Full Name: Briolette Kah Bic Runga
Birth Date: January 13 ,1976
Birth Place: Christchurch, New Zealand

Briolette Kah Bic Runga MNZM (born 13 January, 1976) is a New Zealand singer-songwriter whose first solo album, Drive, debuted at number one in the New Zealand RIANZ charts, and has since become one of the highest-selling New Zealand artists of all time. Runga has also found success internationally in Australia, the Republic of Ireland and to some extent in the UK. Regarding the pronunciation of "Bic": "'You say it Bec, rather than Bic,' explains New Zealand singer-songwriter Bic Runga. 'It's Chinese, it's a strange vowel sound which doesn't seem to translate in Australia. It means the colour of jade, which might mean green.'" Both Elton John and Led Zeppelin's Jimmy Page can be counted amongst her fans. In January 2006, The Queen made Runga a member of the New Zealand Order of Merit in the New Zealand New Year's Honours List.

Runga was born in Christchurch. Her mother, Sophia Tang, was a Chinese Malaysian lounge singer in Malaysia when she met Joseph Runga, a Māori soldier on leave from Vietnam. They moved to New Zealand to live. Runga grew up in Hornby, Christchurch surrounded by a musically-inclined family, and started recording songs with her sisters, Boh and Pearl, when she was only four years old. Runga's older sister Boh is now a vocalist in the New Zealand rock group Stellar*, while Pearl is a session singer. She learned how to play drums at the age of eleven, and guitar at about fourteen. Runga also learned to play the keyboard around this time. She attended Cashmere High School, joining high school bands and performing with local jazz groups by her mid-teens.

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