Jane de Jong (born 1987), known professionally as Ruby Frost, is a New Zealand singer and songwriter from Auckland. In 2009, she won the nationwide music competition MTV42Unheard, giving her a recording contract with Universal Music New Zealand.[1] Since then she has performed showcases at CMJ in New York and The Viper Room in LA;[2] toured with Mt Eden, Cut Copy, Evermore and Van She;[3] and opened for acts including Diplo, Nero, Kimbra, Digitalism and Garbage.[4] She was one of the four judges in season one of The X Factor NZ,[5] and was the runner-up mentor when her act Whenua Patuwai came second in the competition.[6]
Early singles
In December 2011, Ruby Frost released her debut single "Moonlight" on bFM, which went to #1 and stayed in the radio station's top 10 for 10 consecutive weeks.[7] The accompanying video was directed by Veronica Crockford-Pound.[8]
Ruby Frost's song "O That I Had" (off her debut, self-released EP) was remixed by Mt Eden in 2010, receiving over one million views on YouTube.[9]
Songwriting competitions
In 2010, Ruby won the Grand Prize of the Pop category in the international John Lennon Songwriting Contest: Section I. This was for her demo "Hazy".[10]
In 2012, Ruby's song "Water to Ice" was shortlisted in the Top 20 for the NZ APRA Silver Scrolls.[12]
2012 releases
Debut album
Frost's debut album Volition was produced in New York by Chris Zane and was released in New Zealand on 8 June 2012 by Universal Music New Zealand.[13] Physical copies of the album came complete with abstract short stories written by Ruby.[14]
Ruby released "Water to Ice" in New Zealand in April 2012.[15] The single was playlisted by New Zealand mainstream radio stations The Edge and ZM, and peaked at #3 in The Official New Zealand Music Chart's NZ Singles category.[16] The single's video clip was directed by Joel Kefali and Campbell Smith of Special Problems, and was featured on the frontpage of Vimeo as a Staff Pick on 8 August.[17]
Her next single "Young" was released in New Zealand in September 2012, with a video clip made by Sam Kristofski. Home Brew Crew remixed the song, and it charted in The Edge's Fat 40 for two months, sparking off a national house party tour that the radio station sponsored (along with Vodafone and Glassons).[18]
Ruby was also featured on the Flight of the Conchords single "Feel Inside", which was released to raise money for the children's charity Cure Kids.[19]
In 2013, Ruby co-wrote 'The Wire', the second single on David Dallas's album "Falling into Place". She also sang guest vocals on his song 'The Gate'.[citation needed]
In 2014, she released her first single from her time in Stockholm - "Comeback Queen".[20]
In May 2018, the Manuwatu Standard reported that Frost is still working on a second studio album.[21]
^"Ruby Frost - Moonlight EP Review". Music.net.nz. 9 March 2011. Retrieved 27 November 2021. Her debut single Moonlight charted in the bFM Top 10 for 10 weeks straight
^YouTube. "Moonlight". Moonlight video. Retrieved 17 December 2010.