Two major international signings, two top 10 albums, European tours, performances throughout Asia and Australia, countless national anthems – songstress Lizzie Marvelly has accomplished a great deal during her 10-year career.
In celebration of her decade-long journey, Lizzie is hitting the road for her The 10 Years Tour and performing at Baycourt's Addison Theatre on October 12.
Along with Tauranga, Lizzie will also perform in Rotorua, Whakatane and Auckland.
'If you've followed the trajectory of my career you'll know I'm quite eclectic. I've come from one place and gone to another and come back; I don't fit into boxes really well,” says Lizzie, with a chuckle.
'There'll be songs from the beginning all the way up to the last song I released, plus a couple of covers I have a lot of love for and some new songs which haven't been released yet.”
Lizzie was first introduced to the nation in late-2006, when she performed on the Knight With A Dame tour with Dame Malvina Major and her uncle, the great Sir Howard Morrison.
Sharing the stage with Sir Howard at the age of 17 was mindblowing, says Lizzie.
'I'd catch him in the corner of my eyes watching me from the wings and I always just wanted to make him proud. To share the stage with someone who's whanau and has that much knowledge and mana – I really can't think of anything better. It's a very special memory.”
Looking back over her career, Lizzie says the most important lesson she's learned is being true to yourself as both a performer and person – a lesson learned via the 'school of hard knocks”.
'When I was just starting I had people, with the best of intentions, telling me who to be, what to do, and offering advice. But it also made it quite difficult to have that internal sense of self-knowledge.
'From being a very young woman wanting to be everything to everyone and not let anyone down, to reaching my mid-20s and realising ‘I love music, but it has to be music I really care about'.
'So that's been my journey, to follow my heart and my gut and to trust that your instinct tells you one thing for a reason and you should really follow it,” says Lizzie.
Lizzie Marvelly's The 10 Years Tour hits Baycourt's Addison Theatre on Wednesday, October 12. Tickets cost $49 from: www.ticketek.co.nz
The Weekend Sun has two double passes to give away to two lucky reader who can tell us which year Lizzie went on tour with Sir Howard Morrison and Dame Malvina Major?
Enter online here or at www.sunlive.co.nz under the competition section. All entries must be received by Wednesday, October 5.