Bic Runga was born in 1976 to Joseph Runga and Sophia. Jospeph was a Maori solider and Sophia was a Chinese cabaret singer. They meet in Malaysia during the Vietnam war. Bic's full name is Briolette Kah Bic Runga.
Bic grew up in the Christchurch suburb of Hornby, on New Zealand's South Island. She had no formal music training and at the age of 11, Bic started learning to play the drums. She also learnt the guitar and keyboards and started composing her own songs. She joined various high school bands and performed with local jazz groups.
Bic Runga and Kelly Horgan came third in the Rock Quest in Wellington in 1993.
After moving to Auckland, Bic sent a demo tape to Sony. The tape included "Drive", which went onto to become Bic's first hit single in 1995. Drive hit the top 10 in New Zealand and won Bic the Silver Scroll award for song writing in 1996.
Bic's second single, Sway, was another huge hit in New Zealand.
Bic's first album, Drive, was recorded in just three weeks in May 1997. Bic sung, played guitar, mellotron, xylophone and drums. She also produced the album and mixed it in LA with Matt Wallace.
Drive immediately hit number one in New Zealand. It stayed in the top 10 for 20 consecutive weeks and sold seven times platinum. It was the highest-selling album by a local New Zealand artists of all time. Everyone, including critics, loved Drive. In 1998 it won six Tuis at the New Zealand Music Awards, including Album of the Year. See awards that Bic Runga has won
Bic then toured in the United States for two years, eventually returning to New Zealand to play in the Together in Concert tour with Tim Finn and Dave Dobbyn.
In 2002 Bic's second album, Beautiful Collision was released to rave reviews. It sold eleven times platinum in New Zealand and smashed the record set by Drive for the biggest selling album by a local artist. It reached the top ten in Japan and Ireland and the top 40 in the UK. It went on to win three Tuis in New Zealand.
Bic lived in Paris and London in 2003 and 2004, returning to New Zealand in 2005. Sadly, Bic's father died in 2005, but Bic managed to keep going and played support act for the Finn Brothers.
Neil Finn played piano and guitar for Bic's third album, Birds. Also joining Bic for the album were Anika Moa, Anna Coddington (from Dutchess) Shayne Carter, Riki Gooch (Trinity Roots), Conrad Standish (The Devastations), Benny Maitland and Tim Arnold (Pluto). Birds was recorded in Monte Cecilia House in Auckland in mid 2005. Bic's idea for the album was to record it as "live" as possible. Bic produced the album and mixed it in London with Simon Gogerly.
Like her firs two albums, Birds is critically acclaimed and widely regarded as her finest album yet.
In 2006, Bic Runga became a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit in the annual Honours List.