Gin Wigmore Biography

Virginia Claire "Gin" Wigmore (born 6 June 1986) is a New Zealand singer-songwriter. She released her first album, Holy Smoke, in 2009, and her second, Gravel & Wine, in 2011. In 2009, she featured on the single "Brother".

Personal life

Virginia Wigmore, more commonly known as Gin Wigmore, was born in Auckland, New Zealand to Peter and Adrienne Wigmore. Wigmore has two siblings: an older brother Olly and Lucy Wigmore, a professional actress well known for starring as Justine Jones in the long running New Zealand soap opera Shortland Street and a role in "Underbelly: Razor".

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. Her sister entered the song in the US-based International Songwriting Competition in 2004, 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. She also won the Teen category with "Angelfire". "Hallelujah" was featured in the season 6 finale of One Tree Hill. The song "Kill Of The Night" has been used in the American television series Pretty Little Liars in the season 4 premiere broadcast in June 2013 on ABC Family

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

Extended Play

See Extended Play (Gin Wigmore EP) for more information Extended Play is 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 Wigmore's song "SOS". 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.

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. 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

See Holy Smoke (Gin Wigmore album) for more information In 2009, Wigmore released her debut full-length album Holy Smoke, recorded with The Cardinals of Ryan Adams & the Cardinals fame. 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 '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". Her song "Stealing Happiness" appeared in the TV movie "Tangiwai".

Gravel & Wine

See Gravel & Wine for more information

In September 2011, Wigmore revealed the title and release of her new album Gravel & Wine on her official Facebook page. The first single from this album is slated to be "Black Sheep", and 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". Wigmore's single "Black Sheep" appeared in episode 12, season 8 of television series Grey's Anatomy, and in episode 2, season 2 of Teen Wolf, and she appeared singing it on Gift of Revenge, a segment of ABC's television show Revenge (TV series) season 2, episode 7. Also airing during season 2 of Teen Wolf was the song Kill of the Night, which is more recently featured on the TV show 666 Park Avenue as well as the theme song for the cable channel AMC 's annual airing of Halloween movies and shows titled FearFest. "Man Like That" is the song used in the James Bond Skyfall tie-in spot from Heineken, Wigmore herself is seen performing the song towards the end of it. The Advertisement also had a host of Bond Stars from various Bond movies. Gravel & Wine was released in the U.S. on 2 April 2013, and she will be appearing on the entire 2013 Vans Warped Tour.

Tours

• Tour with Jimmy Barnes (2009)
• Holy Smoke Tour (2010)
• The Grave Train National Tour (2010)
• Gin Wigmore (2011)
• The Winery Tour (2012)
• Gravel and Wine Tour (2012)
• U.S. Vans Warped Tour (2013)

Discography

Studio albums

Year	Title	NZL	USA	AUS	AUT	SWI	Certifications (sales thresholds)
2009	Holy Smoke Released: 25 September Label: Universal Format: Digital download, CD	1	"?	"?	"?	"?	NZ: 4"? Platinum
2011	Gravel & Wine Released: 7 November Label: Universal Format: Digital download, CD	1	84	29	65	60	NZ: 2"? Platinum

Extended plays

Year	Title	NZ chart	US Heat	Certifications (sales thresholds)
2008	Extended Play Released: 2 August Label: Universal Format: Digital download, CD	10	—	NZ: Platinum
2010	iTunes Session Released: 19 March Label: Universal Format: Digital download	—	—	—
2012	Man Like That Released 30 October (US) Label: Universal Format: Digital download	—	8	—

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

Singles

Year	Title	NZ chart	Certifications (sales thresholds)	Album
2008	"Under My Skin"	10		Extended Play
2009	"Oh My"	4	NZ: Platinum	Holy Smoke
	"I Do"	14	NZ: Gold
2010	"Hey Ho"	21
	"Too Late for Lovers"	—
2011	"Black Sheep"	13	NZ: Platinum	Gravel & Wine

As featured artist

Year	Title	NZ chart	Certifications (sales thresholds)	Album
2009	"Brother" (with Smashproof)	1	NZ: 2x Platinum	The Weekend

Awards and nominations

Year	Type	Award	Result
2009	New Zealand Music Awards	Vodafone Single of the Year ("Brother") (Smashproof featuring Gin Wigmore)
		Highest Selling Single ("Brother") (Smashproof featuring Gin Wigmore)
2010	New Zealand Music Awards	Vodafone's People's Choice Award
		Mazda Best Female Solo Artist
		Vodafone Single of the Year ("Oh My")
		Best Pop Album
		Vodafone Album of The Year ("Holy Smoke")
		Breakthrough Artist Of The Year
		Highest Selling Album Holy Smoke

Music videos

Year	Title	Director(s)
2008	"These Roses"	Special Problems
	"Under My Skin"	Special Problems
	"S.O.S."	Dan Reisinger
2009	"Brother"	Chris Graham
	"Oh My"	Stuart Gosling
	"I Do"	Gemma Lee
2010	"Hey Ho"	Moh Azima
	"Too Late for Lovers"
2011	"Black Sheep"	Sean Gilligan
2012	"Man Like That"	Sean Gilligan