1999: Bic goes back to school
New Zealand music wondergirl Bic Runga went back to school – and it was fun,’’ The Press reported on February 11, 1999.
‘‘In a visit to Christchurch as part of a whirlwind New Zealand tour, the last thing Runga expected when she called in to her old school, Cashmere High, was to get in front of hundreds of awestruck Year 11 to 13 students and say a few words.
‘‘Runga, 23, said she was just expecting a few cups of tea with staff and a chance to look around the school. New Zealand’s biggest-selling female artist, with her debut album Drive topping 65,000, Runga was greeted with loud cheers, claps, and at least one wolf-whistle as she walked on to the stage.
‘‘Outside, as she waited to go into the hall, students in a nearby classroom tapped on the windows and yelled out her name. She gave an enthusiastic wave back.
‘‘Runga told the students they were attending a ‘great school’ and advised them to enjoy their school years and take part in as many activities as they could. Outside, she said she had wanted to return to the high school and see how things had changed. ‘‘A memory of her high school days was failing seventhform music. ‘It was nothing to do with the teacher,’ she said.
‘‘Music teacher Garry Thin, who remembers teaching Runga, said from the first day he met her it was apparent she had incredible talent.
‘‘In her first year she sang with the school’s top jazz band, a rarity for a third-former, and he said she had ‘personality plus’.’’
Cantabrians will remember the 1990s and early 2000s as a golden age of local pop and rock music.