Megan Washington

Megan Washington
Background information
Birth name	Megan Washington
Origin	Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea
Genres	Jazz/Indie pop/Alternative
Occupations	Musician Singer-songwriter
Instruments	Vocals, piano, guitar
Years active	2006–present
Labels	Mercury/Universal, Albert Records
Website	washingtonmusic.com.au

Megan Washington is an Australian musician and songwriter who records and performs under the single moniker Washington. She sings and plays piano and guitar.

Early life

Washington was born in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea, where she lived until 1997 when the family moved to Brisbane, where she spent her teenage years, and attended Moreton Bay College. After that, she also attended Sheldon College (also known as the Australian School of the Arts), where she discovered her talent for music.^[1] She studied jazz voice at the Queensland Conservatorium of Music^[2] and released Nightlight, an EP with jazz pianist Sean Foran in 2006, and then an EP Bennetts Lane with pianist Paul Grabowsky in 2007.

Career

Washington moved away from jazz shortly thereafter and began performing in Old Man River, as the keyboardist and backing vocalist.^[1] She has also been a keyboardist and backing vocalist for Ben Lee. In late 2008 she launched her current band, Washington, with Lance Ferguson (The Bamboos), John Castle, Des White, Ross Irwin and Ryan Monro (The Cat Empire, Jackson Jackson) on bass. The band released their debut EP, Clementine, in 2008. In November 2008 they were announced as Triple J's Unearthed winners and performed at the Melbourne Big Day Out.^[3] This was followed by the release of a second EP, How to Tame Lions in September 2009. Following appearances on Spicks and Specks and RocKwiz, Washington attracted the attention of a wider audience.

You might think that most people get their information from the charts or something like that but I had so much great feedback after being on those shows.

—Megan Washington^[1]

In December 2009 she won the inaugural Vanda & Young Songwriting Competition for her song, "How to Tame Lions". The competition was conducted by APRA/AMCOS and was open to all songwriters across Australia, with all money raised going to the Nordoff-Robbins Music Therapy program.^[4] She then went on to perform a duet with Keith Urban at his Rod Laver Arena concert in Melbourne.^[4]

In early 2010 Washington sang on an acoustic cover version of Ross Wilson's "Bed of Nails" which was used as the main song of the ABC1 TV drama series Bed of Roses starring Kerry Armstrong. She has also appeared on Network Ten's program Good News Week as a guest for the Strange But True segment to sing a song as a clue several times, and once as a member of the panel.

In October 2010 Washington performed live^[5] during YouTube Play, an event produced in partnership between YouTube and the Guggenheim Museum.

Washington won two 2010 ARIA Music Awards, Best Female Artist and Breakthrough Artist,^[6] and received a further three nominations: Album of the Year, Best Adult Alternative Album for I Believe You Liar and Single of the Year ("How to Tame Lions").^[7]

Personal life

She is currently based in Sydney, Australia.^[1][2]

Awards and nominations

APRA Awards

The APRA Awards are presented annually from 1982 by the Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA), "honouring composers and songwriters".^[8]

Other awards

• 2008 Australian Jazz Bell Awards - Best Australian Jazz Vocal Album: Night Light
• 2009 APRA/AMCOS - Vanda & Young Songwriting Competition:"How to Tame Lions"
• 2010 ARIA Music Awards, Best Female Artist, and Breakthrough Artist

Discography

Studio albums

Extended plays

Singles

References

1. ^ ^{a b c d} Mengel, Noel (11 December 2009). "Megan Washington in the spotlight". The Courier-Mail. http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/story/0,23739,26466738-5003421,00.html. Retrieved 6 January 2010. 
2. ^ ^{a b} ArtsHub (17 December 2007). "Career Profile: Megan Washington". ArtsHub. http://www.artshub.com.au/au/news-article/profiles/performing-arts/career-profile-megan-washington-169030. Retrieved 21 October 2009. 
3. ^ "Big Day Out 2009". Triple J. http://www.triplejunearthed.com/competitions/default.aspx?TripleJCompetitionId=84. Retrieved 6 January 2010. 
4. ^ ^{a b} Adams, Cameron (10 December 2009). "Megan Washington wins Vanda competition, gets invitation from Keith Urban". Herald Sun. http://www.heraldsun.com.au/entertainment/music/megan-washington-wins-vanda-competition-gets-invitation-from-keith-urban-sia/story-e6frf9hf-1225809133369. Retrieved 6 January 2010. 
5. ^ Megan Washington: excerpt from YouTube Play at the Guggenheim
6. ^ Winners of the 2010 Aria Awards Announced Australian Recording Industry Association. Retrieved 24/11/2010.
7. ^ 2010 ARIA Nominations Announced Take40 Australia (mcm entertainment). Retrieved 2010-09-29.
8. ^ "APRA History". Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA) | Australasian Mechanical Copyright Owners Society (AMCOS). http://www.apra-amcos.com.au/APRAAwards/MusicAwards/History.aspx. Retrieved 17 January 2011. 
9. ^ "Nominations > Breakthrough Songwriter of the Year – 2011". Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA) | Australasian Mechanical Copyright Owners Society (AMCOS). 2011. http://www.apra-amcos.com.au/APRAAwards/MusicAwards/Nominations/BreakthroughSongwriteroftheYear2011.aspx. Retrieved 16 January 2012. 
10. ^ "Washington Discography". Australian-charts.com. http://www.australian-charts.com/showinterpret.asp?interpret=Washington. Retrieved 20 May 2011. 

External links

• Washington official website
• Washington MySpace page