Bic Runga! For Louise!

A darling old friend is in touch and we've been talking about 80s trends and fashion and singers, bands etc and she says she finds it annoying how everything from the 80s she thought was "Totally Cool!" she looks at now and just cringes, but how all the folk I loved - David Bowie, Patti Smith, Marianne Faithful etc, etc - are still unquestionably cool, and she wanted to know how I picked 'em.

The answer is I have absolutely no idea but whenever I mention this to Keith he says "You liked Yoko Ono! No one who ever owned a Yoko Ono album has the right to imagine they can judge cool!"

However, I still contend I know cool ... and I've recently noticed someone who, back in the 80s, I found wayyyy cool, is currently being picked up by young Emo-Goth Chicks all over the world, who all think she rocks more than anyone around today, and I agree.

BIC RUNGA! Heard of her? Kiwi chick from the 80s! Loved her to death. Amazing voice and so endlessly beautiful. Her dad was a Maori soldier who, on R&R during the Vietnam War, in Hong Kong, met a woman called Sophia Tang, and they married and moved to NZ and had two stunning daughters who both became rock stars ...

But enough talk! This is Bic Runga back in the 80s. You tell me if she isn't the coolest singer you've heard in the past 30 years, apart from Patti Smith and Marianne Faithful that is.