Margaret Urlich
Urlich performing inHawke's Bay, 2008
Background information
Born	Margaret Mary Urlich (1965-01-17)17 January 1965 Auckland, New Zealand
Died	22 August 2022(2022-08-22) (aged 57) Southern Highlands, New South Wales, Australia
Genres	Rock pop new wave jazz
Occupation	Singer
Years active	1985–2022
Labels	CBS Sony Columbia

Margaret Mary Urlich (24 January 1965 – 22 August 2022^[1]) was a New Zealand singer who lived in Australia for most of her career.

Urlich's 1989 debut solo studio album,Safety in Numbers, won "Breakthrough Artist – Album" at the1991 ARIA Awards.^[2] Its 1992 follow-up,Chameleon Dreams, was also a success. Urlich was successful in both New Zealand and Australia, selling over 400,000 albums during her career, ranking her as one of New Zealand's most successful recording artists. She was the cousin of both fellow New Zealand singerPeter Urlich^[3] and Australian musicianJen Cloher.^[4]

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Urlich began her career as lead vocalist for thenew wave bandPeking Man with her brother Pat, Tim Calder, Perry Marshall, Jay F-Bula (Jay Foulkes), Neville Hall, John Fearon. Peking Man won the 1984Shazam! Battle of The Bands (aTVNZ pop show) and had a number of hit songs in New Zealand, including "Good Luck to You" (No. 6), "Lift Your Head Up High" (No. 21) and 1985's "Room That Echoes" (No. 1).^[5]

Urlich was later a member of an all-girl pop group in New Zealand calledWhen the Cat's Away. Urlich moved to Australia in 1988. She recorded her debut solo studio album,Safety in Numbers, atStudios 301 in Sydney and released it in New Zealand in 1989 and Australia in March 1990. The album peaked at No. 4 on the New Zealand album charts in December 1989^[6] and No. 5 on theAustralian album charts in December 1990^[7] and went tripleplatinum in Australia. Urlich won anARIA Award in 1991 for "Best Breakthrough Artist".^[8]

In 1990, Urlich, then little known outside New Zealand, provided backing vocals on a track for Australian artistDaryl Braithwaite on his second solo album,Rise, which was released in November 1990. The song she featured in was theRickie Lee Jones ballad "The Horses", which was a No. 1 hit for Braithwaite.^[9] The video clip featured Braithwaite singing on a beach, with New Zealand model Gillian Mather (riding a horse),lip-syncing Urlich's voice. Urlich chose not to appear in Braithwaite's film clip as she had just releasedSafety in Numbers and was working to establish herself as a solo artist.

In March 1991, Urlich, armed with a half-million-dollar recording budget, returned to the studio to commence pre-production for her second album,Chameleon Dreams, with English writer/producer Robyn Smith, the man behind her highly successful debut. By mid-year, Urlich and Smith had entered Studios 301 to record their two songs, plus a third track written by Smith andBarry Blue. The same team had been responsible for two of the tracks onSafety in Numbers ("Escaping" and "Guilty People") and their latest offering, "Boy in the Moon", proved pivotal to the sound of the new album. Other tracks were collected by travelling around the world.

Urlich went to London to co-write with writers such asRob Fisher, with whom she wrote the album's title track, "Chameleon Dreams". She then went on to Los Angeles, where she met withGrammy Award-winning writer/producer Ian Prince, with whom she wrote two songs for the album and he produced four tracks. She returned to London, where she co-wrote a number of songs withSimon Law andTony Swain, before completing the project with three tracks produced by Swain. The success ofChameleon Dreams earned Urlich the "Best-Selling New Zealand Artist of the Year" award at the 1992World Music Awards inMonte Carlo. She attended the awards ceremony and performed "Love Train".

In 1993, Urlich was part of Export Music Australia (EMA) andAustrade's second Wizards of Oz promotion. She toured Japan with fellow singerRick Price and the groupYothu Yindi. Urlich andDale Barlow recorded a version of "I've Got You Under My Skin" forKate Ceberano's 1994 albumKate Ceberano and Friends.

She spent much of 1994 living back in New Zealand and appeared asMary Magdalene in a major concert production ofAndrew Lloyd Webber'srock operaJesus Christ Superstar. Urlich released a version of "I Don't Know How to Love Him" that reached No. 44 on the New Zealand singles charts.^[6]

For her third studio album,The Deepest Blue, Urlich returned to her long-standing partnership with British writer/producer Robyn Smith. She and Smith co-wrote all but two of the tracks on the album.The Deepest Blue was released in August 1995 but failed to have the same impact as her previous two albums, reaching No. 18 on the New Zealand charts^[6] and No. 17 on the Australian charts.^[7]

In 1998, her contract withSony Music having expired, she moved to theSouthern Highlands ofNew South Wales where she set up home and a new recording studio with her partner. Here she produced her fourth album,Second Nature, a recording project produced byEddie Rayner fromSplit Enz that was recorded on and off over 12 months and involved musicians from Australia and New Zealand. The album comprised cover versions of some of Urlich's favourite New Zealand songs that she grew up with. These included songs from artists such as Split Enz,Crowded House,Dave Dobbyn,Max Merritt,Shona Laing,Don McGlashan andTim Finn. The album was released in New Zealand in 1999 and reached No. 11 on the charts, achieving platinum status. This was her final studio album.^[6]

Urlich made a special guest performance on series 1, episode 6 ofThe Micallef Program, performing a comical duet of theCarly Simon classic "You're So Vain" withShaun Micallef. The two had previously performed a comical duet of theFrank andNancy Sinatra song "Somethin' Stupid", with Micallef in his Milo Kerrigan persona, on the sketch comedy programmeFull Frontal.

After a two-and-a-half-year struggle with cancer, Urlich died on 22 August 2022, at the age of 57, surrounded by her family at her home in theSouthern Highlands.^[10][11]

• Official website (archived at Internet Archive)
• Margaret Urlich atAllMusic
• Margaret Urlich discography atDiscogs
• Margaret Urlich atIMDb

• 1965 births
• 2022 deaths
• 21st-century New Zealand women singers
• ARIA Award winners
• New Zealand expatriates in Australia
• 20th-century New Zealand women singers
• Women new wave singers
• CBS Records artists
• Sony Music New Zealand artists
• Musicians from Auckland
• Deaths from cancer in New South Wales
• World Music Awards winners

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