The annual New Zealand Music Awards were held tonight in Auckland. The popular singer-songwriter/guitarist, Kimbra, returned from Canada for the event. She had nominations in many categories and won five of these. She also won the most important award, the Album of the Year, for her debut album Vows.
Kimbra is only 22. She was born in Hamilton and grew up there. She started writing songs at the age of 10. When she was 12, she sang the New Zealand National Anthem in front of a crowd of 27,000 at a rugby game. She won many awards for her music while she was at high school.
Her first studio album, Vows, was released in August last year in New Zealand and Australia and very soon was in the top five in both countries.
She has been touring in North America for the last few weeks where more than half of her shows have been sold out. She said it was wonderful to be back in New Zealand where she first started her music career by singing in pubs to four or five people. It was hard work but now she is on the way to being a very successful musician.
Vocabulary
• annual – every year
• nomination – her name was listed in that category
• category – a section e.g. best pop song, best single, best group
• award – prize
• album – a CD with a collection of her songs (opposite: a single – one song)
• debut – first (French word used in the music industry)
• released – available to buy
• sold out – all tickets sold