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Mr Godfrey De Grut

BMus

Professional Teaching Fellow

In: Music » Faculty of Creative Arts and Industries

Biography

After completing his degree in composition from the University of Auckland, Godfrey received a RIANZ Jazz Album of the Year award for 1997’s “Came a Weird Way” with his band the New LoungeHead (sic) and also won the BFM inaugural “Best Keyboardist” award in 1998.

Following extensive touring as lead alto saxophone with Rodger Fox Big Band he joined and recorded music with Che Fu, co-writing the 2002 APRA Silver Scroll winning song, “Misty Frequencies”.

Primarily working as a freelance musician, composer and ensemble arranger, Godfrey has recorded and/or toured both locally and internationally with Brooke Fraser, Scribe, Anika Moa, Boh Runga, Maala, Che Fu, Elemeno P, Tama Waipara, Carly Binding, Nathan Haines, Nesian Mystic, De Ja Voodoo, Opensouls, Seth Haapu and Gin Wigmore amongst others.

He co-produced the platinum-selling Dukes hit single "Vampires" and follow up album "Still Life" in 2012.

In 2013 he was the musical director for both the APRA Silver Scrolls and the NZ Film Awards (Moas).

2014 saw his appointment to the co-artistic director for the 20th anniversary Coca-Cola Christmas in the Park. In 2015 Godfrey was back co-directing both the 50th-anniversary APRA Silver Scrolls and Musical Directing the 21st anniversary Coca-Cola Christmas in the Park.

Godfrey lectures in popular music studies at the University of Auckland and contributed a regular column for NZ Musician called X-factory from 2007-2017.

He assists corporate entities in mitigating issues of musical plagiarism in his spare time as an amateur musicologist and enjoys sitting in his home studio writing and recording music.

His musical interests are mainly in pop, rock, jazz, electronic and experimental.

He even did a keyboard session for Kanye West one time.