Biography

Jan Hellriegel grew up in Auckland’s Te Atatu South, with her parents and three brothers. This, combined with a stint working at her father's panel beater shop (albeit, in the office), led to her being crowned the pre-eminent “Westie” musician by the New Zealand media.

Her musical experience began with vocal training in speech and singing at St. Mary’s College, under Sister Mary Leo. She also became involved in the Dunedin music scene when she attended the University of Otago in the 1980s, where she graduated with a Bachelor of Arts.

Initially she joined her brother Rob Hellriegel's band, Working With Walt. She performed backing vocals, piano and guitar on their 1984 7” LP The Prophet, and wrote and performed the song “Christina” on the band’s 1985 LP 5 Sides.

In 1988, Jan performed backing vocals on the Leonard Cohen song “So Long Marianne”, on the Straitjacket Fits album Hail.

In the late 1980s, Jan formed the band Cassandra's Ears with Dunedin bandmates Flick Rhind (bass), Zan Wright (backing vocals), Vanessa Anich (drums) and Leanne Ibell (guitar). Jan performed vocals, guitar and keyboards.

Their first release was the song “Replacements” for a National Student Radio compilation. The band played local gigs, wrote more material, and eventually released two LPs, Private Wasteland in 1988 and Your Estimation in 1990.

By 1991, Jan had signed a deal with Warner Records New Zealand to record solo material. Her first album, It’s My Sin, was recorded between December 1991 and January 1992 at Mountain Studios (Tauranga), Airforce Studios (Auckland), Mandrill Studios, Helen Young Studios and Auckland Audio (Auckland).

The album was released in 1992, along with singles for the songs “The Way I Feel”, “It’s My Sin” and “No Idea”. There was also a promotional EP for “All the Best Thoughts”, and the songs “Westy Gals” and “Wings of Steel” were released as radio-only singles.

In 1992, Jan also recorded backing vocals for the hit song “Nature” by The Mutton Birds.

In 1995, Jan recorded a television advertisement for Coca-Cola before touring Australia (Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne), and then completing her second album, Tremble, at Sing Sing (Melbourne) and Studios 301 (Sydney) in 1995.

The album was released the same year along with singles for the songs “Manic (is a state of mind)” (a Top 5 hit), “Geraldine” (a Number 1 hit on Max TV) and “Pure Pleasure”. In 1996 Jan was awarded Most Promising Female Vocalist at the New Zealand Music Awards, and Top Female Vocalist and Single of the Year (for “Manic”) at the Music and Entertainer Awards of New Zealand.

In addition, Jan opened for the Auckland Blues, had a sell-out show with Mika in February, performed at the Comedy Festival, and toured for 6 weeks with Jeff Buckley (Auckland, Sydney, Melbourne).

In 1997, Jan recorded a television advertisement for Ford, a cover version of the Gordon Mills song “10 Guitars” for a Television New Zealand documentary of the same name, and the song “Unravelled” for the short film “My Geraldine” by former Cassandra’s Ears band mate Flick Rhind. In addition to acting in an episode of Xena: Warrior Princess, she also recorded a new single, “Sentimental Fool”, at York Street A&B Studios (Auckland) for release that year.

Jan subsequently parted ways with Warner Records, and her next single, “Melusine”, recorded at Beaver Studios (Auckland) was released by Universal Records in 1998. That year, Jan was nominated for the Fox of the Year award on the Mikey Havoc show. She also toured the North Island, performed at the Auckland CBD’s Music on the Streets festival, and played an unreleased new song “Misadventure” on the final MTV New Zealand transmission.

In 1999, Jan joined the Alan Duff charitable foundation Books in Homes as a celebrity spokesperson. She co-wrote the theme song “Read About It” with Dave Dobbyn and Toi Iti, which was performed by 60,000 children. During that year she had another role on Xena, as well as on Shortland Street, together with sell-out shows with Fiona MacDonald, Mark de Clive-Lowe and Mika.

In 2000, Jan recorded a song for the New Zealand television drama Street Legal, followed by a lead role in Roger and Joselyn Morton's stage musical Meatworks, and a sell-out show with Caitlin Smith and actress Willa O'Neill. In 2001 she worked on an unreleased collaboration with Tom Blaxland called Project Runway, and recorded the song “Star Baby” for children’s clothing label Pumpkin Patch in 2002.

But then Jan decided it was time for a break, stating that "a lot of people have dreams but there are times when you just can’t follow them. Because I had two young children, I needed to look after them and I thought the music could wait. So I thought I would bow out gracefully."

Even so, she continued to write songs and record demos. In October 2008, Jan decided it was time to go back into the recording studio. "I just had to do it," she says. "I had to get these songs down." With the help of producer Wayne Bell and a team of musicians, she recorded it over a two-week period at Neil Finn’s Roundhead Studios with a variety of guest musicians.

The new album, All Grown Up, was released on 22 October 2009, alongside a concert at Auckland’s Civic Theatre. Fittingly, as the favourable reviews were pouring in, the video for her 1991 single “The Way I Feel” was placed second in a New Zealand Film Archive “Wall of Fame” poll to find New Zealand’s greatest music videos.