Supergroove is a New Zealand

funk rock Funk rock is a fusion genre that mixes elements of funk and Rock music, rock. James Brown and others declared that Little Richard and his mid-1950s road band, The Upsetters (American band), the Upsetters, were the first to put the funk in the ...

music group. Their debut album '' Traction'' was released in 1994. The group disbanded in 1997 but reformed in 2007.

History

The band was founded on New Year's Eve 1989/1990, having previously been named the Low-Down Dirty Blues Band. Prior to Supergroove's second album ''

Backspacer ''Backspacer'' is the ninth studio album by the American rock band Pearl Jam, released on September 20, 2009. The band members started writing instrumental and demo tracks in 2007, and got together the following year to work on an album. ...

'', singer Che Fu and trumpeter Tim Stewart were fired from the band.

Solo careers

Notable former members include Che Ness, aka

Che Fu Che Kuo Eruera Ness (born 1974), better known by his stage name Che Fu, is a New Zealand singer, songwriter and producer. A founding member of the band Supergroove, as a solo artist he has gone on to sell thousands of albums both in New Zeal ...

, now with a successful solo career, Paul Russell, who still studio drums with Che Fu. Two other ex-members, Tim Stewart (trumpet) and Ben Sciascia (guitar) formed a new band in late 2005 called Svelte with Stewart on Lead vocals and Bass. Stewart went on to form Hopetoun Brown, a two-piece band, with fellow ex-Groover, Nick Atkinson - they released their first album in 2015 and also often appear together as the horn section for other performers including

Tami Neilson Tamara "Tami" Neilson is a Canadian-born New Zealand country & soul singer/songwriter. She is the winner of multiple awards, including the 2014 APRA Silver Scroll Awards and Best Country Song Award; she is also the winner of the Best Country Alb ...

, Dave Dobbyn and

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 ...

Reunions

Supergroove continued in 2007 on a summer tour, playing alongside popular New Zealand bands such as

Atlas An atlas is a collection of maps; it is typically a bundle of world map, maps of Earth or of a continent or region of Earth. Advances in astronomy have also resulted in atlases of the celestial sphere or of other planets. Atlases have traditio ...

Elemeno P Elemeno P is a New Zealand rock band. The band's first album, '' Love & Disrespect'' was released on 4 July 2003, and reached number one on the RIANZ albums chart. Their second album, '' Trouble in Paradise'' was released on 24 November 2005 ...

The Feelers The Feelers are a New Zealand pop rock band formed in the early 1990s in Christchurch by James Reid (singer/guitarist) and Hamish Gee (drums/guitar). History The Feelers were signed by Warner Music and released their first album, '' Super ...

and were one of the headline Kiwi acts of the

Big Day Out The Big Day Out (BDO) was an annual music festival that was held in five Australian cities: Sydney, Melbourne, Gold Coast, Queensland, Gold Coast, Adelaide, and Perth, as well as Auckland, New Zealand. The festival was held during summer, typi ...

2008 in Auckland. The band featured in the

University of Otago The University of Otago () is a public university, public research university, research collegiate university based in Dunedin, Otago, New Zealand. Founded in 1869, Otago is New Zealand's oldest university and one of the oldest universities in ...

's, the

University of Canterbury The University of Canterbury (UC; ; postnominal abbreviation ''Cantuar.'' or ''Cant.'' for ''Cantuariensis'', the Latin name for Canterbury) is a public research university based in Christchurch, New Zealand. It was founded in 1873 as Canterbur ...

's and the

University of Waikato The University of Waikato (), established in 1964, is a Public university, public research university located in Hamilton, New Zealand, Hamilton, New Zealand. An additional campus is located in Tauranga. The university performs research in nume ...

's 2008 orientation weeks. Supergroove played at the Groove in the Park 2010 festival held on New Zealand's

Waitangi Day Waitangi Day (, the national day of New Zealand, marks the anniversary of the initial signing—on 6 February 1840—of the Treaty of Waitangi. The Treaty of Waitangi was an agreement towards British sovereignty by representatives of the The Cr ...

(6 February), at the Western Springs in Auckland. Supergroove also played at the Homegrown Festival in Wellington on 14 March 2009. Supergroove returned for another reunion tour in April 2025, featuring the original lineup (saxophonist Nick Atkinson, vocalists Karl Steven and Che Fu, drummer Ian Jones, bassist Joe Lonie, guitarist Ben Sciascia and trumpeter Tim Stewart). This tour started on 7 April 2025 in Rotorua and ended 27 April, with 14 shows in 9 venues. Apart from the main centres, they also had shows in Whanganui, Nelson, Invercargill and Havelock North. Troy Kingi, Rubi Du and DJ King Kapisi joined them, not so much as support as "intertwined" into the shows. Support from the public was so strong that several extra nights had to be added.

Members

Current * Che Ness – vocals * Karl Steven – vocals, keyboards, harmonica * Ben Sciascia – guitar * Joe Lonie – bass * Tim Stewart – trumpet * Nick Atkinson – saxophone , keyboards * Ian Jones – drums Former * Paul Russell – drums

Timeline

Discography

Albums

EPs

Singles

Awards

New Zealand Music Awards

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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 ...

, Malcolm Welsford – "You Gotta Know" , Best Engineer , , align="center" , , - , align="center" rowspan="6" ,

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 ...

, ''Traction'' , Album of the Year , , align="center" rowspan="6" , , - , "Can't Get Enough" , Single of the Year , , - , Supergroove , Best Group , , - , Jo Fischer and Matt Noonan – "Can't Get Enough" , Best Video , , - , Karl Steven & Malcolm Welsford – ''Traction'' , Best Producer , , - , Malcolm Welsford – ''Traction'' , Best Engineer , , - , align="center" rowspan="2" ,

1996 1996 was designated as: * International Year for the Eradication of Poverty Events January * January 8 – A Zairean cargo plane crashes into a crowded market in the center of the capital city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo ...

, Supergroove , International Achievement , , rowspan="2" align="center" , , - , Sigi Spath and Jo Fisher – "You Gotta Know" , Best Video , , - , rowspan="3" align="center" , 1997 , Sigi Spath and Joe Lonie – "If I Had My Way" , Best Video , , align="center" rowspan="3" , , - , Malcolm Welsford and Karl Steven – ''Backspacer'' , Best Producer , , - , Malcolm Welsford – ''Backspacer'' , Best Engineer , , - , align="center" ,

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

, Supergroove , Legacy Award , , align="center" ,

References

External links

AudioCulture profile
{{Authority control APRA Award winners New Zealand funk musical groups Funk rock musical groups Musical groups from Auckland