Boh Runga is the lead singer and guitarist in New Zealand rock band Stellar*.[1] She comes from a very musical family - both her sisters are, or have been, in bands. She is the eldest of three sisters - her youngest sister, Bic, has a successful solo career, and Pearl has been in several bands in New Zealand.
Boh grew up in New Zealand, the daughter of a Maori ex-serviceman and a Chinese mother who forsook her own singing career in Malaysia to join him in a place she barely knew existed. It wasn't the easiest place to grow up but the Runga household, with Boh leading the way, was bursting to its seams with music.
Boh left Christchurch for Auckland to form Stellar in the late 90’s. After signing with Sony Music, their 1999 debut album ‘Mix’ set New Zealand’s radio waves alight, and Stellar quickly became Sony's biggest selling kiwi band. The acclaim wasn't just multi-platinum sales based, with Stellar securing eight Tui Awards (NZ Grammys) for ‘Mix’ and its 2001 follow up ‘Magic Line’.
After the release of ‘Magic Line’ and the subsequent touring of New Zealand, Australia and Europe, Boh headed to Los Angeles for the first time in 2003 for a period to hone her skills as a songwriter at the invitation of her LA-based music publishers, Chrysalis.
Runga also has her own jewellery line. In 2007, a fortuitous introduction to the gold bullion company NZ Mint led Boh into designing and launching her first jewellery range called ‘Birdland’, based on her love of New Zealand’s native birds. Both ‘Birdland’ and ‘The Messenger Stories’, her second collection released in late 2008, have been a huge success in New Zealand, and Boh now plans to release the ranges in Australia and North America.