Biography
Reb Fountain (born Rebecca Fountain, June 1973, San Francisco, USA) is an American-born New Zealand singer and songwriter working across folk, country, and pop-rock. Her father, John Fountain, was a professor of economics who took up a position at the University of Canterbury in Christchurch in 1979, and at age six Reb sailed into Lyttelton Harbour aboard the Oriana with her parents and brother Joel, settling in New Zealand. The Fountain family came from a long line of migrants — her grandmother had immigrated from Ukraine to Canada before crossing the border into the United States — and music was central to how the family navigated new environments, gathering with other migrant families for communal singalongs.After her parents divorced when she was nine, Fountain changed schools numerous times and struggled with depression and an eating disorder. Music became a lifeline through those years; from the age of thirteen she began performing at cafes and open mic nights, attending the Whitecliffs Music Festival and channelling her experiences into songwriting. During a period at a co-ed boarding school in Colorado, her teachers committed her to a suicide prevention institution out of concern for her wellbeing. She eventually returned to New Zealand and completed her schooling at Hagley High School in Christchurch.Fountain first attracted attention in Christchurch in 1990 and was labelled the best voice to come out of the city at that time. Her brother Joel had already begun his musical journey as a drummer, playing in a school rock quest band alongside Julia Deans. Reb’s early band, Immaculate Sun, marked her first significant step into the local scene. She later became a member of The Eastern, a Christchurch-based Americana group, broadening her collaborative reach during the 2010s.Fountain released her debut album
Like Water in 2006 on her own Fountain Records, followed by
Holster in 2008. She then stepped away from her solo career for close to a decade before returning in 2017 with the EP
Hopeful & Hopeless and the single
Little Arrows. The return marked a significant creative reawakening, with the EP earning award recognition and reestablishing her presence in the New Zealand music landscape.A major breakthrough came in 2020 when Fountain signed with Flying Nun Records and released her self-titled album
Reb Fountain, preceded by the singles
When Gods Lie and
Don’t You Know Who I Am. The album went on to win the 2021 Taite Music Prize and received five Aotearoa Music Award nominations as well as a Silver Scroll nomination. She followed it with her fifth studio album
Iris in 2021. Throughout 2020 she was also active in the Save Our Venues campaign, advocating for New Zealand’s live music infrastructure during the pandemic period.Fountain’s sixth studio album,
How Love Bends, was released in March 2025. Her songs consistently draw on themes of migrancy, relationships, motherhood, and personal trauma, and she has built a growing audience both in New Zealand and internationally, including an appearance at the Great Escape festival in Brighton in May 2023.
Members
Discography
- Like Water (CD, 2006, Fountain Records, FTR 001)
- Holster (CD, 2008, Fountain Records, FTR002)
- Hopeful & Hopeless (EP, 2017)
- Little Arrows (EP, 2017)
- Don’t You Know Who I Am (7″, 2020, Flying Nun Records, FN591-7-2)
- When Gods Lie (7″, 2020, Flying Nun Records, FN593-7)
- Reb Fountain (LP, 2020)
- Beastie (2021)
- Iris (LP, 2021)
- How Love Bends (LP, 2025)
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