Stella Bennett (born January 30, 2000), known professionally as Benee (/ˈbɛniː/, stylized BENEE, formerly spelled Bene) is a New Zealand musician from Grey Lynn in Auckland. Stella Rose Bennett was born and raised in the suburb of Grey Lynn in Auckland. She grew up in a "really musical" family with parents who would expose her to the catalogs of Radiohead, Björk, and Groove Armada. From the age of eight, BENEE began taking guitar lessons in primary school before starting saxophone lessons in high school. Eventually, BENEE dropped all music in order to prioritize water polo. She claims it "was [her] life" and that she at one point hoped to represent New Zealand competitively. BENEE later became interested in writing and recording music at the age of 17, after deciding that she did not want to pursue a career in water polo. BENEE attended an all-girls Catholic school, St. Mary's College, where music was compulsory for four years. BENEE began her music career by posting covers to SoundCloud and began making her own music in her final year of high school. After dropping out of a communications degree at the Auckland University of Technology after two weeks, during what she called "a quarter-life crisis", she decided to enter the music business professionally. Her music caught the attention of Josh Fountain, a producer and member of the band Leisure, with whom she produced two singles: "Tough Guy", released in 2017, and "Soaked", released in 2018. she earned her first career entry on the Triple J's Hottest 100 of 2018 with "Soaked" at #58. In both 2019 and 2020, she consecutively won Single of the Year, Best Solo Artist and Best Pop Artist at the New Zealand Music Awards. BENEE initially gained local prominence with her singles "Glitter" and "Soaked", before her 2019 single "Supalonely" saw international popularity following its success on the video-sharing platform TikTok and YouTube. BENEE subsequently released her debut album, Hey U X, in November 2020. Under the moniker of Bene, she made her solo debut with the 2017 single "Tough Guy", before later gaining prominence with her 2018 single "Soaked", which has been certified double-platinum in New Zealand. She released her debut EP, Fire on Marzz, with help from producer Josh Fountain in June 2019. Her second EP, Stella & Steve, was released in November 2019 and charted in the US, Canada, and France as a result of the international success of the EP's final single, "Supalonely". Since 2018, BENEE has earned five entries on the Triple J Hottest 100, three of which were in the 2019 list. She also released her third EP, Lychee, in March 2022 which charted at number 13 on the Official New Zealand Music Chart. In an interview for The New Zealand Herald, Benee revealed that she has dyslexia. She also described her childhood experiences with songwriting: "throughout school I struggled with writing....I liked creative writing, that was what I loved, but I was always making mistakes, and I was confined to this way that I should write....Songwriting for me was this place where I don't have to be grammatically correct. Learning the craft with [Josh Fountain], when he was sharing all his knowledge – something clicked, and I was just like, I love this. It's a great emotional outlet for me; I just love splashing what I feel on to a track."