Tamara "Tami" Neilson is a Canadian-born New Zealand country & soul singer/songwriter. She is the winner of multiple awards, including the 2014 APRA Silver Scroll Awards and Best Country Song Award; she is also the winner of the Best Country Album at the New Zealand Music Awards in 2009, 2010, 2012, and 2015, and Best Female Artist at the New Zealand Country Music Awards in 2010, 2011 & 2014.
Her album Don't Be Afraid (2015) debuted at No. 3 on the New Zealand Music Charts, and her previous release Dynamite! (2014) was listed in The Guardian as one of the top ten country albums of the year for 2014. In 2020, her song "Hey, Bus Driver", from the album Chickaboom, won APRA's Best Country Song Award. In 2017, Neilson also appeared as a subject of the documentary Prime Rocks: The New Sound of Country in New Zealand, alongside Marlon Williams, Delaney Davidson, and Barry Saunders from The Warratahs. In November 2020, she appeared on David Hartnell Best Dressed List.
Neilson's 2022 album, Kingmaker included the single "Beyond the Stars", a duet with country music legend Willie Nelson, which was released to considerable acclaim after being debuted on stage in a live performance with him, at his Luck Reunion concert in March that year. The album went on to debut at #1 on the New Zealand charts in July, which was followed by a sold-out concert with the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra at the Aotea Centre, and a national tour with Chamber Music New Zealand, during which she performed "Beyond The Stars" with Bret McKenzie in Wellington. She also performed at Mariposa Folk Festival in Canada and Tønder Festival in Denmark that year. "Beyond The Stars" was nominated for the APRA Awards (New Zealand) Silver Scroll Award on 1 September 2022.
Neilson's songs have also appeared on Wanted, Nashville, and The Sounds. In 2022, Neilson herself appeared on The Brokenwood Mysteries performing "Ten Tonne Truck" on the episode "Good as Gold".
Neilson has Ojibwe ancestry.
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