Kimbra
Kimbra on stage at the 2011 Moomba Festival.
Background information
Birth name	Kimbra Johnson Zottola
Born	(1990-03-27) 27 March 1990 (age 22)
Origin	Hamilton, New Zealand
Genres	Soul, alternative, jazz
Occupations	Singer, songwriter, musician
Instruments	Vocals, guitar
Years active	2005–present
Labels	Forum 5, Warner Bros. Records
Associated acts	Miami Horror, Gotye, As Tall As Lions, Mark Foster
Website	Kimbra's official MySpace

Kimbra Johnson (born 27 March 1990), known mononymously as Kimbra, is a New Zealand singer/songwriter. Her debut album Vows charted in New Zealand and Australia.

Biography[link]

Early years[link]

Kimbra Johnson was born in Hamilton, New Zealand and remained there for the majority of her childhood. She attended Hillcrest High School, rising to prominence as a musician after competing in the national schools' competition Rockquest for three years running, where she was awarded second place in 2004 at age 14. Her upbringing was not particularly influenced by music, but at the age of 10 Kimbra began writing songs. Kimbra's father Ken was the head doctor at the University of Waikato's student health centre and her mother was a nurse. Ken bought Kimbra a guitar when she was 12 years old, and "after a few years of lessons, she was on stage, performing with her guitar tutor (she was never taught to sing)".^[1]

Kimbra made her first music video on the New Zealand children's TV show What Now. The video was titled "Smile".

Career beginnings[link]

Early public performances by Kimbra included singing at the Waikato Times Gold Cup race meeting in 2000 as a ten year-old, and the national anthem at age twelve before 27,000 people at the Auckland vs Waikato NPC rugby final.

After winning the Juice TV award for best breakthrough music video for her second single "Simply on My Lips" in 2007, Kimbra, then aged seventeen, came to the attention of ex-Independiente Records boss Mark Richardson and his newly-formed management company/independent label Forum 5 in Melbourne, Victoria, whom she signed with and relocated to Australia to begin work on her debut record.

[edit] Vows (2010–present)

Kimbra's first single "Settle Down" was released in 2010 with the music video directed by Guy Franklin. Celebrity blogger Perez Hilton featured the track on his website citing "If you like Nina Simone, Florence & The Machine and/or Bjork, then we think you will enjoy Kimbra - her music reminds us of all those fierce ladies!"^[2]

On 10 December 2010, the Australian 'indietronica' group Miami Horror released their single, "I Look to You" featuring Kimbra's vocals.^[3] Kimbra also stars in the music video, which features wide-angle and kaleidoscope shots of her in face paint and dresses walking through golden fields.^[4]

On 7 June 2011 Kimbra signed to Warner Bros. Records New Zealand for distribution in New Zealand and Australia, as well as a worldwide deal for all other territories with Warner Bros. Records in the US.^[5]

Kimbra's debut album Vows was released on 29 August in New Zealand and 2 September in Australia. In its first week of release the album charted at #3 in New Zealand and #5 in Australia. In its second week of release the album rose to a peak of #4 on the ARIA Charts. Notable Australian producer 'M-Phazes' produced Kimbra's track 'Call me' and lent additional hand to many of the other tracks on the 'Vows' album.

Kimbra is featured in the single "Somebody That I Used to Know" by the Australian artist Gotye. The single was a commercial success charting nationally and internationally. The song reached #1 in Australia, New Zealand, Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, the UK, and the United States. The single has currently been certified 8x Platinum (560,000+ units sold) in Australia.

The success of the collaboration resulted in Kimbra's singles "Settle Down", "Cameo Lover" and "Good Intent" to chart within the Australian Top 100 Singles Chart.

She has won the Critics' Choice Prize at the 2011 New Zealand Music Awards^[6] and Best Female Artist and Best Song (for "Somebody That I Used to Know") at the ARIA Music Awards of 2011.^[7]

The US release of Vows will feature a few new tracks not available on the Australian/New Zealand version of the album.^[8]

On 19 January, "Good Intent" was played on a episode of ABC's drama Grey's Anatomy. This same song also features in the popular video game, The Sims 3: Pets. Also in January, Kimbra won the "One to Watch" award at the 2012 Rolling Stone Awards.^[9]

Recently, Kimbra has collaborated with Mark Foster (of Foster the People) and DJ A-Trak on the track "Warrior". The track was released on 2 April.

On 14 April 2012 she performed "Somebody That I Used to Know" with Gotye on SNL. On 18 April 2012, the track peaked at number 1 on the US Billboard Hot 100. The result made her the first New Zealand act to top any US chart since OMC managed to top the Billboard Mainstream Top 40 chart with "How Bizarre" in 1997.^[10]

Live band[link]

• Fagan Wilcox – samples/synth/bass/vocals (2009–present)
• Timon Martin – guitar/vocals (2009–present)
• Stevie McQuinn – drums (2010–present)
• Ben Davey – keyboards/vocals (2010–present)

Previous members[link]

• Stan Bicknell – drums (2009–2010)
• Joe Cope (2009)

Musical style and performance[link]

Kimbra's musical style harbours "smoky soul, flights of dazzling invention and intricate layers of deeply felt emotion". Comparisons have been drawn with Architecture in Helsinki, Amy Winehouse and Björk. Her songs are heavily thematic and laced with "quirky" jazz chords. Kimbra's music pertains beyond the "four chord cliché but still mantains [sic] strong hooks and catchy melodies that are sometimes unpredictable but satisfying".^[11]

Discography[link]

Studio albums[link]

Singles[link]

As a featured artist[link]

Awards and nominations [link]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official site
• YouTube
• Kimbra on Myspace
• Kimbra on Facebook
• Kimbra on Twitter

Miami Horror
Miami Horror performing at the Big Day Out in Claremont, Australia, 31 January 2010
Background information
Origin	Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Genres	Electropop, electroclash, synthpop,[1] indietronica, nu-disco
Years active	2007–present
Labels	EMI
Associated acts	Gameboy/Gamegirl
Website	www.miamihorror.com
Members
Benjamin Plant Josh Moriarty Aaron Shanahan Daniel Whitechurch

Miami Horror are an Australian indietronica band from Melbourne, Victoria with a disco-house throwback style. Miami Horror can refer to its producer, Benjamin Plant, or its four-piece live incarnation.

Biography[link]

Miami Horror take influence from dance-pop artists of the 1970s and 1980s such as Prince, E.L.O., New Order and Michael Jackson, as well as progressive rock acts such as Todd Rundgren, Supertramp and Pink Floyd, and combine it with modern production techniques.

In 2007 under the moniker Miami Horror, Plant started with a series of remixes, both bootleg and official that included Stardust's "Music Sounds Better with You" and Tegan and Sara's "Walking with a Ghost", along with contemporary Australian acts such as the Midnight Juggernauts and Grafton Primary.

Plant began his music career early on, producing music at home from a young age, often DJing at house parties and regular weekly Melbourne club nights such as Streetparty and Third Class. He since remixed Pnau, The Presets, Bloc Party, Datarock and The Dirty Secrets in 2008.^[2] Miami Horror has also collaborated with Melbourne electropop group Gameboy/Gamegirl in 2007 and produced the Golden Ghetto Sex EP which featured the single "Sweaty Wet/Dirty Damp", a one-off single that became a leftfield hit in the music blogosphere the same year.^[3]

As Miami Horror, Plant made his commercial debut in 2008 with a five-track EP, Bravado, on Virgin Records. The EP features the song "Don't Be On with Her", for which a promotional video was released online.^[4] Miami Horror has since been signed to EMI Music for distribution in Australia and France.

Miami Horror's live show is augmented by Josh Moriarty (Peacocks, ex-Young & Restless) (guitars, DJ/producer Aaron Shanahan (drums), and Daniel Whitechurch (bass, keyboards, and guitars).^[5] The live incarnation of Miami Horror appeared at the Field Day, Big Day Out, Good Vibrations, 'Groovin The Moo'^[6] and Splendour in the Grass festivals in 2009. The band also supported indie acts Phoenix, Simian Mobile Disco and Friendly Fires on their Australian tours in 2009-2010.^[2]

In late 2009 the band achieved commercial success with their first major single "Sometimes", released as a standalone single and later on their debut album, receiving frequent airplay on radio stations, as well as being played on the club circuit.

Lily Allen was supported by Miami Horror on their 2010 Big Day Out sideshow tour at Festival Hall.

Miami Horror released their debut album Illumination on August 20, 2010,^[7][8] and the singles "Moon Theory" (released April 16, 2010), "I Look to You" and "Holidays".^[9]

The single "I Look to You" featuring Kimbra was premiered by Richard Kingsmill on Triple J's music show on Sunday July 27, 2010. Another single from Illumination, "Holidays" has also achieved success and features Alan Palomo of Neon Indian, who features on three songs on the record.

Members[link]

• Benjamin Plant - production, keyboards, bass
• Josh Moriarty - guitars, vocals
• Aaron Shanahan - drums
• Daniel Whitechurch - keyboards

Discography[link]

Studio albums[link]

• Illumination (2010)^[7][10]

EPs[link]

• Bravado (2008)

Singles[link]

• "Sometimes" (2009)^[11]
• "Moon Theory" (2010)^[11]
• "I Look to You" (featuring Kimbra) (2010)^[11]
• "Holidays" (featuring Alan Palomo) (2010)^[11]
• "Summersun" (2011)^[11]
• "Under the Milky Way" (2011) -- cover of The Church hit

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official website