Hayley Jensen is an Australian singer and songwriter who became known after appearing on the second series (2004) of Australian Idol. She was the fourth finalist, leaving the show on 1 November. She spent three years as the lead vocalist of alternative rock band Seasons and dance-rock outfit Silver Cities. Jensen's EP Past Tense and Present Peace was released in February 2017 and reached #1 on the Australian iTunes Country chart followed in 2018 by the album Turning Up the Dial which she toured across Australia, the UK and Canada. Hayley's third studio album Breakin' Hearts was released on 22 October 2021 and came in as the #1 ARIA Country Album and #4 ARIA Australian Albums.
James Oswald Little, AO was an Australian Aboriginal musician, actor and teacher, who was a member of the Yorta Yorta tribe and was raised on the Cummeragunja Reserve, New South Wales.
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.
Australian country music is a part of the music of Australia. There is a broad range of styles, from bluegrass, to yodeling to folk to the more popular. The genre has been influenced by Celtic and English folk music, the Australian bush ballad tradition, as well as by popular American country music. Themes include: outback life, the lives of stockmen, truckers and outlaws, songs of romance and of political protest; and songs about the "beauty and the terror" of the Australian bush.
Coloured Stone is an Aboriginal Australian band whose members originate from the Koonibba Mission, west of Ceduna, South Australia. The band performs using guitar, bass, drums, and Aboriginal instruments – didjeridu, bundawuthada and clap sticks – to play traditional music.
Emma Donovan is an Aboriginal Australian singer and songwriter. She is a member of the renowned musical Donovan family. She started her singing career at age seven with her uncle's band, the Donovans. In 2000, she became a founding member of Stiff Gins, leaving the band three years later to release the solo album Changes in 2004. She performs with the Black Arm Band and released a solo EP, Ngaaraanga, in 2009.
Bartholomew Edwin Willoughby is an Aboriginal Australian musician, noted for his pioneering fusion of reggae with Indigenous Australian musical influences, and for his contribution to growth of Indigenous music in Australia. A multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, and singer, he is known as a founder member and leader of the No Fixed Address, which was the first Aboriginal rock band in Australia, and the first Aboriginal band to travel overseas.
No Fixed Address (NFA) are an Australian reggae rock group whose members are all Aboriginal Australians, mostly from South Australia. The band formed in 1979, split in 1984, with several brief reformations or guest appearances in 1987–1988 and 2008, before reuniting in 2016 and continuing to perform into 2024. The original members were Bart Willoughby, Les Graham, Ricky Harrison, John Miller, and Veronica Rankine. As of 2024 the members are Willoughby, Harrison, Tjimba Possum Burns, and Sean Moffat. They were the first Aboriginal band to travel overseas. They have been inducted into the Hall of Fame at the inaugural National Indigenous Music Awards as well as the SA Music Hall of Fame, and have had a laneway in Adelaide CBD named after them.
Pat Drummond is an Australian singer/songwriter based in the Blue Mountains, New South Wales.
Beccy Cole, also known as Beccy Sturtzel, Rebecca Diane Albeck and Bec O'Donovan, is an Australian country music singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. She has released ten studio albums, with six reaching the ARIA Albums Chart top 40, Little Victories, Preloved, Songs & Pictures, Great Women of Country, Sweet Rebecca and The Great Country Songbook Volume 2. Her video album, Just a Girl Singer, peaked at No. 6 on the ARIA Top 40 DVD Chart. Cole has received nine Golden Guitar trophies at the CMAA Country Music Awards of Australia. During December 2005 to January 2006 she performed for Australian Defence Force personnel in Iraq. Her related single, "Poster Girl ", expresses her support for the troops. It won the 2007 Song of the Year at CMAA awards, and its music video was listed at No. 1 on Australia's Country Music Channel. In March 2015 she published her autobiography, Poster Girl.
Gay Kayler is an Australian country music entertainer - a vocalist, television personality, recording artist, pianist, triple beauty quest title holder, model, scriptwriter and educator. Gay used her maiden name in her professional career until 1978, when she changed the spelling from Kahler to Kayler to maintain a consistency of pronunciation. She retired in 1998.
Roger Knox is an Australian country singer, nicknamed "the Black Elvis" and "Koori King of Country".
Scrap Metal were a reggae, country, rock band from Broome, Western Australia which formed in 1983. The members had Aboriginal, Irish, Filipino, French, Chinese, Scottish, Indonesian and Japanese heritage. The group issued four albums, Just Looking (1987), Broken Down Man (1988), Scrap Metal (1990) and Pub Sweat 'n' Tears (1992). They toured nationally supporting Midnight Oil in 1987 and as part of the Bran Nue Dae musical in 1990 and 1993. They were the first Aboriginal band to sign an international publishing deal. Scrap Metal are the subject of an ABC TV documentary From Broome to the Big Smoke (1991). They won the Best Indigenous Act award at the 1992 West Australian Music Industry Awards. The group disbanded in 1995.
Bobby McLeod was an Aboriginal activist, poet, healer, musician and Yuin elder. He was from Wreck Bay Village, Jervis Bay Territory. He was involved in the fight for Aboriginal rights in Australia and travelled the world speaking about cultural lore, health and healing.
David Arden is an Australian singer-songwriter and Aboriginal activist. is a Kokatha and a Gunditjmara Songman. He has performed with Archie Roach, Ruby Hunter, Tiddas, Bart Willoughby, Mixed Relations and with members of Shane Howard, Paul Kelly, Not Drowning Waving and Hunters and Collectors. He was a founding a member and co Musical Director of The Black Arm Band.
Harry "Buck" Williams and Wilga Munro, known as Harry and Wilga Williams, were Aboriginal Australian musicians who performed professionally between the 1960s and 1980s, playing Aboriginal country music. They formed the band the Country Outcasts, also known as Harry Williams and the Country Outcasts.
Mildred Geraldine Joy Kirkpatrick, known professionally as Joy McKean, was an Australian country music singer-songwriter and wife and manager of Slim Dusty. Her daughter is country singer and musician Anne Kirkpatrick.
The NSW Koori Rugby League Knockout carnival is one of the biggest Indigenous gatherings in Australia. The winning team gains the right to host the next knockout. Organisers created the knockout to provide further access for Indigenous players to state rugby league.
Barbara McGrady is an Aboriginal Australian photographer and photojournalist based in Sydney, New South Wales. She is the first Indigenous Australian photojournalist.
Rhyan Clapham, known by his stage name Dobby, is a Filipino-Aboriginal Australian musician. He describes himself as a "drapper", a contraction of rapper and drummer, although he also plays other instruments and is also a composer. He sometimes raps with the indie rock band Jackie Brown Jr, but on his own is mainly a hip hop artist.
