Karl Steven

Karl Steven
Born
Karl Sölve Steven

1973 (age 52–53)
OriginAuckland, New Zealand
Occupations
  • musician
  • songwriter
  • composer
  • producer
Years active1989–present
Formerly ofSupergroove
Websitekarlsolvesteven.com Edit this at Wikidata

Karl Sölve Steven (born 1973) is a singer and composer from New Zealand. Starting his career as the frontman for Supergroove in the 90s, Steven later became one of New Zealand's most prominent score composers for television and film, and has won eight APRA Screen Awards.

Early life and career

Steven was born in 1973 and raised in Auckland; his father, Geoff Steven [wd], was a New Zealand filmmaker, and his mother, Carin Svensson [wd], was a Swedish writer. Steven grew up speaking Swedish at home, and his middle name, Sölve, was from his Swedish grandfather, a Lutheran vicar.

At the age of ten, Steven first decided he wanted to be a musician, drawing inspiration from The Blues Brothers and The Talking Heads's Stop Making Sense. At thirteen, he began experimenting with his friend Tim Stewart to create hip hop tracks with a drum machine; the two of them transferred from Western Springs College to Selwyn College, believing that the latter had a better music program.

Supergroove

At Selwyn, the pair joined with Nick Atkinson to form their first band, "Little Boy Blues", later renamed to "The Lowdown Dirty Blues Band", on New Year's Eve of 1989/1990. The band evolved into Supergroove as the lineup expanded to include Che Ness, Ned Ngatae, Joe Lonie and Paul Russell. Steven dropped out of school in sixth form to pursue a full time music career.

Supergroove released their debut album Traction in 1994, which was produced by Steven with Malcolm Welsford. The album went triple platinum in New Zealand and won five Tūī awards, including Best Producer for Steven and Welsford. Steven and Welsford again won the Best Producer award for Supergroove's second album, Backspacer, released in 1996.

Solo career

At 21, Steven left Supergroove to study at university, spending six years at Auckland before completing a PhD at Cambridge University.

In February 2022, after years of composing film and television scores, Steven released his debut solo album, All of Human Emotion on Microfiche. The album included a collaboration with former Supergroove bandmate Che Fu on the single "Utterance and Inscription".

Personal life

Steven lives part-time in Thames with his wife, who he has been with since they were teenagers. Together they have a daughter.

Awards and nominations

Year Award Work(s) nominated Category Result Ref.
1995 New Zealand Music Awards Traction Best Producer Won
1997 New Zealand Music Awards Backspacer Best Producer Won
2016 APRA Screen Awards 800 Words Best Original Music in a Series Won
2019 APRA Screen Awards The Bad Seed Best Original Music in a Series Won
2020 APRA Screen Awards Come to Daddy Best Original Music in a Feature Film Won
2021 APRA Screen Awards Black Hands Best Original Music in a Series Won
2023 APRA Screen Awards The Subtle Art of Not Giving a #@%! Best Original Music in a Feature Film Won
2024 APRA Screen Awards Never Look Away Best Original Music in a Feature Film Won
Black Coast Vanishings Best Original Music in a Series Won
New Zealand Television Awards Black Coast Vanishings Best Original Score Nominated
2025 Hollywood Music in Media Awards Mārama Original Score – Independent Film (Foreign Language) Nominated
2026 APRA Screen Awards Pike River Best Original Music in a Feature Film Won

References

  1. ↑ McNamara, Lauren (14 November 2025). "Karl Sölve Steven on Soundtracking New Zealand's Stories". Rolling Stone AU/NZ. Retrieved 19 October 2026.
  2. ↑ "Karl Steven - SOUNZ". sounz.org.nz.
  3. 1 2 3 Shute, Gareth (28 June 2017). "Karl Steven". AudioCulture. Archived from the original on 20 September 2026. Retrieved 19 October 2026.
  4. 1 2 3 "Twelve Questions: Karl Steven". NZ Herald. 2 May 2013. Retrieved 19 October 2026.
  5. 1 2 3 Shute, Gareth (19 July 2013). "Supergroove". AudioCulture. Retrieved 19 October 2026.
  6. ↑ "Che Fu on Supergroove: 'We were like a nerdy club of sorts'". RNZ. 5 April 2025. Retrieved 21 October 2026.
  7. 1 2 "1995 Winners". New Zealand Music Awards. Archived from the original on 16 October 2013. Retrieved 20 October 2026.
  8. 1 2 "1997 Winners «  Vodafone New Zealand Music Awards". New Zealand Music Awards. Archived from the original on 16 October 2013. Retrieved 20 October 2026.
  9. ↑ "Playing Favourites with composer Karl Steven". RNZ. 29 January 2022. Retrieved 21 October 2026.
  10. ↑ Cudby, Chris (25 January 2022). "Karl Steven + Ché Fu Share Single 'Utterance and Inscription' + Video". UnderTheRadarNZ. Retrieved 21 October 2026.
  11. ↑ Ropati, Ashley (29 September 2016). "APRA Silver Scroll Awards 2016: Kiwi music's big winners". Stuff. Retrieved 19 October 2026.
  12. ↑ "Aldous Harding wins 2019 Silver Scroll award". RNZ. 1 October 2019. Retrieved 19 October 2026.
  13. ↑ "Benee wins 2020 APRA Silver Scroll". The New Zealand Herald. 28 October 2020. Archived from the original on 4 October 2026. Retrieved 19 October 2026.
  14. ↑ "2021 APRA Silver Scrolls: Troy Kingi the winner on songwriting's biggest night in Aotearoa". The New Zealand Herald. 24 March 2022. Retrieved 19 October 2026.
  15. ↑ "The winners: 2023 Silver Scroll Awards announced". RNZ. 4 October 2023. Retrieved 19 October 2026.
  16. ↑ "Silver Scroll 2024: Anna Coddington wins top prize for bilingual waiata". RNZ. 8 October 2024. Retrieved 19 October 2026.
  17. ↑ "New Zealand Television Awards Announces 2024 Finalists". New Zealand Television Awards. 1 January 2024. Retrieved 20 October 2026 – via Scoop.
  18. ↑ Pedersen, Erik (5 November 2025). "Hollywood Music In Media Awards 2025 Nominations: 'Wicked: For Good' Leads Field". Deadline. Retrieved 20 October 2026.
  19. ↑ "Samoan love song makes history at the 2026 Silver Scroll Awards", RNZ, 14 October 2026, archived from the original on 14 October 2026, retrieved 19 October 2026