Ngaiire Joseph

Ngaiire
August, 2015
Background information
Genres	Future soul
Occupation(s)	Singer
Instruments	Vocals
Years active	2005–present
Labels	Wantok
Associated acts	Blue King Brown, Paul Mac, Barefoot Divas

Ngaire Joseph, better known by her stage name Ngaiire (pronounced ny-ree or /naɪəriː/), is a Papua New Guinea-born singer based in Sydney. She is a former backing vocalist for a number of groups as well as a guest singer on others' records. She has played at Glastonbury festival, sang at the opening ceremony for the 2015 Pacific Games and was in the top 30 of the second season of Australian Idol. She has been called one of Australia's best live performers. Her debut album, Lamentations was released in 2013 and her second album Blastoma was released in June 2016.

Ngaiire was born in Lae, Papua New Guinea in 1984 as Ngaire Laun Joseph, and is the eldest of three siblings. She is bilingual, growing up speaking both English and Tok Pisin. Her parents moved to Palmerston North in New Zealand when she was one year old to study, and returned to Papua New Guinea six years later. Ngaiire was living in Rabaul until Mt Tarvurvur erupted in 1994 and buried the town (including her house) under a deep layer of volcanic ash. Ngaiire's parents divorced some time after returning to the country, both subsequently remarrying. She claimed learning at an early age that music was something she could use to make her life more stable. "When I was about 11 or 12 and I was living in PNG and singing was just one of those things I did. I listened to a lot of music. Life there has loads of craziness and so many unexpected things happen. Music gave me the ability to talk about and feel all the things that were going on in my world," "I always viewed songs as a form of poetry that didn't necessarily need to make sense to anyone else".

Ngaiire spent a large part of her time in New Zealand after being diagnosed with cancer in her adrenal glands at the age of three. This later influenced the video for "Dirty Hercules", as Ngaiire said "My body is not conventional. I have a rather prominent scar across my stomach from cancer. I struggled a lot with my body after I beat cancer and this clip also represents that journey to acceptance." She later titled her sophomore album Blastoma and wrote the lead single about life's uncertainty and taking risks.

Ngaiire moved to Lismore, Australia with her mother and stepfather in 2000. She attended Kadina High School, entered the local Accelerator music competition in 2002 and recorded her first song, "I Remember" for the Accelerator 2002: The Winners CD. She then moved to Mackay in Central Queensland to undertake a Bachelor of Jazz Studies in 2003. She was recognised at CQU as an outstanding vocalist by many of Australia's leading jazz performers and fronted a number of local jazz bands.

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