News November 16, 2018

Six60 dominate 2018 NZ Music Awards

John Ferguson

Image: Vodafone NZ Music Awards

“These boys are so awesome I’m surprised Australia haven’t claimed them already”, quipped Stan Walker when presenting Six60 with one of the five Tuis the group picked at the Vodafone NZ Music Awards.

For now they remain mainly a Kiwi phenomenon, but their haul at NZ’s premiere awards event at Spark Arena in Auckland capped off what has been another hugely successful year for the five-piece pop-rockers. As well as becoming the first NZ group to sell out Auckland’s Western Springs stadium, Six60 have dominated both the NZ singles and album chart this year with their third self-titled EP.

Image Credit: TOPIC / James Ensing-Trussell

The majority of their awards were in recognition of their chart exploits, with the group winning the highest selling single and album, along with the airplay Tuis. However, they were also named best group and picked up the People’s Choice award, which was open for the first time to the VNZMA finalists.

Six60

However, it was also a good night for Marlon Williams, who followed up his APRA Silver Scrolls success by winning the awards for best album and solo artist for Make Way For Love. Earlier in the month, the singer-songwriter also won best music video Tui for the single ‘Vampire Again’.

First time winners included rising stars Drax Project, who won single of the year for ‘Woke Up Late’ as well as breakthrough artist of 2018, and Troy Kingi, who was recognised with both the best Māori and soul/R&B artist Tuis for Shake That Skinny Ass All the Way to Zygertron. Another popular winner on the night was Te Reo Maori metallers Alien Weaponry, who won the best rock award for their debut album Tū.

The international achievement award, meanwhile, went to Brooke Ligertwood – better known as Brooke Fraser – whose work with worship group Hillsong earned her a Grammy earlier this year.

The evening culminated with the presentation of the Legacy Award to Kiwi hip hop pioneers Upper Hutt Posse.

This year’s VNZMAs were a more low key affair than last year, with no appearances from Lorde or other overseas stars; however, David Byrne made a video appearance presenting the best pop artist award to Kimbra.

This year’s ceremony was hosted by former Australia Idol winner Stan Walker and local TV celebrity Kanoa Lloyd, while performers on the night included Alien Weaponry, JessB, Six60, Robinson, Drax Project and Che Fu.

Recorded Music NZ CEO Damian Vaughan says the calibre of New Zealand continues to impress year on year.

“The quality of music being created and recorded in Aotearoa is world-class,” he says. ‘Each and every Tui awarded tonight was incredibly well deserved.”