Bic Runga (full name Briolette Kah Bic Runga) is a New Zealand singer-songwriter, and was born in Christchurch in 1976. Her parents met in Malaysia where her mother, Sophia Tang, was a Chinese Malaysian lounge singer, and her father, Joseph Runga was a Kiwi soldier on leave from Vietnam. Surrounded by a musically-inclined family, Bic started recording songs with her sisters, Boh and Pearl, when she was only 4 years old - Boh is now a vocalist with New Zealand rock group Stellar*, and Pearl is a session singer.
Bic learned how to play drums at the age of 11, and guitar and keyboard at around 14. In 1993, aged 17, Runga and Kelly Horgan entered the smokefreerockquest in Wellington under the name of "Love Soup", winning 3rd place and a music contract with Pagan Records. Using a QE II Arts Council grant, Runga recorded the first "Drive" EP in Wellington. However, unsatisfied with the direction that her music was being taken, she moved to Auckland in 1994 and spent a year writing and performing.

In 1995, she sent a new demo of the single "Drive" to Sony Music, who signed Runga in September of that year and bought her Wellington recordings from Pagan Records. Sony asked her to re-record the song with more instruments, but it was eventually her demo that was used on the upcoming album of the same name. The single entered the Top 10 in New Zealand and won her the Silver Scroll Songwriting Award in 1996, whilst the album "Drive" was released in 1997. 6 singles were released from the album, including "Bursting Through", the first, and "Sway", which, along with a duet with Dan Wilson of Semisonic called "Good Morning Baby", both made their way into the film "American Pie".

Confusingly, in 1999, Runga provided guest vocals on another song called "Drive", when fellow Kiwis Strawpeople covered The Cars' 1984 hit.

In 2000, she toured with Tim Finn and Dave Dobbyn, resulting in a release of a live album of the tour, and went onto release her second studio album, "Beautiful Collision", in 2002, which entered the New Zealand charts at number 1.

Third studio album, "Birds", released in New Zealand in November 2005, was also her third studio album in a row to enter the New Zealand charts at number 1, and has since gone triple platinum.

Bic Runga has been a member of the New Zealand Order of Merit since 2006, and is one of the highest-selling New Zealand artists of all time, with both Elton John and Led Zeppelin's Jimmy Page counted amongst her fans.