Melissa Partridge
Performing at our 2025 Wairarapa Music in the Country festival, Melissa Partridge is a well-known name in the country music scene. Melissa has many awards and achievements, a couple of highlights have been winning a Tui Award for Country Album of the Year with her self-titled album, and She also won overall winner of the 2021 senior New Zealand Gold Guitar Awards.
Melissa has performed and toured alongside some legends in Country Music in all parts of Australia, New Zealand and America, where she was inducted into the old time country music hall of fame in Iowa USA and presented with the “Rising Legend Award”.
Country music had been part of her life since she was a small child. She accompanied her musician father to performances. “He would take me around to different music festivals. I first started singing when I was about 8. I’d get up and do a few songs with Dad, and that’s how it all sort of started. Country music was in the blood, she said. “It’s always been a huge part of my life and I love it.”