Kate - for One Night Only

A musical evening ahead, thank goodness, considering all the heavy stuff recently.  Someone arranged it, knowing this old Tavern Keeper's liking of blond ladies singing.  Which reminds me that I must get Elina Garanca back one evening and those three Gothard Sisters who are all a delight.

But tonight a more modern, 'with it' sort of lady who rarely get past my bouncer's beady eye.  I am not a great fan of most modern singers or their songs which leave one less than impressed.

But Kate does impresss me. I am not sure why, but see if you like who she is and what she does. I will sit in on the rehearsals and read some background. Let no-one say I do not give 'yoof' a chance.

Not being well tutored in modern popular music, she first came to the Tavern attention when she appealed to 'Crowd-Funding' in order to produce a piece of work. I was impressed.

Kate Miller-Heidke 

/ˈhaɪdkiː/ (born 16 November 1981) is an Australian singer-songwriter and actress. Although classically trained, she has followed a career in alternative pop music. She was signed to Sony Australia, Epic in the US and RCA in the UK, but is now an independent artist.

If there is appeal in this gal it is in her quirkiness. She writes much of her own music which shows aspects of personality rarely seen in modern 'template' 'divas'. 

Kate graduated from St Aidan's Anglican Girls' School in 1998, but previously attended Brigidine College, Indooroopilly. She then went on to university, completing a Bachelor of Music degree in Classical Voice from the Queensland Conservatorium of Music on full scholarship, followed by a Master of Music degree at Queensland University of Technology. 

Her early years, from teen, left some lasting and deep impressions which have found a way into her work. Some is disturbing. But she expresses it well. There is a vulnerability here that is rarely seen in preening pop stars.

She was questioned about that harrowing piece.

As a classical singer, she has won many awards including the Elizabeth Muir Prize (2000), the Donald Penman Prize (2001), the Linda Edith Allen Memorial Prize (2002) and the Horace Keats Prize (2002). Her conservatorium performances include Orpheus in the Underworld (2000), Venus and Adonis (2002) and The Pilgrim's Progress (2002). 

As an Opera Queensland Developing Artist, Miller-Heidke has performed as an understudy in many productions including Sweeney Todd, Don Pasquale and Un ballo in maschera. In July 2005 she made her solo professional operatic debut with Opera Queensland in the role of Flora in Britten's The Turn of the Screw.

In June 2004, Miller-Heidke independently recorded and distributed her first EP, Telegram, a collection of songs, all written by Miller-Heidke herself (except for two songs written by her creative collaborator and now-husband, Keir Nuttall).

In 2005, she released a second EP Comikaze, however only 500 copies were ever made. According to an interview in 2007, Miller-Heidke believed the EP's comedic material to have been a mistake and stopped pressing copies.

In 2006, Miller-Heidke was invited by Deborah Conway to take part in the Broad Festival project, with three other Australian female artists, they performed their own and each other's songs. With Miller-Heidke and Conway were Melinda Schneider, Mia Dyson and Ella Hooper.

Miller-Heidke was to have moved on to singing Gilbert and Sullivan tunes with Opera Australia; instead, she turned her back on classical singing to concentrate on popular music and songwriting when "Space They Cannot Touch", a song from Telegram, became a hit on Australia's national youth radio network, Triple J and was named Richard Kingsmill's "pick of the week" in September 2005. 

This radio support led to increased national attention for Miller-Heidke's music: not only did she gain thousands of fans, she also went on to sign a record deal, get her first manager, Leanne de Souza, and her first agent, Dorry Kartabani, at the Harbour Agency. Miller-Heidke then began touring the country with her band.

Signed to Sony Australia, Miller-Heidke released her third EP Circular Breathing in 2006, followed by her debut album Little Eve on 15 June 2007. 

The album was certified gold in Australia.

Miller-Heidke and Nuttall were awarded the $US25,000 grand prize in the 2008 International Songwriting Competition for their composition "Caught in the Crowd". They were the first Australians ever to win the grand prize. 

The second Australian single from Curiouser which had peaked at number 33 on the ARIA singles charts in June 2009. "Caught in the Crowd" was re-released in November 2009 and has since been accredited as a Gold single.

Kate is not above self-reflection and 'admission' of failure.  She does not only do harrowing and quirky but poignant too.

Her following single, "The Last Day on Earth" reached #3 in Australia, her first top 10 hit. Due to the single's success, Curiouser re-entered the top 50 and reached #1 on iTunes for three weeks. 

The song became her first song to reach #1 in any chart later peaking on the ARIA Australian Artist Singles Chart at #1. On 19 September 2009, the single "The Last Day On Earth" and the album Curiouser both went platinum.

The videoclip for "The Last Day on Earth" was filmed on the Northern Beaches of Sydney.

In September 2013, Miller-Heidke announced she had left Sony Records, which she described as a "corporate juggernaut". 

She also revealed she is currently working on her fourth studio album O Vertigo! independently, and set up a store on PledgeMusic, pledging the money to be used for the album and for donations towards the protection of the Great Barrier Reef. Her request then broke a record on Pledge: in three days, it reached the target set for her album and continued to receive more crowd funding.

Being as so many young women go into the music industry only to get savaged by evilness, chewed up and spat out, I am pleased she was bright enough to cut loose from the big studio and go her own way.

I think she will go far. I hope she fares better than poor Sarah.

I shall leave you with one more and then you can follow up in your own time while I pull pints. This is an 'unusual' 'cover' piece.

I expect to pull quite a few this evening.

Drink up.

Pax