Popstars'', which aired on TVNZ's TV2 channel for nine weeks in the search for a new girl group. TrueBliss were the firs ...

, formed in 1999 on ''

Popstars ''Popstars'' is an international reality television franchise aimed to find new singing talent. Serving as a precursor to the ''Idol'' franchise, '' Popstars'' first began in New Zealand in 1999 when producer Jonathan Dowling formed the girl gr ...

''. Cotton has since joined a cover band, The Mermaids Danceband. She has also worked as a radio presenter, for

More FM More FM is a New Zealand radio network that plays hot adult contemporary music. It is operated by MediaWorks New Zealand. More FM broadcasts in 25 centres throughout New Zealand on 81 transmitters with a mix of local and network programming. ...

and

The Edge David Howell Evans (born 8 August 1961), better known as the Edge or simply Edge,McCormick (2006), pp. 21, 23–24 is an English-born Irish musician, singer, and songwriter. He is best known as the lead guitarist, keyboardist, and backing voca ...

Biography

Cotton was born in Vancouver, Canada. She relocated with her family to Wellington, New Zealand in 1985. She has one brother, Paul Cotton, who was a member of popular kiwi Christian rock group, the Lads. Her niece, Hope Cotton, is also a prominent advocate within the Disability and LGBTQ+ spaces. She studied music throughout her time at

Wellington Girls' College Wellington Girls' College was founded in 1883 in Wellington, New Zealand. At that time it was called Wellington Girls' High School. Wellington Girls' College is a year 9 to 13 state secondary school, located in Thorndon in central Wellington. H ...

leaving at the start of her seventh form year to do a three-year diploma in Rock and Commercial music at Whitireia Community Polytechnic. Joe enjoyed performing from an early age and during fifth form her school choir attended the Australasian Choral Championships which they were the joint winners of. In late 1998 she auditioned for ''

'' - she made the cut and eventually became a member of True Bliss, the first band to be formed out of ''

''. The five girls went on to cut a #1 single followed by a #1 album, before they (unofficially) parted in late 2000. Joe subsequently found work on the C4 television station and in radio, first with

and most recently with More FM. She also has a career alongside Amber Claire, Pauline Berry, guitarist Martin Winch and Becks Wright as a member of the cover band Mermaids Danceband which she joined in July 2000 after moving from Wellington to Auckland. She won Pop's Ultimate Star, which aired on TV2 on Sundays at 7 pm. Joe continued to work as a Radio DJ. She hosted the weekday (10 am-2 pm) show at

before moving to the

Auckland afternoon show (weekdays 3 pm-7 pm) with

Jesse Mulligan Jesse Robert Turi Mulligan is a New Zealand television and radio broadcaster. He currently works as a co-host for '' The Project'' on Three, an afternoon presenter on RNZ National, and a writer for The New Zealand Herald's Viva Magazine. Career ...

. After longtime breakfast host (Kim Adamson) left the station in August 2009, she and Jesse joined Jeremy Corbett to form "The Morning Fix with Corbett, Jesse and Joe" 6 am-10 am weekdays. In March 2011, Jesse left the show and was replaced with former More FM Auckland Workday and Saturday breakfast host, Peter Dakin, which made "More FM Morning Fix with Corbett, Joe and Peter" 5:30 am-10 am. The show was axed in October 2011 (just 8 months after it began), due to Jeremy's resignation and More FM switching to a new breakfast show hosted by Marc Ellis, Amber Peebles and Stu Tolan (which was fed to Auckland, Waikato and Wellington). She hosted the nationwide More FM Nights 7 pm-midnight (Sunday - Thursday). She was originally just filling in for Lee Plummer (who was taking 3 months maternity leave) but was given a permanent position on the show, which she remained in until December 2021. She then started a position at the Southland More FM Breakfast show which has continued to current day. She is married to Daniel Shields.

Discography

Albums

*1999: ''Dream'' - #1 NZ (TrueBliss)

Singles

*1999: "

Tonight Tonight may refer to: Television * ''Tonight'' (1957 TV programme), a 1957–1965 British current events television programme hosted by Cliff Michelmore that was broadcast on BBC * ''Tonight'' (1975 TV programme), a 1975–1979 British current ...

" - #1 NZ (highest selling single of the year) (True Bliss) *1999: "Number One" - #12 NZ (TrueBliss) *1999: "Freedom" (TrueBliss) *2012: "A Minute of One Day" (TrueBliss)

Filmography

Starring roles

*1999: ''

'' as herself *2007: '' Pop's Ultimate Star'' as herself *2021: ''

The Masked Singer NZ ''The Masked'' ''Singer NZ'' is a New Zealand reality singing competition television show based on the '' Masked Singer'' franchise which originated from the South Korean version of the show ''King of Mask Singer''. It premiered on Three on 9 Ma ...

'' as

Medusa In Greek mythology, Medusa (; Ancient Greek: Μέδουσα "guardian, protectress"), also called Gorgo, was one of the three monstrous Gorgons, generally described as winged human females with living venomous snakes in place of hair. Those ...

/Herself

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cotton, Joe 1978 births Living people Canadian emigrants to New Zealand People from Wellington City Popstars winners New Zealand women pop singers More FM Participants in New Zealand reality television series 21st-century New Zealand women singers People educated at Wellington Girls' College