Margaret Mary Urlich (24 January 1965 – 22 August 2022) was a New Zealand singer who lived in Australia for most of her career. Urlich's 1989 debut solo studio album, ''

Safety in Numbers Safety in numbers is the hypothesis that, by being part of a large physical group or mass, an individual is less likely to be the victim of a mishap, accident, attack, or other bad event. Some related theories also argue (and can show statistica ...

'', won " Breakthrough Artist – Album" at the 1991 ARIA Awards. Its 1992 follow-up, '' Chameleon Dreams'', was also a success. Urlich was successful in both New Zealand and Australia, selling over 400,000 albums during her career, ranking her as one of New Zealand's most successful recording artists. She was the cousin of both fellow New Zealand singer Peter Urlich and Australian musician Jen Cloher.

Life and career

Urlich began her career as lead vocalist for the new wave band

Peking Man Peking Man (''Homo erectus pekinensis'', originally "''Sinanthropus pekinensis''") is a subspecies of '' H. erectus'' which inhabited what is now northern China during the Middle Pleistocene. Its fossils have been found in a cave some southw ...

with her brother Pat, Tim Calder, Perry Marshall, Jay F-Bula (Jay Foulkes), Neville Hall, John Fearon. Peking Man won the 1984 ''Shazam! Battle of The Bands'' (a

TVNZ Television New Zealand (, "Te Reo Tātaki" meaning "The Leading Voice"), more commonly referred to as TVNZ, is a New Zealand state-owned media company and Crown entity. The company operates a television network, streaming service, and news se ...

pop show) and had a number of hit songs in New Zealand, including "Good Luck to You" (No. 6), "Lift Your Head Up High" (No. 21) and 1985's "

Room That Echoes "Room That Echoes" (also called "Room That Echoes (Round and Around)") is a 1985 single from New Zealand pop band Peking Man. It peaked at number one in the New Zealand singles chart. The song was included on Peking Man's self-titled album. Th ...

" (No. 1). Urlich was later a member of an all-girl pop group in New Zealand called When the Cat's Away. Urlich moved to Australia in 1988. She recorded her debut solo studio album, ''

'', at Studios 301 in Sydney and released it in New Zealand in 1989 and Australia in March 1990. The album peaked at No. 4 on the New Zealand album charts in December 1989 and No. 5 on the Australian album charts in December 1990 and went triple

platinum Platinum is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol Pt and atomic number 78. It is a density, dense, malleable, ductility, ductile, highly unreactive, precious metal, precious, silverish-white transition metal. Its name origina ...

in Australia. Urlich won an ARIA Award in 1991 for "Best Breakthrough Artist". In 1990, Urlich, then little known outside New Zealand, provided backing vocals on a track for Australian artist

Daryl Braithwaite Daryl Braithwaite (born 11 January 1949) is an Australian singer. He was the lead vocalist of Sherbet (1970–1984 and many subsequent reunions). Braithwaite also has a solo career, placing 15 singles in the Australian top 40, including ...

on his second solo album, '' Rise'', which was released in November 1990. The song she featured in was the

Rickie Lee Jones Rickie Lee Jones (born November 8, 1954) is an American singer, musician, and songwriter. Over the course of a career that spans five decades and 15 studio albums, she has recorded in various musical styles including rock, R&B, pop, soul, an ...

ballad " The Horses", which was a No. 1 hit for Braithwaite. The video clip featured Braithwaite singing on a beach, with New Zealand model Gillian Mather (riding a horse), lip-syncing Urlich's voice. Urlich chose not to appear in Braithwaite's film clip as she had just released ''Safety in Numbers'' and was working to establish herself as a solo artist. In March 1991, Urlich, armed with a half-million-dollar recording budget, returned to the studio to commence pre-production for her second album, '' Chameleon Dreams'', with English writer/producer Robyn Smith, the man behind her highly successful debut. By mid-year, Urlich and Smith had entered Studios 301 to record their two songs, plus a third track written by Smith and

Barry Blue Barry Blue (born Barry Ian Green; 4 December 1950) is an English singer, producer, and songwriter. As an artist, he is best known for his hit songs "Dancin' (on a Saturday Night)" and "Do You Wanna Dance" (both 1973). Blue has also been a pr ...

. The same team had been responsible for two of the tracks on ''Safety in Numbers'' (" Escaping" and "Guilty People") and their latest offering, " Boy in the Moon", proved pivotal to the sound of the new album. Other tracks were collected by travelling around the world. Urlich went to London to co-write with writers such as Rob Fisher, with whom she wrote the album's title track, "Chameleon Dreams". She then went on to Los Angeles, where she met with

Grammy Award The Grammy Awards, stylized as GRAMMY, and often referred to as The Grammys, are awards presented by The Recording Academy of the United States to recognize outstanding achievements in music. They are regarded by many as the most prestigious ...

-winning writer/producer Ian Prince, with whom she wrote two songs for the album and he produced four tracks. She returned to London, where she co-wrote a number of songs with Simon Law and Tony Swain, before completing the project with three tracks produced by Swain. The success of ''Chameleon Dreams'' earned Urlich the "Best Selling New Zealand Artist of the Year" award at the 1992

World Music Awards The World Music Awards was an international award show founded in 1989 under the patronage of Albert II, Prince of Monaco and co-founder/executive producer John Martinotti. The event was based in Monte Carlo. Awards were presented to the worl ...

Monte Carlo Monte Carlo ( ; ; or colloquially ; , ; ) is an official administrative area of Monaco, specifically the Ward (country subdivision), ward of Monte Carlo/Spélugues, where the Monte Carlo Casino is located. Informally, the name also refers to ...

. She attended the awards ceremony and performed "Love Train". In 1993, Urlich was part of Export Music Australia (EMA) and Austrade's second Wizards of Oz promotion. She toured Japan with fellow singer Rick Price and the group Yothu Yindi. Urlich and Dale Barlow recorded a version of " I've Got You Under My Skin" for

Kate Ceberano Catherine Yvette Ceberano ( or , born 17 November 1966) is an Australian singer and actress who performs in the rock, soul, jazz and pop genres, as well as in film and musicals such as '' Jesus Christ Superstar''. Her single " Bedroom Eyes" re ...

's 1994 album '' Kate Ceberano and Friends''. She spent much of 1994 living back in New Zealand and appeared as

Mary Magdalene Mary Magdalene (sometimes called Mary of Magdala, or simply the Magdalene or the Madeleine) was a woman who, according to the four canonical gospels, traveled with Jesus as one of his followers and was a witness to crucifixion of Jesus, his cr ...

in a major concert production of

Andrew Lloyd Webber Andrew Lloyd Webber, Baron Lloyd-Webber (born 22 March 1948) is an English composer and impresario of musical theatre. Several of his musicals have run for more than a decade both in the West End theatre, West End and on Broadway theatre, Broad ...

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Jesus Christ Superstar ''Jesus Christ Superstar'' is a sung-through rock opera with music by Andrew Lloyd Webber and lyrics by Tim Rice. Loosely based on the Life of Jesus in the New Testament, Gospels' accounts of Passion of Jesus, the Passion, the work interprets ...

''. Urlich released a version of " I Don't Know How to Love Him" that reached No. 44 on the New Zealand singles charts. For her third studio album, '' The Deepest Blue'', Urlich returned to her long-standing partnership with British writer/producer Robyn Smith. She and Smith co-wrote all but two of the tracks on the album. ''The Deepest Blue'' was released in August 1995 but failed to have the same impact as her previous two albums, reaching No. 18 on the New Zealand charts and No. 17 on the Australian charts. In 1998, her contract with

Sony Music Sony Music Entertainment (SME), commonly known as Sony Music, is an American multinational music company owned by Japanese conglomerate Sony Group Corporation. It is the recording division of Sony Music Group, with the other half being the ...

having expired, she moved to the Southern Highlands of

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

where she set up home and a new recording studio with her partner. Here she produced her fourth album, '' Second Nature'', a recording project produced by Eddie Rayner from

Split Enz Split Enz were a New Zealand band formed in 1972. Regarded as the first New Zealand band to gain significant recognition outside of Australasia, they were initially noted for their progressive rock, progressive/art rock sound, flamboyant visua ...

that was recorded on and off over 12 months and involved musicians from Australia and New Zealand. The album comprised cover versions of some of Urlich's favourite New Zealand songs that she grew up with. These included songs from artists such as Split Enz,

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, Dave Dobbyn, Max Merritt, Shona Laing,

Don McGlashan Don McGlashan (born 18 July 1959) is a New Zealand composer, singer and multi-instrumentalist who is best known for membership in the bands Blam Blam Blam, The Front Lawn, and The Mutton Birds, before going solo. He has also composed for cin ...

and

Tim Finn Brian Timothy Finn (born 25 June 1952) is a New Zealand singer, songwriter, musician, and composer. He is best known as a founding member of Split Enz. Finn founded the band in 1972 with Phil Judd and served as lead singer and principal songw ...

. The album was released in New Zealand in 1999 and reached No. 11 on the charts, achieving platinum status. This was her final studio album. Urlich made a special guest performance on series 1, episode 6 of '' The Micallef Program'', performing a comical duet of the

Carly Simon Carly Elisabeth Simon (born June 25, 1943) is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and author. She rose to fame in the 1970s with a string of hit records; her 13 Billboard Hot 100, top 40 U.S. hits include "Anticipation (song), Anticipatio ...

classic "

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" with Shaun Micallef. The two had previously performed a comical duet of the Frank and

Nancy Sinatra Nancy Sandra Sinatra (born June 8, 1940) is an American singer, actress, film producer and author. She is the elder daughter of Frank Sinatra and Nancy Sinatra ( Barbato) and is known for her 1965 signature hit " These Boots Are Made for Walki ...

song " Somethin' Stupid", with Micallef in his Milo Kerrigan persona, on the sketch comedy programme ''Full Frontal''. After a two-and-a-half-year struggle with cancer, Urlich died on 22 August 2022, at the age of 57, surrounded by her family at her home in the Southern Highlands.

Discography

Studio albums

Live 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 that recognises excellence, innovation, and achievement across all genres of

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. They commenced in 1987. ! , - , rowspan="3" ,

1991 It was the final year of the Cold War, which had begun in 1947. During the year, the Soviet Union Dissolution of the Soviet Union, collapsed, leaving Post-soviet states, fifteen sovereign republics and the Commonwealth of Independent State ...

, , rowspan="3" , ''

'' , , Breakthrough Artist – Album , , , , rowspan="6" , , - , Album of the Year , , , - , Best Female Artist , , , - ,

1993 The United Nations General Assembly, General Assembly of the United Nations designated 1993 as: * International Year for the World's Indigenous People The year 1993 in the Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands had only 364 days, since its ...

, , '' Chameleon Dreams'' , , Best Female Artist , , , - , rowspan="2" ,

1994 The year 1994 was designated as the " International Year of the Family" and the "International Year of Sport and the Olympic Ideal" by the United Nations. In the Line Islands and Phoenix Islands of Kiribati, 1994 had only 364 days, omitti ...

, , "Burnt Sienna" , , Best Female Artist , , , - , "Where Is the Love?" (with Rick Price) , , Best Adult Contemporary Album , , , -

New Zealand Music Awards

The

New Zealand Music Awards The Aotearoa Music Awards (previously called the New Zealand Music Awards), conferred annually by Recorded Music NZ, honour outstanding artistic and technical achievements in the recording industry. The awards are among the most significant that ...

are an annual awards night celebrating excellence in New Zealand music and have been presented annually since 1965. ! , - , 1985 , , Margaret Urlich , , Female Vocalist of the Year , , , , rowspan="10" , , - , 1986 , , Margaret Urlich , , Female Vocalist of the Year , , , - , rowspan="4" , 1989 , , Margaret Urlich , , Female Vocalist of the Year , , , - , ''Safety in Numbers'' , , Album of the Year , , , - , Polly Walker and Debbie Watson for ''Safety in Numbers'' , , Album Cover of the Year , , , - , "Escaping" , , Single of the Year , , , - , rowspan="3" , 1990 , , Margaret Urlich , , Female Vocalist of the Year , , , - , Margaret Urlich , , International Achievement , , , - , "Number One (Remember When We Danced All Night)" , , Single of the Year , , , - , 2000 , , Kimberley Renwick for ''Second Nature'' , , Album Cover of the Year , , , - , 2021 , , Margaret Urlich and When the Cats Away' , ,

New Zealand Music Hall of Fame The New Zealand Music Hall of Fame , Te Whare Taonga Puoro o Aotearoa is a figurative hall of fame dedicated to noteworthy New Zealand musicians. The hall was created in 2007 by Recorded Music NZ (then known as the Recording Industry Associati ...

, , , , , -

World Music Awards

The

is an international award show founded in 1989 under the patronage of

Albert II, Prince of Monaco Albert II (Albert Alexandre Louis Pierre Grimaldi; born 14 March 1958) is Prince of Monaco, reigning since 2005. Born at the Prince's Palace of Monaco, Albert is the second child and only son of Prince Rainier III and Princess Grace. He attend ...

and co-founder/executive producer John Martinotti. , - , 1992 , , Margaret Urlich , , Best Selling New Zealand Artist of the Year , , , -

Television appearances

References

External links

Official website
(archived at Internet Archive) * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Urlich, Margaret 1965 births 2022 deaths ARIA Award winners New Zealand expatriates in Australia 20th-century New Zealand women singers Women new wave singers CBS Records artists Sony Music New Zealand artists Musicians from Auckland Deaths from cancer in New South Wales 21st-century New Zealand women singers