David Atkins | |
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 David Atkins, who designed the Opening Ceremony of the Doha Arab Games, answers a question from the media | |
| Born | 12 December 1955 (age 68) Sydney, Australia |
| Occupations |
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| Years active | 1967–present |
| Children | 2, including Tobi Atkins |
| Website | http://www.dae.com.au/ |
David Atkins, OAM [1] (born 12 December 1955) [2] is an Australian dancer, choreographer, music-theatre director and producer.
Atkins began his performance career aged 12 with a role in the musical Mame . As an adult performer, as well as performing in shows such as A Chorus Line and The Pirates of Penzance , he created and performed in his own works Dancin' Man and Dynamite. [3]
Atkins has directed and produced major live events in various countries. These include Opening, Victory and Closing Ceremonies of the 2010 Winter Olympics held in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. [4] [5]
Atkins was recognised in the 2003 Queen's Birthday Honours with a Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) for his contribution to the Australian entertainment industry. [1] In 2010, the Australian Event Awards presented him with a Lifetime Achievement Award [6] for his enduring contributions to the Australian events industry.
The Australian Entertainment Mo Awards (commonly known informally as the Mo Awards), were annual Australian entertainment industry awards. They recognise achievements in live entertainment in Australia from 1975 to 2016. David Atkins won nine awards in that time. [7]
| Year | Nominee / work | Award | Result (wins only) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1991 | David Atkins | Outstanding Contribution to Musical Theatre | Won |
| 1992 | David Atkins | Musical Theatre Male Performer of the Year | Won |
| David Atkins | Musical Theatre Performer of the Year | Won | |
| 1994 | David Atkins | Musical Theatre Male Performer of the Year | Won |
| David Atkins | Australian Showbusiness Ambassador | Won | |
| 1995 | David Atkins | Outstanding Contribution to Musical Theatre | Won |
| David Atkins | Australian Showbusiness Ambassador | Won | |
| 1997 | David Atkins | Outstanding Contribution to Musical Theatre | Won |
| 1998 | David Atkins | Outstanding Contribution to Musical Theatre | Won |
Slim Dusty, AO MBE was an Australian country music singer-songwriter, guitarist and producer. He was an Australian cultural icon, referred to universally as Australia's King of Country Music and one of the country's most awarded stars, with a career spanning nearly seven decades and producing numerous recordings. He was known to record songs in the legacy of Australia, particularly of bush life and renowned Australian bush poets Henry Lawson and Banjo Paterson that represented the lifestyle. The music genre was coined the "bush ballad", a style first made popular by Buddy Williams, the first artist to perform the genre in Australia, and also for his many trucking songs.
David Helfgott is an Australian concert pianist whose life inspired the Academy Award-winning film Shine, in which he was portrayed by actors Geoffrey Rush, Noah Taylor and Alex Rafalowicz.
Nicole Marie Webster was an Australian pop singer. She is best known for her role in performing at the 2000 Sydney Summer Olympics opening ceremony and her song "Strawberry Kisses", which made number 21 on the list of Top 25 singles in Australia released in 2001.
Donald Vernon Burrows was an Australian jazz and swing musician who played clarinet, saxophone and flute.
William Thomas Emmanuel is an Australian guitarist. Originally a session player in many bands, he has released many award-winning recordings as a solo artist. In June 2010, Emmanuel was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia (AM); in 2011, he was inducted into the Australian Roll of Renown. In 2019, he was listed by MusicRadar as the best acoustic guitarist in the world.
Yvonne Kenny AM is an Australian soprano, particularly associated with Handel, Mozart and bel canto roles.
Juan Ignacio Rafaelo Lorenzo Trápaga y Esteban, known professionally as Ignatius Jones is a Filipino-born Australian events director and journalist who previously fronted the shock rock band Jimmy and the Boys. From 1976 to 1982, the group pioneered the use of shock theatrics in Australia. By the end of the 1970s they were "one of the most popular live acts on the Australian scene" with Jones performing as lead vocalist and contortionist alongside Joylene Thornbird Hairmouth on keyboards and vocals as a kitsch transvestite. In 1981 they scored their only top 10 single with "They Won't Let My Girlfriend Talk to Me", which was written by Split Enz leader, Tim Finn. In 1982 after their disbandment, Jones pursued a solo career and by the mid-1980s was a member of a swing jazz-cabaret band, Pardon Me Boys, with O'Riordan and Jones' sister, Monica Trapaga – former Play School presenter. In 1990 Jones, with Pat Sheil, co-wrote True Hip and Jones followed it a year later with The 1992 True Hip Manual.
Scared Weird Little Guys are an Australian comedy music duo formed in July 1990, comprising John Fleming and Rusty Berther. The Scaredies performed their last live show in Brisbane in May 2011, until a one-off benefit gig in Melbourne in October 2016. They reunited for a three-day stint at the Brisbane Powerhouse on 8 to 10 March 2019.
David Joseph Campbell is an Australian singer, actor, and TV personality. He is the son of singer Jimmy Barnes.
Stephen George Page is an Australian choreographer, film director and former dancer. He is the former artistic director of the Bangarra Dance Theatre, an Indigenous Australian dance company. Page is descended from the Nunukul people and the Munaldjali of the Yugambeh people from southeast Queensland, Australia.
Vincent Hugh Jones is an Australian jazz singer, songwriter, and trumpet, flugelhorn and flumpet player. His music includes both original material and new contemporary versions of jazz standards. His themes are often love, inequity, injustice, peace and anti-greed.
John Lewis Ashcroft FAIHA was an Australian country music and folk entertainer, singer, songwriter, and musician, who also recorded pop, skiffle, jazz, and disco as his alter ego, the Baron. He was married to fellow performer Gay Kayler, with whom he recorded on numerous occasions.
The Robertson Brothers is an Australian band of brothers who are best known for singing the Home and Away theme song, broadcast from 2000 to 2006.
Drew Anthony is an Australian performer, director, choreographer and producer. His productions of the hit musicals Grease, Chicago - A Musical Vaudeville and Strictly Ballroom recently played to sell-out audiences at Perth's The Royale Theatre at Planet Royale. His most recent production at that theatre was A Chorus Line with other recent productions including 42nd Street at Limelight Theatre and The Boy From Oz at The Empire Theatre in Toowoomba. He was the Director/Choreographer for the 2021 production of The Boy From Oz, starring Ethan Jones as Peter Allen, at Crown Theatre, Perth. From 2019 to Covid he was the Creative Director for Flash Entertainment in Abu Dhabi. In 2017 and 2018 he was the Creative Director for Kaleidoscope, Perth's light and illumination festival, before which he spent 6 years as Associate Artistic Director/Producer for David Atkins Enterprises (DAE),. He was the Associate Artistic Director/Producer for the 2017 edition of White Night Melbourne and White Night Ballarat and was the Associate Artistic Director for the Closing Ceremony of the Sydney Olympic Games, the Ceremonies of the 12th Arab Games, Doha 2011, Rugby World Cup 2011, and the 2010 Winter Olympics opening ceremony, in Vancouver. Anthony directed the Sony IFA event in Berlin, Germany and the Olivia Newton-John and Friends charity gala event at the State Theatre in Sydney.
Simon Gallaher is an Australian singer, actor, director and pianist.
Graeme Connors is an Australian country music singer, songwriter, and performer. Connors has released seventeen studio albums and has received fourteen Golden Guitar awards among other prestige Australian country music awards.
Joe Chindamo is an Australian composer and pianist.
Thomas Tycho AM MBE DMus was Hungarian-born Australian pianist, conductor, composer and arranger. He was active in both classical music and pop.
Judith Mary Bailey is a New Zealand-born pianist, jazz musician and composer who has lived in Australia since 1960.
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