Darren Watson (musician)

the New Zealand musician

Darren Watson is a New Zealand singer, songwriter and guitarist.

In August 2014, Watson released the single "Planet Key", which satirised the New Zealand prime minister John Key. As the song had been released in the run up to the 2014 general election, the Electoral Commission advised that the song would be viewed as an electoral programme and therefore could not be played on New Zealand television or radio, nor could it be sold unless it was labelled as an election advertisement. Watson chose to remove the song from the iTunes Store, claiming the commission's advice was censorship. John Key commented that the song and its music video was, "quite professionally done. It was anti us but as a parody it was okay." In September, before the general election, Watson took the Electoral Commission to the New Zealand High Court to challenge their advice. Justice Denis Clifford reserved his decision, saying the issues were complex. On 2 April, in a landmark 76 page judgment, Justice Denis Clifford ruled comprehensively in favour of Watson and Jones. Significantly, he held that the Electoral Commission's interpretation of the legislation "would impose limits on the right of freedom of expression of the plaintiffs and New Zealand citizens more generally in a manner which cannot be demonstrably justified in a free and democratic society." The Electoral Commission immediately appealed Justice Clifford's ruling, and on 20 October 2016 the Court of Appeal ruled for Watson, saying Watson and animator Jeremy Jones were "not representing any political party or vested interest when they made the video", the court said, and were "simply expressing their own political views".

Year Single Peak chartpositions Album NZArtists NZSingles 1989 "Mind on My Sleeve" — 37 Chicago Smoke Shop"(You Want) Another Man" — — 1990"I Can't Live (Without Your Love)" — — So Glad"So Glad" — — 2014 "Planet Key" 5 — Non album single "—" denotes releases that did not chart.

+YearAwardCategoryResult1990NZ Music AwardsMost Promising Group (Chicago Smoke Shop)Nominated1990NZ Music AwardsMost Promising Male VocalNominated1993Wellington Music AwardsOutstanding Overall PerformerWon1996Wellington Music AwardsBest Blues PerformerWon2003NZ Music AwardsBest Roots AlbumNominated2008International Songwriting CompetitionBluesWon2009International Songwriting CompetitionBlues3rd Place2010International Songwriting CompetitionBluesHon. Mention2012International Songwriting CompetitionBluesHon. Mention2016International Songwriting CompetitionBluesHon. Mention2018International Songwriting CompetitionBluesHon. Mention2021Aotearoa Music AwardsBest Folk ArtistNominated