| Vanessa Amorosi | |
|---|---|
| Background information | |
| Birth name | Vanessa Amorosi |
| Born | 8 August 1981 |
| Origin | Melbourne, Victoria |
| Genres | Rock, pop, acoustic |
| Occupations | Singer-songwriter |
| Years active | 1998–present |
| Labels | Universal Music (2006–present) Sony BMG |
| Website | www.vanessaamorosi.com |
Vanessa Amorosi (born 8 August 1981)[1] is an Australian singer-songwriter and recording artist. Her combined album and single sales have reached over 2 million worldwide.
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Amorosi was born 8 August 1981[1] in Melbourne, Australia. When Amorosi was 4, along with her younger sisters, she would go to tap, jazz and classical ballet classes, which were being run by her uncle. She attended Emerald Primary and Emerald Secondary School.[2] At the age of 12 Amorosi started to perform in shopping centers and local council concerts under the supervision of her family. Amorosi was discovered performing at Matrioshka,[3] a Russian restaurant in Carnegie, by Jack Strom and signed a recording contract in 1997. After being signed to MarJac Productions (co-owned by managers Mark Holden and Jack Strom) and recording a promo CD titled "Get Here", she secured a deal with Transistor Music Australia.
In 1999, Amorosi released her debut single "Have a Look" which became a Top 20 hit and went gold in Australia. This was followed by her successful second single "Absolutely Everybody", an anthemic dance song, reached the Top 10 and became the longest charting Australian single by an Australian female artist.[4] It remained in the ARIA Top 50 Singles Chart for over six months after its release.[5] "Absolutely Everybody" was released internationally and reached the Top 10 in many European countries including the United Kingdom and Germany where it received a gold certification. Amorosi performed at many large events such as the NRL Grand Final, the opening of the Motorcycle Grand Prix at Phillip Island and the new millennium on "New Year's Eve" at Darling Harbour.
Following the success of the first two singles Amorosi released two more singles in 2000 "Shine" and "The Power" became major Australian hits. Both were accredited gold by the ARIA Australian music industry. The rights to create a remixed version of Shine were purchased by the airline Ansett Australia, who used this version for a commercial. Vannessa Amorosi was one of many celebrities to appear in the commercial.
Her album The Power reached number one on the Australian album charts. Amorosi received six ARIA nominations[6] in the year 2000 awards and The Power was nominated[7] for "Best Female Artist" and "Best Pop Release" in the ARIA Music Awards of 2001. Her largest audience came in September 2000 with performances at the Opening and Closing Ceremonies of the Sydney 2000 Summer Olympics and at the Paralympic Games. At the Opening Ceremony of the 2000 Summer Olympics she sang the Olympic song titled "Heroes Live Forever". Amorosi won the APRA Award[8] in 2001 for "Most Played Song" on Australian Radio with "Shine" and received international acclaim in Germany where she won "Best International Newcomer"[9] at the 2001 VIVA Comet Awards. Later that year she also made a special appearance at the Goodwill Games Opening and Closing ceremonies in Brisbane. In 2001 she performed at the AFL Grand Final.
In August 2002 Amorosi traveled to Manchester where she was one of the stars of the Commonwealth Games Hand-Over Ceremony, performing her hit "Shine" and a new song written especially for the event, "I'll always be a Melbourne girl".
In February 2003, Amorosi performed her blues set[10] for the first time at the Melbourne International Music and Blues Festival and traveled to Germany to perform her latest European single "True to Yourself" on Top of the Pops and the hugely successful long-running show Wetten, dass..? which screens throughout Europe.[11]
On 25 January 2006, it was revealed that Amorosi signed with Manager Ralph Carr, having completed her seven year management with MarJac Productions. She is quoted on the website as saying, "I have been with my previous management for seven years and thought both parties had gone as far as we could together... Moving over to Ralph Carr Management seemed like a natural progression, given the acts he has successfully managed. I am excited and enthused." On 22 November 2006 it was announced that Amorosi had signed to Universal Music Australia. Amorosi's charity work predates her fame, and her involvement with Kids Help Line and the Variety Club led to a number of honours, including a 2003 nomination for Australian of the Year. She still has the farm where endangered animals can find refuge, although she does not get to visit much; her friends run it for her. She supported Kiss on their 2008 tour of Australia. In 2008 Amorosi released the album Somewhere in the Real World, through Universal Music Australia, on 24 May 2008.[12][13] The album tracks "Perfect" and "Start It" have both been used in promotions for the Seven Network. "Start It" is Channel 7's AFL song for 2008 and will be used again in 2009. Released digitally and in stores on 24 May 2008, Somewhere in the Real World reached Gold sales in Australia.
The single "Kiss Your Mama!" was serviced to radio on 3 August and released 8 September 2007.[14] On a special edition of Australian Idol she sang her hit song "Kiss Your Mama!".[15] This marked Amorosi's returned to the ARIA charts the First Single in many years to be released, the song peaked at #15.
Amorosi released her second single "Perfect" digitally on 5 April and physically on 26 April 2008.[16] The single made it to number 1 on the digital iTunes charts on 7 June 2008 and a then equal highest charting singles of her career at #4. "Perfect" reached Platinum sales in Australia and was the most played Australian song on Australian radio for 2008. "Perfect" was nominated for the 2009 APRA awards for 'Most Played Australian Work'.
Following the excellent success of her first two singles a third single was released from the album, the song "The Simple Things (Something Emotional)" was released as the third single on 20 September 2008. The Song received a video and achieved a top 40 peak. In December 2008 a video for the song "My House" was released onto her website, but never released as a single.
On 20 April 2009, a Vanessa fan website revealed details of a collaboration with U.S. band Hoobastank on a single titled "The Letter". The website, VanessaAmorosi.net, also provided the duet to be streamed in full.[17] Amorosi also appears in the video which was shot in Los Angeles at Lacy Street Studio with director Paul Brown (Alicia Keys, Jack White). The video and single was serviced to Australian media on 4 May. The single was released in Australia on 19 June 2009.[18]
Vanessa Amorosi's album Hazardous, became her third ARIA Top 10 album debuting at #7, It was also the week's highest album debut by an Australian artist and has been accredited Platinum by the Australian Recording Industry Association. The album has produced the singles "This Is Who I Am" (Amorosi's first #1), top 30 hit "Hazardous" and third single "Mr. Mysterious" featuring Seany B. Amorosi released the album to the German market in early June 2010.[19]
On 28 August 2009 Amorosi's new song "This Is Who I Am" was serviced to Australian radio. On 31 August 2009 Universal Music Australia released a press release for Amorosi's new single with details of new single and album.
| “ | The first single to spawn from her forthcoming album is the fierce pop-rock song "This Is Who I Am". The undoubtable hit single was produced by MachoPsycho (Pink) and mixed by Chris Lord-Alge (Green Day) and was serviced to Australian radio this week. The video for "This Is Who I Am" was recently shot in Los Angeles and directed by Christopher R Watson. The video was predominately shot on green screen and will launch on 14 September. | ” |
"This Is Who I Am" debuted at number 1 on the ARIA Charts for the week beginning 18 October 2009. This is Amorosi's first number 1 single. The single held the top spot for a second week in a row - becoming the first Australian artist to debut at #1 and hold #1 single since Silverchair's "Straight Lines" in 2007. "This Is Who I Am" has achieved 2× platinum sales in Australia making it her most successful single to date in her homeland.
With the success of her album and first single "This Is Who I Am", Amorosi released her second single and title track from the album Hazardous. Amorosi flew to Los Angeles to film the video for "Hazardous" with director Paul Brown (Prince, Alicia Keys), which was serviced Thursday, 17 December 2009. The single peaked at #29 on the ARIA Charts a solid follow-up single to her first number 1.
It was announced that Amorosi would collaborate with Mary J. Blige, so Amorosi flew to Los Angeles on 1 February to film the music video for her duet with Mary J. Blige for the upcoming single "Each Tear". The new version of the track will feature on an international re-release of Blige's latest record Stronger with Each Tear.[20]
On 4 March 2010 Amorosi announced "Mr. Mysterious" as the third single from the Hazardous album via newsletter.[21] During March 2010 Vanessa Amorosi supported Rob Thomas on his Australian leg of the Cradlesong Tour, as well as performing headline shows for her fans separately.
"Holiday" was released as the fourth single off Hazardous and charted in the top 50 on the ARIA charts.
In September 2010 Vanessa revealed on her official Twitter account she was back in the studio again with MachoPsycho in London. In October 2010, Amorosi wrote to her mailing list announcing she was writing and recording in Los Angeles for her new studio album,[22] which is described to "push boundaries" and "may even shock people".[23]
Amorosi’s first single "Gossip" from her forthcoming album V was released on 1 July 2011 and became the #1 added song on Australian radio in the first week,[24] but has not to date charted in the ARIA Top 100 Singles. The second single "Amazing" was released 9 September 2011 and peaked at #83 on the ARIA Singles Chart.[25] The song was featured on Channel 7's AFL Grand Final ad which also resulted in Vanessa Amorosi performing at the [26] AFL Grand Final in 2011. 2011 has also seen Vanessa work on such campaigns as Proactiv, Headspace and Kids Helpline. On 3 November 2011 Amorosi announced her album due for release on 11 November would be delayed until further notice, stating "As you know things haven't gone to plan as I hoped.[...] I would love to be able to tell you a time, but unfortunately to make great songs you can't put a timeline on it".[27]
| Year | Ceremony | Category | Nominated for | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | ARIA Awards | Highest Selling Single[28] | "Absolutely Everybody" | Nominated |
| ARIA Awards | Best Female Artist[28] | Nominated | ||
| ARIA Awards | Best Pop Release[28] | Nominated | ||
| ARIA Awards | Breakthrough Artist Single[28] | "Have a Look" | Nominated | |
| ARIA Awards | Highest Selling Album[28] | The Power | Nominated | |
| ARIA Awards | Breakthrough Artist Album[28] | Nominated | ||
| 2001 | ARIA Awards | Best Female Artist[29] | Nominated | |
| ARIA Awards | Best Pop Release[29] | Nominated | ||
| APRA Awards | Most Performed Australian Work[30] | "Shine" | Won | |
| 2009 | APRA Awards | Most Played Australian Work[31] | "Perfect" | Nominated |
| 2010 | ARIA No.1 Chart Awards | Song reaching number-one.[32] | "This Is Who I Am" | Won |
| Nickelodeon Australian Kids Choice Awards 2010 | Fave Aussie Musos[33] | Herself | Nominated | |
| ARIA Awards | Most Popular Australian Artist[34] | Herself | Nominated | |
| ARIA Awards | Most Popular Australian Album[35] | Hazardous | Nominated | |
| ARIA Awards | Most Popular Australian Single[35] | "This Is Who I Am" | Nominated | |
| ARIA Awards | "Mr. Mysterious" | Nominated |
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Studio albums
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Compilation albums
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