Lee Kernaghan
Lee Kernaghan (born April 15, 1964 in Corryong , Victoria ) is an Australian country singer and songwriter.
Life
Lee Kernaghan was born to Pam and Ray Kernaghan in the small town of Corryong. His ancestors were Australian drovers; his father worked as a truck driver and later became a successful country musician. Lee Kernaghan grew up in the Riverina region and attended the Hume Public School in Albury from 1969 . From 1973 he took piano lessons, in 1975 he founded the band The Blue Devils with his younger brother Greg (* 1966) and his friend Glen Simpson . The following year, his sister Tania (* 1968) also joined the band, which was now called Angel and the Blue Devils and performed at school parties and other events. In 1977 Lee Kernaghan became a student at Murray High School. At this time he began to write his own songs.
In 1978 the Kernaghan family toured Australia for six months with the country group Rick and Thel Carey. The following year, his father released the album Jet Set Country , to which Lee Kernaghan contributed two songs and played the piano. In 1980 he formed the country band Lee Kernaghan and the Coca-Cola Cowboys . After leaving high school, he started working for his father's label, Kernaghan Country Records, in 1981. In 1982 he accompanied his father as a band member on the Cavalcade of Stars tour through Australia for nine months. In October 1982 he won the National Starmaker Award. The following year his first single, Cheaters / Advance Australia Again , was released, but it was not a commercial success. In 1985 Ray and Lee Kernaghan released the joint album Family Tradition , on which they sang two duets. In 1986 they represented Australia at the Fan Fair country music festival in Nashville , USA.
In Nashville, Lee Kernaghan recorded some demo songs produced by Bob Montgomery. He also met the Australian songwriter, musician and producer Garth Porter (* 1948) in 1986, with whom he recorded further demo tracks. Kernaghan was looking for performances for his country band in the Albury area; however, he struggled to find an audience interested in country. At first he did not succeed in earning his living in this way; instead he sang pop and rock covers and worked in a piano bar. In 1990 he finally broke up his band and took a job in a friend's brokerage office.
In 1991 he traveled with Porter's request to Sydney to write a few songs together, including Boys from the Bush , which would later become his first hit. The song is about Kernaghan and his friends working in the Australian bush , going to pubs and driving around with their utes . Even Kernaghan didn't think anyone would be interested in these types of texts. But Porter was able to persuade him to write about his life and his origins. Demo tracks were recorded, a live performance followed and Kernaghan was represented professionally for the first time by Jeff Chandler and Kevin Jacobsen management. In 1992 he signed a three-album contract with ABC Music and made his debut as a solo artist in the same year with the album The Outback Club, which was produced by Garth Porter. The released single Boys from the Bush reached number 1 on the Australian Country Track Charts and the album won the 1993 ARIA Awards for Best Country Album. Kernaghan's next album, Three Chain Road , received this award the following year .
He then brought out a new album every one or two years; 1959 , Hat Town , Electric Rodeo , The New Bush , Spirit of the Bush , Ultimate Hits and Beautiful Noise reached the top 10 on the Australian charts. 26 of his songs made it to the top of the national country charts. He sold over a million records in Australia and ten of his albums achieved at least gold status.
In 2002 Kernaghan appeared on an Australian city tour as The Balladeer in the musical The Man from Snowy River Arena Spectacular , which is based on a poem by Banjo Paterson . Kernaghan sang some of his country songs during his performance and played a key role in the soundtrack of the musical, which won an ARIA Award. A performance of the play in Brisbane was filmed and released on DVD.
On January 26, 2004, Lee Kernaghan was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM). This honored his artistic contribution to country music and his social commitment in the form of benefit concerts. During the Pass the Hat Around tour, Kernagham raised over $ 1 million in donations to support rural communities during a severe drought. Prime Minister Kevin Rudd named him Australian of the Year in 2008 for this reason .
In 2015 Lee Kernaghan released the album Spirit of the Anzacs , which is dedicated to the ANZAC soldiers. The idea for the project came to him while reading the war diary of surgeon Edward Dunlop (1907-1993). He worked on the implementation for two years. For the individual songs, he was inspired by letters from soldiers at the Australian War Memorial . Other Australian artists such as Guy Sebastian , Jessica Mauboy and Shannon Noll were involved as guest musicians. With this album Kernaghan landed a number one hit in Australia for the first time .
Discography
Albums
| year | title |
Top ranking, total weeks, awardChartsChart placements (Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes) |
Remarks |
|---|---|---|---|
 AU
|
|||
| 1992 | The Outback Club |
AU-  × 2
|
|
| 1993 | Three Chain Road |
AU35 × 2
(4 weeks)AU |
|
| 1995 | 1959 |
AU9 (9 weeks)AU |
|
| 1998 | Hat Town |
AU7th (13 weeks)AU |
|
| The Christmas Album |
AU31 (4 weeks) AU |
Christmas album
|
|
| 2000 | Rules of the Road |
AU16  (11 weeks)AU |
|
| 2002 | Electric rodeo |
AU5 (23 weeks)AU |
|
| 2004 | The Big Ones: Greatest Hits Vol. 1 |
AU16 (9 weeks)AU |
|
| 2006 | The New Bush |
AU6th (17 weeks)AU |
|
| 2007 | Spirit of the Bush |
AU5 (12 weeks)AU |
|
| 2009 | Planet Country |
AU13 (9 weeks)AU |
|
| 2011 | Ultimate hits |
AU8th (9 weeks)AU |
Best of album
|
| 2012 | Beautiful noise |
AU9 (18 weeks)AU |
|
| 2014 | Driving Home for Christmas |
AU46
(2 weeks)AU |
Christmas album
|
| 2015 | Spirit of the Anzacs |
AU1 (22 weeks)AU |
|
| 2017 | The 25th Anniversary Album |
AU2 (9 weeks) AU |
compilation
|
| 2019 | Backroad Nation |
AU3 (8 weeks) AU |
Singles
| year | Title album |
Top ranking, total weeks, awardChartsChart placements (Year, title, album , rankings, weeks, awards, notes) |
Remarks |
|---|---|---|---|
|
AU
|
|||
| 2004 | Missin 'Slim |
AU49 (1 week) AU |
with Colin Buchanan
|
| 2007 | Spirit of the Bush |
AU11 (2 weeks) AU |
with Adam Brand & Steve Forde
|
| 2015 | Spirit of the Anzacs |
AU32 (3 weeks) AU |
More singles
- 1993: Boys from the Bush
- 1993: She's My Ute
- 1994: Save the Land
- 1995: Country Crowd
- 1997: This Is the Outback
- 1998: Tough Job (with Colin Buchanan )
- 2009: Planet Country
- 2012: Beautiful Noise
- 2013: Lights on the Hill (featuring The Wolf Brothers )
supporting documents
- ↑ a b c biography at ABC Music
- ↑ a b Lee Kernaghan, Australian of the Year 2008
- ↑ Lee Kernaghan at the ARIA Awards
- ^ Medal of the Order of Australia for Lee Kernaghan
- ↑ Article in The Daily Telegraph
- ↑ a b Lee Kernaghan in the Australian charts
- ↑ a b ARIA Accreditations (gold / platinum awards) from 1997
Web links
- Biography at Allmusic
- Biography on the ABC Music label
- Life stages of Lee Kernaghan
- Lee Kernaghan at the Internet Movie Database (English)
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Kernaghan, Lee |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Australian country singer and songwriter |
| DATE OF BIRTH | April 15, 1964 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Corryong , Victoria , Australia |