Kulcha were an Australian R&B band formed in 1993 by four vocalists Joe Fidow, Richard Matila, Eric Palu and Jay Whitmore. They have

Samoan Samoan may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the Samoan Islands, an archipelago in the South Pacific Ocean ** Something of, from, or related to Samoa, a country encompassing the western part of the Samoan Islands ** Something of, from, ...

Māori Māori or Maori can refer to: Relating to the Māori people * Māori people of New Zealand, or members of that group * Māori language, the language of the Māori people of New Zealand * Māori culture * Cook Islanders, the Māori people of the Co ...

ancestry. They released two studio albums, ''

Kulcha Kulcha is a Persian term for a disc-shaped loaf of leavened bread. In India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; ...

'' (September 1994) and '' Take Your Time'' (May 1997), the former reached No. 13 in Australia and No. 5 in New Zealand. Their top 10 singles are " Shaka Jam" in both markets, and " Don't Be Shy" and " Fly Girl" in New Zealand. At the

ARIA Music Awards of 1995 The Ninth Australian Recording Industry Association Music Awards (generally known as the ARIA Music Awards or simply The ARIAs) was held on 20 October 1995 at the Sydney Convention & Exhibition Centre. There had been a 18-month gap since the ...

their self-titled album was nominated for Best Pop Release and "Shaka Jam" was nominated for the Highest Selling Single. Their songs featured on episodes of TV series, ''

Heartbreak High ''Heartbreak High'' is an Australian television programme created by Michael Jenkins and Ben Gannon that ran from 1994 to 1996 on Network Ten and 1997 to 1999 on ABC, for seven series. It was also partially funded from 1996 by BBC2, with som ...

'', in 1994, 1995 and 1997.

History

The four members of Kulcha, Joe Fidow, Richard Matila, Eric Palu and Jay Whitmore were all raised in New Zealand but formed their R&B band in Sydney in 1993. They have

ancestry. Kulcha issued their debut single, " Shaka Jam", in May 1994 via

East West Records East West Records (stylized as east''west'') is a record label formed in 1955, distributed and owned by Warner Music Group, headquartered in New York City. History After its creation in 1955 by Atlantic Records, the label had its first hit wit ...

. It was recorded at Mo Brown Studios with Matthew O'Connor producing. It had been broadcast on

Australian Broadcasting Corporation The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) is Australia’s principal public service broadcaster. It is funded primarily by grants from the federal government and is administered by a government-appointed board of directors. The ABC is ...

(ABC)'s programme, ''Blackout'', series 6, episode 3, which aired in December 1993. It reached No. 7 on the

ARIA Singles chart The ARIA Charts are the main Australian music sales charts, issued weekly by the Australian Recording Industry Association. The charts are a record of the highest selling songs and albums in various genres in Australia. ARIA became the offici ...

and No. 8 in

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

. Their songs featured on episodes 15 and 38 in Season 1 (1994) of TV series, ''

'' with "Shaka Jam", "Spend the Night", "Don't Be Shy" and "Fly Girl"; episode 62 of Season 2 (1995) with "Nasty" and episode 157 of Season 6 (1997) with "

Do You Like It? "Do You Like It?" is a song by Australian R&B band Kulcha Kulcha is a Persian term for a disc-shaped loaf of leavened bread. In India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries ...

Band members

*Joe Fidow *Richard Matila *Eric Palu *Jay Whitmore

Discography

Albums

Singles

Awards and nominations

ARIA Music Awards

The

ARIA Music Awards The Australian Recording Industry Association Music Awards (commonly known informally as ARIA Music Awards, ARIA Awards, or simply the ARIAs) is an annual series of awards nights celebrating the Australian music industry, put on by the Austr ...

is an annual awards ceremony held by the

Australian Recording Industry Association The Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) is a trade association representing the Australian recording industry which was established in the 1970s by six major record companies, EMI, Festival Records (Australia), Festival, Sony Music ...

. They commenced in 1987. , - , rowspan="2",

1995 1995 was designated as: * United Nations Year for Tolerance * World Year of Peoples' Commemoration of the Victims of the Second World War This was the first year that the Internet was entirely privatized, with the United States government ...

, rowspan="1", "Shaka Jam" , Highest Selling Single , , - , rowspan="1", ''Kulcha'' , Best New Act , , -

References

{{Authority control Australian contemporary R&B musical groups