Gin Wigmore talks us through the soundtrack to her life. Photo: Supplied.
Gin Wigmore talks us through the soundtrack to her life. Photo: Supplied.
Edith Piaf - Non, Je Ne Regrette Rien
I was 12 or 13 and had no money so I would listen to whatever records my parents had: The Traveling Wilburys, John Denver and Edith Piaf was in there. There was something about her... everything. The way she sang,her voice was so steeped in life and pain and overcoming it. You could just tell that voice had lived a million lives. It really got under my skin and into my blood. It was visceral. From that moment on I felt she was the greatest singer of all time.
I was such a weirdo. I was bringing this shit to school and everyone's bringing their Oasis and their Spice Girls and I'm like, "Nah, check this Edith Piaf stuff. This is cool." They were like, "No, it's not cool Gin." It definitely wasn't the pick of the playground at school. But I was looking for something deeper. I love living in a state of intensity and she really provides that for me. She means a great deal to me. I've got her face tattooed on my leg. She's always with me.
I love how she personifies heartache. I always personify everything. I fully think my dog is a person, my car's a person and that my house has a soul... I'm full-on personifying everything. My plants have feelings. My kids think I'm insane.
Her music has a real power over me. She puts me into a meditative state and puts everything at peace for me. It's interesting, she died on the same day that my husband was born. Not the same year, but the same day. I feel like I knew my husband in another lifetime and feel like he's got a little bit of Billie in there. She removes me from the chaos that's in front of me. She's my yoga without having to do yoga.
Keaton Henson - You
You remember the song you fall in love to, right? I was introduced to Keaton Henson by my husband Jay when we first met. We had the most epic love story. I feel it was like a movie trailer situation, against all odds.
We'd sleep all day and get up at 10pm and be up until 6am listening to music and sharing music. He'd play me this song and I remember falling in love. It has such an intensity, like, "if you die I won't live, if you leave you have to walk like there's fire under your feet", everything is so dramatic. I love drama and I think I invite drama into my life, which is why I sound so passionate about how we fell in love. It had to be intense and those moments were so intense. Any time we were apart we'd send each other these songs to remind ourselves to stay in those moments with each other. This song reminds me of falling in love with my greatest love and only love of all time. Now, whenever we're falling away from each other we just play You and go "Remember when we were so in love?"
Somewhere Over the Rainbow - Israel Kamakawiwo'ole
This song played a big part in our life when we had our first son. He would cry, being a newborn, and we didn't know what the f*** was wrong with him because we were new parents. "We've done everything! We've fed you, bathed you, you're clean, you're dry... why aren't you going to sleep?" But he would just not want to do that. So we would play music and this song was the only thing that would get him to sleep. We'd play it over and over and over. I'm surprised I don't hate this song.
David Gray - Say Hello, Wave Goodbye
David Gray's album White Ladder was the catalyst for me as a singer. I'll always hold it dear to my heart for that reason. My voice was weird when I was growing up, it's still kind of odd, but he made it clear that you can sing and have a f****d up voice and that's okay.
I went to see him play at the Aotea Centre or somewhere back in the day. And I just cried uncontrollably. I don't know why. It was coming from this deep place of, "you're my everything". From that moment I thought, "one day I'm gonna meet him, I'm gonna play with him and it's gonna be amazing". And it happened in Sydney. He had no idea how much he'd done for me, and done so much in my thinking that things are possible. I tried to play it cool but I'm not very good at playing cool. I was like, "You're my everything, I've loved you since I was a teenager and I cried at your show," and I just let the cat out of the bag. He was like, "Okay, okay, it's all good. We're here now." He was cool, just a nice dude. I was stoked.
* As told to Karl Puschmann. Gin Wigmore headlines The Summer Tour 2021 with Dragon, The Jordan Luck Band, Stellar* and Hello Sailor. Queenstown tonight, Taupo, Saturday, January 30 and Whitianga, Sunday, January 31. Tickets on sale now.
