In 2007 Hollie Smith’s debut album Long Player went double platinum in New Zealand.
She wasn't then signed by the American recording giant Blue Note Records, who promised to take Long Player global.
It never happened, a legal wrangle followed, and Hollie went into a very dark place.
“I was just completely helpless,” she tells Campbell Live.
After two hellish years in the musical wilderness, she has just released her new album Humour and the Misfortune of Others – and it’s gone straight to number one on iTunes.
The process of buying her material back from Blue Note has left Hollie broke.
The music video for her new single ‘Mama’ is littered with friends who chipped in their time free of charge, and were all poolside for her album launch.
Hollie starts touring next month, in a much happier space than she has been for quiet some time.