Gin Wigmore

Gin Wigmore
Background information
Birth name	Virginia Claire Wigmore[1]
Also known as	Gin
Born	(1986-06-06) 6 June 1986 Auckland, New Zealand
Genres	Folk rock, alternative rock, pop, pop rock, soul, blues, blues rock, jazz
Occupation(s)	Singer-songwriter
Instruments	Vocals, guitar, ukulele
Years active	2008–present
Labels	Island
Associated acts	Smashproof The Cardinals Letlive.
Website	ginwigmore.com.au

Virginia Claire "Gin" Wigmore (born 6 June 1986)^[2] is a New Zealand singer-songwriter. Featuring on the Smashproof single "Brother" in 2009, Wigmore went on to release three albums Holy Smoke (2009), Gravel & Wine (2011) and Blood to Bone (2015), all of whom were chart-toppers on the New Zealand Albums Chart. She is known for her high and raspy voice.^[3][4][5]

Career

International Songwriting Competition

Inspired by David Gray’s album White Ladder, Wigmore wrote her first song, "Angelfire", at the age of 14. Two years later her father died of cancer and Wigmore stopped writing and playing music. She went to Argentina on an exchange program to teach at a kindergarten. On her return to New Zealand, she wrote "Hallelujah", a tribute to her father.^[6] Her sister entered the song in the US-based International Songwriting Competition in 2004,^[7] and Wigmore beat 11,000 songwriting aspirants from 77 countries to become the youngest and only unsigned Grand Prize winner in the history of the competition.^[6] She also won the Teen category with "Angelfire".^[7]

Hallelujah was my way of telling my family I had dealt with dad's passing and honestly, I didn't want to share these feelings with anyone else. I wanted the moment for myself and my family.

— Gin Wigmore^[8]

Extended Play

Extended Play was Wigmore's first EP. It was produced by Tony Buchen (Blue King Brown, The Whitlams, Macromantics, Kid Confucius) and contains the tracks "Hallelujah", "These Roses", "SOS", "Under My Skin", and "Easy Come Easy Go". Australian musician John Butler played ukulele on song "SOS".^[8] Released in 2008, the EP peaked at number ten in the New Zealand charts. It was certified Platinum in New Zealand on 2 May 2010, selling over 15,000 copies.^[9]

Extended Play was released in Australia on 2 August 2008 by Island Records. Wigmore was the first artist signed with Island Records, a partner company with Universal Music Group, Australia.^[8] She toured with Australian artist Pete Murray on his national tour in August/September 2008. Wigmore toured in 2008, including at the Cross Town Revue in Auckland, and in December 2008, toured with musicians John Mellencamp and Sheryl Crow in New Zealand. Her hit single "Under My Skin" was featured on an Air New Zealand advertising campaign, Nothing to Hide.

Wigmore featured in the 2009 song and video of "Brother" by new group Smashproof, also from Auckland.

Holy Smoke

In 2009, Wigmore released her debut full-length album Holy Smoke, recorded with The Cardinals of Ryan Adams & the Cardinals fame.^[10] The first single from the album, "Oh My", debuted on the New Zealand Singles Chart at number twenty-one on 24 August 2009, moving to number seven the following week. It peaked at number four.

Three other singles were released during 2010, "I Do" charted at no. 14 on the Official New Zealand Singles Chart, while third single "Hey Ho" missed out on a top 20 position by charting just outside at no. 21. The fourth single taken from Holy Smoke was "Too Late For Lovers", and despite hitting no. 3 on the NZ40 Airplay chart, the single failed to crack the national Top 40. During the week of 30 May 2010, all four of Wigmore's singles from Holy Smoke appeared on the NZ40 Airplay Chart^[11] 'Too Late For Lovers' #7, 'Oh My' #23, 'Hey Ho' #24, 'I Do' #37

The single "Oh My" is the theme track for the series The Almighty Johnsons. Wigmore's single "Hey Ho" appeared during the closing scenes of the Weeds Season 6 Finale. In September 2011, Home Improvement Retailer Lowe's began a new brand campaign featuring Wigmore's single "Don't Stop".^[12] Her song "Stealing Happiness" appeared in the TV movie "Tangiwai".

Gravel & Wine

In September 2011, Wigmore revealed the title and release of her new album Gravel & Wine on her official Facebook page.^[13] The first single was slated to be "Black Sheep"; it was released 26 September 2011 and peaked so far at #13. The album was released on 7 November 2011. It debuted at #29 on the Australian Albums Chart. Wigmore released music videos for "Man Like That" and "If Only".

"Black Sheep" appeared in episode 12, season 8 of television series Grey's Anatomy, in episode 2, season 2 of Teen Wolf, and in episode 5, season 5 of The Good Wife. She appeared singing it on Gift of Revenge, a segment of ABC's television show Revenge (TV series) season 2, episode 7. The song was also used in a television commercial for Guinness Black Lager in the United States.

"Kill of the Night" was also featured during season 2 of Teen Wolf, along with the series Pretty Little Liars and 666 Park Avenue, and AMC during its annual airing of Halloween movies and shows titled FearFest.
The track was also the theme song to the 2016 E4 and Netflix mini series called Crazyhead - about a pair of demon hunting girls and a slightly inept and awkward guy.
Commercials with the song include Alfa Romeo in Australia, Nationwide Insurance in the United States, and a worldwide short by Johnnie Walker.^[14]

Wigmore was featured in a Skyfall tie-in commercial from Heineken performing the song "Man Like That", which also featured James Bond portrayer Daniel Craig and Bond girl Bérénice Marlohe.^[15]

Gravel & Wine was released in the U.S. on 2 April 2013, and Wigmore appeared on the entire 2013 Vans Warped Tour.^[16][17]

Blood to Bone

On 14 August 2014, Wigmore had confirmed she had begun studio production on her third LP. Throughout 15 to 22 August, Wigmore had worked in West Hollywood. But on 25 August 2014, Wigmore posted a picture of the beginning of her thirteen-day studio work at Blakeslee Recording Studios in North Hollywood, California. Stephen Rusch is engineering the album. On 29 January 2015, Wigmore posted the album cover and title of her the third LP, Blood to Bone, which was scheduled for release by Island Records on 26 June 2015 (30 June 2015 in the United States).^[18] Her song "New Rush" was featured on the soundtrack of FIFA 16. On the 6th of June, 2015, she released a new promotional single entitled "Willing To Die" featuring the American rapper Logic & the Australian rapper Suffa of The Hilltop Hoods. The song samples the Alan Lomax recording "Rosie", which David Guetta also sampled on his track "Hey Mama", released in March 2015. As of 16 June 2015, the US release date for Blood to Bone has been pushed back to 14 August 2015.

Upcoming fourth studio album

On September 2nd 2016, Wigmore announced on Facebook she had began work on her fourth studio album. Later on November 3rd, Wigmore dropped "Dirty Mercy", the lead single from her upcoming fourth album.

Personal life

Virginia Wigmore, more commonly known as Gin Wigmore, was born in Auckland, New Zealand to Peter and Adrienne Wigmore. Wigmore has two older siblings: brother Olly and sister Lucy Wigmore, a professional actress known for starring as Justine Jones in the long-running New Zealand soap opera Shortland Street and a role in Underbelly: Razor. She married Jason Butler, lead singer of the band Letlive. during a private ceremony in Hawaii in September 2014.^[19] She is vegetarian and in 2015 was shortlisted for SAFE's "New Zealand's Hottest Vegetarians" award. ^{[20] [21]}

Tours

• Tour with Jimmy Barnes (2009)
• Holy Smoke Tour (2010)
• The Grave Train National Tour (2010)
• Gin Wigmore (2011)
• The Winery Tour (2012)
• Vans Warped Tour - United States (2013)
• Homegrown Festival NZ (2014)
• New Rush NZ Tour (2015)
• Blood to Bone Tour (2015)
• Willing to Die U.S. Tour (2016)
• Let it Ride U.S. Tour (2016)

Discography

Studio albums

Extended plays

"—" denotes releases that did not chart or were not released in that territory.

Singles

As featured artist

Music videos

Awards and nominations

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Gin Wigmore.

• Gin Wigmore official website
• Interview with New Zealand's Sunday Star Times
• Island Records
• Radio NZ interview with Kim Hill