Kimbra Johnson

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Kimbra Johnson, c.2007
Kimbra Johnson, who performs simply as Kimbra, rose to prominence while competing three years running in the high school Rockquest competition, while a student at Hillcrest High School. This included making the national finals twice, and taking second place at the 2004 national competition. From these winnings (and with two rounds of New Zealand on Air funding) she recorded two songs, Deep for You and Simply on my Lips, both with videos that received airplay on the C4, Alt TV and Juice TV music channels. She also had the song Thoughtful Escape included on the Smokefree Rockquest 2005 compilation. Her Simply on my Lips video ultimately won the "Breakthrough Video Award" at the 2007 Juice TV Awards.
"Johnson" from Cameo Lover video, 2011

Kimbra entered the first Play it Strange National Secondary Schools Songwriting Competition in 2004, making the top 10 of over 300 entrants, and from this had the song It Takes Time included on the Play It Strange Top 20 Volume 1 compilation. In 2005 she placed in the 31st to 50th place bracket of the same competition with the song Reminisce.

Early public performances by Kimbra included singing at the Waikato Times Gold Cup race meeting in 2000 as a ten year old, and at twelve singing the national anthem before 27000 people at the Auckland vs Waikato NPC rugby final. In June 2006 Kimbra sang in front of 30000 people at an All Blacks vs. Ireland rubgy test match at Waikato Stadium.

In 2007 Kimbra duetted with Gian Perrone on the Dynamo Go song Sad Again, which was released on the Affordable Pop Music EP. She also performed at the 2007 Hamilton Circle Jerk, covering songs by Amy Racecar and This Night Creeps. In 2008, she signed a contract with Australian company Freemantle Media, leaving Hamilton for Melbourne following a performance at the Hamilton Gardens summer festival. In that year she also featured on the Nesian Mystic song Mr Mista, which reached #3 and spent 17 weeks in the New Zealand charts.

In 2011 Kimbra signed to Warner Bros Records, and was named by Hollywood blogger Perez Hilton as "one to watch". Her debut album, Vows, was released on 29 August 2011, and entered the official New Zealand charts at #4 (peaking at #3); it ended the year as the 10th largest selling New Zealand album for 2011. On the back of this release, her single Settle Down entered at #37 on the New Zealand singles chart, although left the chart the following week. Vows also went to #4 in the Australian charts. In May 2012 Vows was released in the United States, and entered the charts at #14, although it fell to #45 the following week, spending four weeks in the charts overall. Later in 2012, the album briefly entered the Polish (peak #23) and Dutch (peak #95) album charts.

In 2011, Kimbra also featured on the release Somebody That I Used to Know by Australian artist Gotye. The digital download-only single peaked at #1 on the Australian ARIA Singles Chart and entered the New Zealand Charts at #4, moving up to #1 on 12 September 2011. The song went on to reach #1 on the Austrian Top 75, Belgian Top 50, Bulgarian Top 40, Canadian Top 100, Danish Top 40, Dutch Top 40, Finnish Top 20, French Top 100, German Top 100, Irish Top 50, Portugese Top 50, Swedish Top 60, UK top 75, USA Singles Top 100, and has charted in Norway (peaking at #2), Spain (#3) and Switzerland (#2). It ended 2011 at #5 on the top selling singles for the year in New Zealand. The song was covered in the television programme Glee in early 2012.

In October 2011 Kimbra received the New Zealand Critics' Choice Prize for up-and-coming acts, who the judges believe are destined for greatness; the award comprised a NZ$10,000 recording and music video grant, and a NZ$2000 Rockshop gift voucher. In November 2011, she won "Best Female Artist" at the Australian Music Industry Awards (ARIA) for her single Cameo Lover. At the same awards, Gotye won "Single of the Year", "Best Male Artist" and "Best Pop Release" for Somebody That I Used to Know.

In 2012, Kimbra teamed up with Mark Foster (from the band Foster the People) and DJ/turntablist A-Trak on the song Warrior, part of the Converse "Three Artists. One Song" series. The song was included as a bonus track on the 2012 "deluxe" and "Australian Tour" editions of Vows. The song spent 9 weeks in the New Zealand charts, entering at #40, and peaked at #22. In late 2012, she had the song With My Hands included on the album Frankenweenie Unleashed!, featuring music inspired by the Tim Burton movie Frankenweenie. In November 2012, Kimbra won five "Tui" awards at the New Zealand Music Awards: Album of the Year, International Achievement Award, Best Female Solo Artist, Breakthrough Artist of the Year, and Best Pop Album. She also won the ARIA award for Best Female Artist for a second consecutive year. By the end of the year, she also released videos for Two Way Street and Come into my Head.

In early 2013, Kimbra won two Grammy Awards for Somebody That I Used to Know with Gotye, in the "Best Pop Duo/Group Performance" and "Best Record" categories. Following the Grammys, she moved her base from Melbourne to Los Angeles.

In 2014, Kimbra released her second album, The Golden Echo. It debuted at #5 in both the New Zealand and Australian charts, which was its peak position in both countries. It spent one week in the USA album charts, at #43.

Her live band has included Fagan Wilcox (2009-2014), Timon Martin (2009-current) and Stan Bicknell (2009-2010), all of whom were previously in The New Caledonia.

Releases[edit]

Vows album cover

Compilation Releases


The Golden Echo cover art

As a Featured Artist:

See also, Releases Featuring Somebody That I Used to Know

Published Articles[edit]

Vows Tour Edition album cover
  • Young Singer Hits Right Notes, Waikato Times, 8 February 2001, p3
  • Kimbra, Emily Rock to the Top, Waikato Times, 19 June 2004, pA2
  • Judges Wax Lyrical about Johnson's Polish, Waikato Times, 14 October 2004, p12
  • Broken Arm no Barrier to Win, Waikato Times, 4 July 2005, p3
  • NZ Anthem Nothing Irish for City Teen, Waikato Times, 10 June 2006, pA3
  • Kimbra interview, Nexus, 21 May 2007, p34
  • Last Chance to see Kimbra Live, Hamilton Press, 20 February 2008, p20
  • Look at Her Now, Waikato Times, 10 June 2011 [1]
  • Kimbra takes home Critics' Choice Prize, New Zealand Herald, 7 October 2011 [2]

Videos[edit]

External Links[edit]

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