Virginia "Gin" Wigmore has taken the country
by storm since her debut album, Holy Smoke, set the
New Zealand music charts on fire this year.
Last week, the 24-year-old was the major winner at the 2010
New Zealand Music Awards in Auckland.
Wigmore won four Tuis - for album of the year, breakthrough
artist of the year, best pop album and highest-selling album.
"I'm really looking forward to playing in Dunedin. I haven't
been there for a long time," Wigmore said yesterday.
There had been concerns the singer would not make her "Holy
Smoke" concert tomorrow night, after she lost her voice as a
result of a heavy schedule and cancelled last week's
Palmerston North and Wellington concerts.
"The specialist has now given me the all-clear and I'll
definitely be right for the Dunedin concert," she said.
Wigmore first came to attention in 2004, when a song she
wrote about her father's death, Hallelujah, beat
11,000 songs from 77 countries to win the United States
International Songwriting Competition.
She remains the youngest and only unsigned winner in the
history of the competition.
In 2008, the single was included on her five-track debut EP,
Extended Play, and the same year she toured New
Zealand with John Mellencamp and Sheryl Crow.
Last year, she featured on the Smashproof single Brother,
which sat at No 1 on the official RIANZ singles charts for 11
weeks.
Wigmore has garnered nearly as much attention in recent times
for her extensive Mexican-inspired tattoos, as for her raw
Amy Whitehouse-esque voice.
She describes her body art as "the whole Day of the
Dead vibe - skulls, crosses, and teeth and feet coming
out of heads and things".
• Gin Wigmore plays at 8pm tomorrow in the Regent Theatre.
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