Kasey Chambers

Kasey Chambers at the 2004 ARIA Awards ceremony

Kasey Chambers (born June 4, 1976 in Mount Gambier ) is an Australian country singer . She is a multiple ARIA Award winner and has received numerous platinum records in Australia .

Started his career with the Dead Ringer Band

Shortly after their birth, the family (father Bill, mother Diane and older brother Nash) moved to the Nullarbor Lowlands , where they made a living from fox hunting. At that time they often sat around the campfire and sang together. After ten years the family moved back to Southend , a South Australian fishing village near Mount Gambier.

In 1986, the parents formed the Dead Ringer Band , which Kasey and Nash joined a year later. In 1992 they became full-time musicians, with Bill Chambers writing many of their songs. For Slim Dusty , Bill wrote Things Just Aren't the Same on the Land in 1992 , which was named Song of the Year at the Country Music Awards . Her first album was called Red Desert Sky and was released in 1993 by the small music publisher Import Records .

Shortly thereafter, the Dead Ringer Band signed with EMI Records and released their second album Home Fires in 1995. The single Australian Song was number 1 in the charts and was named Country Song of the Year 1996 by the Australian ARIA . In 1995, the group was named Band of the Year at the Tamworth Country Festival and received the Golden Guitar . The following year they received the Mo Award as Group of the Year .

In 1997 the band released Living in the Circle and in 1998 Hopeville . Kasey Chambers became known as the new star in the Australian country sky. In 1998, however, the Dead Ringer Band broke up because Bill and Diane split up. Kasey moved to Norfolk Island . The Dead Ringer Band received a total of two awards from ARIA and seven golden guitars.

Success as a solo artist

The 2000s

At the end of 1998, Kasey Chambers recorded her first solo album on Norfolk Island with The Captain within a few weeks . She was supported by her father as a guitarist and her brother Nash Chambers as a producer. Two country musicians from the USA, Buddy Miller and Julie Miller , contributed guitar and vocals to four titles . The Captain was released in 1999 and brought Kasey Chambers her first own ARIA Award for best country album of the year. A year later she received the award for Best Artist of the Year . The album didn’t get past number 11 on the Australian charts in 1999, but it sells so well for a long time that it was awarded double platinum in 2001 . It was then released in the United States that year. It got good reviews and reached number 52 on the country charts. Chambers also toured the United States with Lucinda Williams and then Australia with Emmylou Harris .

In September 2001, Kasey Chambers' second album Barricades & Brickwalls was released in Australia and entered the album charts at number 4. When Not Pretty Enough was released as a single in early 2002 and became a hit, the album returned to the charts and this time reached number 1 . The song came to number 1 on the singles chart, making Chambers the first Australian country musician to bring an album and a single to number 1 at the same time. Not Pretty Enough was also their only song that made it into the charts abroad in New Zealand: It reached number 4. While the single eventually went double platinum, Barricades & Brickwalls sold so well that it was seven times platinum received. The album was in the charts for over a year and a half with interruptions. With Million Tears and If I Were You two more singles came into the official Top 50. Barricades & Brickwalls was Australia's best-selling national album production in 2002 and received the awards Album of the Year and Best Country Album , Chambers was again Best Artist . In the USA, the album was released in February 2002, it reached number 13 in the country charts and even made it into the official official album sales charts .

On May 22, 2002, Kasey Chambers had their first child with her partner, actor and director Corey Hopper . They moved to the central east coast of Australia. The following year, Kasey recorded a cover version of Cyndi Lauper's song True Colors , which became a top 5 hit in 2003 and went gold.

On May 31, 2004, Chambers released her third solo album, Wayward Angel . It became their second number 1 album in Australia and exceeded the platinum line in the first week. After a year it was awarded triple platinum, at the ARIA Awards it was again Best Country Album and the interpreter for the third time Best Artist of the Year . With bangs it also contained another Top 10 single. The album was also successful again in the US country charts. The title song - translated as "moody angel" - is about her son Talon. However, the family happiness did not last long, in November 2004 Chambers and Hopper separated after four years together. The singer started a relationship with the singer-songwriter Shane Nicholson , whom she met in 2002 through her brother during a musical collaboration. She married him on December 17, 2005.

This was followed in 2006 by the album Carnival , which turned away from pure country music and marked a development in the direction of roots rock and blues . Other Australian musicians such as Bernard Fanning and Tim Rogers from You Am I also took part. So she reached the top of the charts in Australia again and with Nothing At All it contained her fourth top 10 hit. Chambers received another platinum award, but the album only stayed in the charts for 11 weeks and was the first to go without an ARIA Award. This was also due to the fact that she was going through a personal crisis with overstrain, eating disorders and doubting her meaning. She took a long break from her own music and the music business and, with the help of her family, found her way back to music.

The next album Rattlin 'Bones two years later was a duet album by Kasey Chambers with her husband Shane Nicholson and was a return to classic acoustic country music. For the fourth time in a row she reached number 1 on the Australian album charts and for the fourth time she won the country award at the ARIA Awards. The album also earned her the 16th platinum record of her career. In 2009 she released a children's album with her father Bill and her brother Nash entitled Kasey Chambers, Poppa Bill and the Little Hillbillies , which, although commercially not able to keep up with her solo albums, still received another ARIA Award nomination.

The 2010s

Just a year later, the next studio album, Little Bird , followed, which became a bit more traditional and brought Kasey Chambers towards country folk. Both her series of number one albums and that of the platinum awards came to an end and she only reached number 3 in Australia, but returned to the US country charts and even came to number 9 on the American folk charts. She was less successful, however, with an album with cover versions called Storybook , which was released in 2011. It only came in at number 21 and was the first solo album without a single success and a sales award.

With the album Wreck & Ruin , the second together with Shane Nicholson, she found her musically back on the road to success, but the intensive collaboration and touring together had a negative effect on their relationship and so they divorced in 2013 after eight years of marriage . Nicholson and Chambers have two children together.

After four albums in four years, they took a break in their year of separation. Her next studio album was not only created without her husband, she also renounced the collaboration of her brother Nash for the first time and worked with the American producer Nick DiDia. The album, entitled Bittersweet , was released in September 2014 and brought them to number 2 on the Australian album charts. It was the seventh of their 10 albums to date that received an ARIA Award for best country album.

Discography

Albums

With the Dead Ringer Band

• Red Desert Sky (1993)
• Home Fires (1995)
• Living in the Circle (1997)
• Hopeville (1998)
• Very Best Of: So Far (2000)

solo

year	title	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes)			Remarks
		AU	US	Country
1999	The captain	AU11 × 2 Double platinum (31 weeks)AU	-	Country52 (14 weeks) Country	ARIA Award (Country Album)
2001	Barricades & Brickwalls	AU1 × 7 Seven times platinum (84 weeks)AU	US104 (4 weeks) US	Country13 (28 weeks) Country	ARIA Award (Album of the Year, Country Album)
2004	Wayward Angel	AU1 × 3 Triple platinum (36 weeks)AU	-	Country31 (8 weeks) Country	ARIA Award (Country Album)
2006	Carnival	AU1 platinum (11 weeks)AU	-	-
2008	Rattlin 'Bones	AU1 platinum (28 weeks)AU	-	-	with Shane Nicholson ARIA Award (Country Album)
2010	Little Bird	AU3 gold (17 weeks)AU	-	Country32 (2 weeks) Country	ARIA Award (Country Album)
2011	Storybook	AU21 (5 weeks) AU	-	Country53 (1 week) Country
2012	Wreck & Ruin	AU6 (6 weeks) AU	-	Country35 (3 weeks) Country	with Shane Nicholson ARIA Award (Country Album)
2014	Bittersweet	AU2 (7 weeks) AU	-	Country49 (1 week) Country	ARIA Award (Country Album)
2017	Dragonfly	AU1 (9 weeks) AU	-	-
2018	Campfire	AU7 (4 weeks) AU	-	-	with the Fireside Disciples

Singles

year	Title album	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, album , rankings, weeks, awards, notes)		Remarks
		AU	NZ
2002	Not Pretty Enough Barricades & Brickwalls	AU1 × 2 Double platinum (21 weeks)AU	NZ4 (17 weeks) NZ
	Million Tears Barricades & Brickwalls	AU32 (6 weeks) AU	-
	If I Were You Barricades & Brickwalls	AU32 (4 weeks) AU	-
2003	True Colors	AU4th gold (10 weeks)AU	-	Original: Cyndi Lauper
2004	Hollywood Wayward Angel	AU28 (7 weeks) AU	-
2005	Pony Wayward Angel	AU10 (12 weeks) AU	-
2006	Nothing At All Carnival	AU9 (8 weeks) AU	-

More singles

• Cry Like a Baby (2000)
• The Captain (2000)
• Runaway Train (2001)
• Saturated (2005)
• Surrender (2006)
• Rattlin 'Bones (with Shane Nicholson , 2008)
• Little Bird (2010)

Awards

• ARIA Awards (as of 2015)
  • Best Female Artist (3): 2000, 2002, 2004
  • Album of the Year (1): 2002 ( Barricades & Brickwalls )
  • Best Country Album (7): 1999 ( The Captain ), 2002 ( Barricades & Brickwalls ), 2004 ( Wayward Angel ), 2008 ( Rattlin 'Bones ), 2011 ( Little Bird ), 2013 ( Wreck & Ruin ), 2014 ( Bittersweet )
  • and 19 other nominations

• APRA Awards (Australian Performing Rights Association)
  • Songwriter of the Year: 2002
  • Song of the Year: 2003 ( Not Pretty Enough )
  • as well as other awards and nominations

• CMAA Awards (Country Music Awards of Australia, "Golden Guitars")
  • Album of the Year (3): 2000 ( The Captain ), 2009 ( Rattlin 'Bones , with Shane Nicholson), 2015 ( Bittersweet )
  • Single of the Year (4): 2005 ( Like a River ), 2006 ( Pony ), 2009 ( Rattlin 'Bones , with Shane Nicholson), 2013 ( Bittersweet , with Bernard Fanning )
  • Female Vocalist (2): 2000, 2005
  • Group or Duo (1): 2013 (Kasey Chambers & Shane Nicholson)
  • as well as other awards and nominations

swell

1. ↑ ^{a b} Kasey Chambers in the ARIA Awards database
2. ↑ ^{a b} Pretty enough , Daily Life, September 14, 2014
3. ↑ Kasey Chambers and son Talon , John Nutting, Saturday Night Country, ABC, June 3, 2002
4. ↑ Hopper almost quit over split , The Sydney Morning Herald, February 1, 2006
5. ^ Carnival (album), Review by Mark Deming on AllMusic, accessed May 9, 2016
6. ↑ Shane Nicholson and Kasey Chambers separate after eight years of marriage , Joel Chrisie, news.com.au, April 23, 2013
7. ↑ ^{a b} Chart sources: Australia , New Zealand , USA
8. ^ ^{A b} Accreditations (gold / platinum awards) in Australia, ARIA
9. ↑ Awards - Directory of all APRA Awards winners
10. ↑ Award Winners ( Memento of the original from May 9, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. - Directory of all winners of the CMAA Awards 

Web links

• Kasey Chambers homepage
• Kasey Chambers at CMT
• Kasey Chambers at Allmusic (English)