Australian Music
EMI releases more than 1,000 albums every year and has a roster of over 1,500 artists from all around the globe. In addition to the worldwide platform of artists, EMI Australia has many outstanding local artists forming a diverse and expanding artist register. From the Alberts label, which has been one of the premier supporters of Australian music for over 3 decades and represents legendary acts such as AC/DC, Aleesha Rome, The Angels, Rose Tattoo and The Choirboys to EMI Classics, which represents contemporary artists such as Maria Callas, Sarah Brightman and Nigel Kennedy as well as the finest historical classical recordings from around the world, EMI has something for everyone.
In addition to the worldwide platform of artists, EMI Australia has many outstanding local artists including
EMI Country Music has the world's leading country artists including Garth Brooks, Deana Carter and Chris Ledoux, and our own superstars of Australian country music, Slim Dusty, John Williamson and Kasey Chambers, providing a wide range of choice in the area of country music songs.
Kasey Chambers
Perhaps the most captivating aspect of the Kasey Chambers story is that it’s only just beginning.
It’s turning out to be one of the most captivating stories in Australian music history. The girl raised beneath the remote sunsets of the Australian outback to the tunes of Hank and Gram, takes her unique blend of country/folk/blues/rock/pop to the world. With the help of her musically gifted family, she shatters mainstream preconceptions of country music both at home and in country music’s American heartland. By blatantly defying the stringency of commercial radio format and every imaginable industry stereotype, she winds up simultaneously holding the #1 album and single on the Australian mainstream charts. Welcome to the story of Kasey Chambers.
Silverchair
Silverchair is Australia’s most successful contemporary rock band. The group has had more top twenty hits during the last five years than any other artist and they have sold over six million albums worldwide.
The members of Silverchair were all born in 1979 in the Newcastle surf suburb of Merewether. Singer/guitarist Daniel Johns and drummer Ben Gillies started making music together at primary school and schoolmate Chris Joannou later joined on bass. In the group’s early days they were called Innocent Criminals and their repertoire consisted mainly of Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple and Black Sabbath songs they had learned from their Dads’ old record collections.
The trio played many shows around the Hunter Valley region in their early teens. They got their big break in mid-1994 when they won a national demo competition called 'Pick Me' which was conducted by SBS TV show 'Nomad' and youth radio station Triple J. The group’s entry was a song called 'Tomorrow' which quickly landed them a recording contract.
Slim Dusty
One senses the latest chapter in the incredible story of David Gordon Kirkpatrick, better known to virtually every Australian Country Music Fan as Slim Dusty, is as satisfying to him as any in his illustrious career. To make another album with daughter Anne, a major country star in her own right, is something they have both thought about and planned to do since 1989’s 'Two Singers, One Song'.
Although Anne won a Golden Guitar for Female Vocalist of the year as far back as 1978, her recording career really got into high gear in 1991 with 'Out Of The Blue', picking up an ARIA and two more Golden Guitars. Since this pivotal point there have been more awards and she has continued to release albums methodically, if alas spasmodically to the regret of the many fans of her husky, warm, highly distinctive vocal style, superior song interpretation and underrated song writing.
Alex Lloyd
The Year 2001 saw Watching Angels Mend garner numerous accolades including 'Amazing' hitting the No. 1 song on the Triple J Hottest 100 and selling loads of singles - Lloyd’s first platinum single! The album also reached platinum status very quickly and is fast approaching Double Platinum in Australia. He played to his biggest Crowd yet (albeit with a broken arm) at Homebake to around 20,000 punters and hit the No. 1 single in New Zealand. The album was released in the UK and Italy in March and the US and Canada in July with the first single being 'Amazing'.
John Williamson
We’re used to John Williamson singing about our Australia and his new album, ‘Gunyah’, doesn’t disappoint. There’s some very amusing songs from a trip to Cape York, a couple from the Snowy Mountains and the magnificent, anthemnic opener, ‘Sing You the Outback.’
‘The Kiwi and the Emu’ is not really a surprise, given the Anzac tradition. But a song that mentions London town? What’s going on?
"Well," says John, "after 32 years singing Aussie songs for Aussies I’ve always wondered if it would translate to people elsewhere."
‘Telephone in my Pocket’ was written on a tour to England last year and if overseas audiences continue to welcome him, we can occasionally look forward to more mentions of their countries on John Williamson albums.
With so many tourists now travelling through Australia each year, some are bound to hear his music and take it home.