Jennifer Patricia Morris is a New Zealand-Australian singer-songwriter. Her first success came with New Zealand band The Crocodiles, who had a top 20 hit single with "Tears". Re-locating to Sydney in February 1981, she was a backing vocalist for various groups and formed a trio, QED, in 1983.
Thirsty Merc are an Australian pop rock band formed in 2002 by Rai Thistlethwayte, Phil Stack, Karl Robertson (drums), and Matthew Baker (guitar). In 2004, Baker was replaced by Sean Carey, who was, in turn, replaced by Matt Smith in 2010. Thirsty Merc have released one extended play, First Work, and four studio albums: Thirsty Merc, Slideshows, Mousetrap Heart and Shifting Gears. On 30 May 2022 the band announced their fifth studio album, Celebration, to be released 17 June 2022. The band have sold over 200,000 albums, toured extensively around Australia, and received national radio airplay for their tracks.
The Byron Bay Bluesfest, formerly the East Coast International Blues & Roots Music Festival, is an annual Australian music festival that has been held over the Easter long weekend in the Byron Bay, New South Wales, area since 1990. The festival features a large selection of blues and roots performers from Australia and around the world and is one of the world's leading contemporary music festivals.
Rai Thistlethwayte is an Australian rock, pop and jazz musician and songwriter. Thistlethwayte is an accomplished pianist, guitarist, and vocalist. He is the lead singer and primary songwriter in the Australian pop rock band Thirsty Merc. Since 2004, Thirsty Merc have released a string of hits in the Australian Music Charts including "In The Summertime", "Someday, Someday", "20 Good Reasons", "Those Eyes", "Emancipate Myself", "Wasting Time," "My Completeness", "When The Weather Is Fine", "The Hard Way", "Homesick", "Mousetrap Heart", "Tommy And Krista" and "All My Life". He is currently based in Los Angeles. As a solo artist, Thistlethwayte performs under the name 'Sun Rai.'
Archibald William Roach was an Australian singer, songwriter and Aboriginal activist. Often referred to as "Uncle Archie", Roach was a Gunditjmara and Bundjalung elder who campaigned for the rights of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. His wife and musical partner was the singer Ruby Hunter (1955–2010).
The Presets are an Australian electronic music duo of Julian Hamilton and Kim Moyes. Formed in 2003 and signed to Modular Records, The Presets released two EPs in advance of their debut album, Beams, released in 2005 to positive critical response. After two years of touring, including as the Australian support for Daft Punk, the band's 2008 release, Apocalypso, debuted at number one on the ARIA Albums Chart, and went on to win six awards at ARIA Awards 2008, including Album of the Year.
Christopher James Ross is an Australian musician. He was the founding bass guitarist and keyboardist of hard rock band, Wolfmother, from 2000 to August 2008. His trademark stage antic is playing the keyboard at a slant or vertically. At the APRA Awards of 2007 Ross and bandmates, Myles Heskett and Andrew Stockdale, won the Songwriters of the Year category. After leaving Wolfmother with Heskett, the pair worked as Doom Buggy, then they formed Palace of Fire in 2009. In 2011 Ross and Heskett formed Good Heavens with Sarah Kelly (ex-theredsunband). Ross was formerly a digital designer and has three children.
Wollongong Conservatorium of Music is a centre for music education, community music-making and performance, serving the city of Wollongong, New South Wales, Australia.
Kate Melina Miller-Heidke is an Australian singer-songwriter and actress. Although classically trained, she has generally followed a career in alternative pop music. She signed to Sony Australia, Epic in the US and RCA in the UK, but since 2014 has been an independent artist. Four of her solo studio albums have peaked in the top 10 of the ARIA Albums Chart, Curiouser, Nightflight, O Vertigo! and Child in Reverse. Her most popular single, "The Last Day on Earth", reached No. 3 on the ARIA Singles Chart after being used in promos for TV soap, Neighbours, earlier in that year. At the ARIA Music Awards Miller-Heidke has been nominated 17 times.
Jaime Robbie "JR" Reyne is an Australian singer/songwriter and actor.
Gareth Liddiard is an Australian musician, best known as a founding member of both The Drones and Tropical Fuck Storm. Musically active since 1997, he has also released a solo album titled Strange Tourist in 2010. In 2021, Liddiard recorded and performed live with Jim White of the Dirty Three and Chris Abrahams of The Necks as Springtime.
Mark Ross, known as Munk or Munkimuk is a Sydney-based Hip Hop performer and music producer. He is known as The Grandfather of Indigenous Hip Hop and has been performing since 1984 as a breakdancer and rapping since 1988. He is known for his music production, MCíng, breakdancing, event hosting and radio broadcasting. He has also been quoted as an influence on quite a few Australian hip hop artists. He has been working in the music industry for 30 years and has mentored and produced countless artists and acts both in Australia and Asia.
The Jezabels are an Australian indie rock band formed in Sydney in 2007. The band consists of lead vocalist Hayley Mary, lead guitarist Sam Lockwood, pianist and keyboardist Heather Shannon, and drummer and percussionist Nik Kaloper,.
Clayton Doley is an Australian musician, singer, songwriter, television musical director, arranger, and record producer best known for his Hammond Organ virtuosity.
Kimbra Lee Johnson, known mononymously as Kimbra, is a New Zealand singer and songwriter. Known for mixing pop with R&B, jazz and rock musical elements, her accolades include four ARIA Music Awards, two Grammy Awards and seven New Zealand Music Awards. Her musical influences range from Prince and Minnie Riperton to Björk and Jeff Buckley.
The Beards were an Australian comedy folk rock band which formed in 2005 in Adelaide and disbanded in October 2016. The group played music themed around the virtues of having a beard. They had developed from a four-piece rock band, the Dairy Brothers, which were established in 2003.
Black Rabbits is the seventh studio album by Australian post-grunge band Grinspoon, which was released on 28 September 2012. Its title is Cockney rhyming slang for "bad habits", which relates to their reputation as being "a hard rocking, harder living band from Lismore, NSW, who emerged at the turn of the millennium with the same never-say-no ethic of Seattle's toughest grunge bands."
Morgan John Evans is an Australian country music singer and songwriter. He released a self-titled debut studio album in March 2014, which peaked at number 20 on the ARIA Albums Chart. In 2019, he won the ARIA Award for Best Country Album for his second studio album, Things That We Drink To. Evans also had a crossover hit in the United States with "Kiss Somebody" in 2017. Since 2016, Evans has been married to American country music artist Kelsea Ballerini.
The Australian Art Orchestra (AAO) is one of Australia's leading contemporary ensembles. Founded by pianist Paul Grabowsky in 1994, it has been led by composer/trumpeter/sound artist Peter Knight since 2013. The Orchestra explores relationships between musical disciplines and cultures, imagining new musical concepts that reference how 21st century Australia responds to its cultural and musical history.
The COVID-19 pandemic in New South Wales is part of the ongoing worldwide pandemic of the coronavirus disease 2019 caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2. The first confirmed case in New South Wales was identified on 19 January 2020 in Sydney where three travellers returning from Wuhan, Hubei, China, tested positive for the virus.
