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Pete Murray

 
Artist: Pete Murray
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  • Active: '90s, 2000s
  • Genres: Rock
  • Instrument: Keyboards, Piano, Vocals
  • Representative Albums: "Summer at Eureka," "See the Sun," "See the Sun"

Biography

Folk-pop singer/songwriter Pete Murray emerged from relative obscurity to become one of Australia's biggest stars with his chart-topping 2003 sophomore LP, Feeler. Born and raised in Queensland, Murray was a star athlete at Nudgee College, and in 1993 was named to the Queensland seven-a-side rugby team before injuries derailed his career. While sidelined, Murray began learning guitar but harbored few aspirations of music stardom, instead studying sports medicine. Friends encouraged him to begin singing professionally, however, and after several years of club gigs, he issued his debut LP, The Game, in 2002. After signing to Sony BMG, Murray released his first major-label effort, Feeler, in mid-2003. Thanks to steady airplay on Australian alternative radio outlet Triple J, the album entered the Aussie charts, and with the release of the third single, "So Beautiful," the singer's career exploded. Feeler reached number one in March 2004, going platinum six times over. Upon its 2005 release, Murray's third LP, See the Sun, peaked at number one as well. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Music Guide
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Pete Murray

Background information
Born October 14, 1969(1969-10-14)
Origin Brisbane, Australia[1]
Genres Rock, acoustic
Occupations Singer-songwriter
Instruments Acoustic guitar
Years active 2002–present
Labels Sony BMG
Website PeteMurray.com
This article is about the singer and songwriter. For the disc jockey, see Pete Murray (disc jockey).

Pete Murray is an Australian singer-songwriter whose three full-length albums have all reached #1 on the Australian music charts. He has been nominated several times at the ARIAs and has had several songs reach the top ten in Australia.[2]

His first LP, Feeler, reached number 1 a few months after its mid-2003 release, and his follow-up record, See The Sun reached a similar level of success, with all of the singles receiving widespread airplay.[3] His third studio album, Summer At Eureka, was released in May 2008. To date Pete Murray has sold over 1 million records. Some of the greatest influences on his career are Nick Drake, Neil Young and Bob Dylan.[4]

Contents

Biography

Early career

Pete Murray was born on 14 October, 1969 and attended St. Joseph's Nudgee College. At Nudgee College, he showed a great deal of talent in sport especially rugby union, athletics and swimming. When he was 18, his father died while he was contesting the Australian championships of the 400 meters.

While on the sidelines, Murray started to learn the guitar at age 22 and his ability soon improved with plenty of practice.[4] Eventually, he worked up the courage to take his guitar to a barbecue singing songs by Neil Young and Crowded House. However, his main interest was in pursuing a career in sports medicine and traveling.

Eventually, enough people told him that he had the talent to be successful in music and he started a musical career, playing small gigs around the country with flautist Col McIntyre, eventually putting a band together (including keyboard player Ben McCarthy, who works with him to this day). In 2002, he released an independent album The Game in Brisbane and moved to Melbourne to pursue a musical career. Murray signed a contract with Sony BMG Australia in early 2003.

The Game (Promotional / Independent Album)

  1. My Time
  2. Fall Your Way
  3. So Beautiful
  4. Lines
  5. So Why
  6. Bail Me Out
  7. With Only You
  8. Shine
  9. Young Mr Attitude
  10. Fly With You
  11. D Day

Feeler – mainstream success

In early 2003, Pete Murray and his band entered the studio with producer Paul McKercher and his band (consisting of Ben McCarthy on bass and keyboards, Christian Sargent on drums, and Paul Tyrell on guitar) to make the Feeler album. On his website, Pete Murray outlines the type of record he was hoping to make. "The records I love by people like Nick Drake, Neil Young, Bob Dylan, they are built to last. I wanted this to be an album like that, something you can pull out in 30 years and still hear the feeling in it, rather than something that’s dated by the musical fashions of the day."

Feeler was released on July 21, 2003 with the title track as the first single. Triple J radio started playing the track with the Nova FM and Triple M networks picking up the track. With this support, Feeler entered the Aria top 50 album charts in 2003. His reputation was building fast and he started selling out shows in smaller venues.

The momentum of the album continued to build with the release of the second single "Lines" and two ARIA award nominations reaching platinum record status. Radio programmers had been asking for the track "So Beautiful" to be released as a single and the track was widely played on Australian radio, reaching the top ten in 2004. This spurred sales of the album driving it to number one on the Australian album charts in late March 2004 and six times platinum status. As of 2008, the album has sold half-a-million copies.[5]

Pete Murray commenced an Australian tour of larger venues. Due to the level of demand, he had to announce nine extra dates. As well, he made one of his sellout performances at the Sydney Metro theatre on March 27 2004 available for download at BigPond Music. Following the Boxing Day Tsunami, Murray appeared at the Wave Aid fundraising concert in Sydney, to raise funds for aid organisations working in disaster affected areas.

See the Sun

His second album See the Sun had two standout hits in Opportunity and Better Days. Class A and George's Helper were also released as singles. The album sold 350,000 copies.[5]

Summer At Eureka

His third album, Summer at Eureka, was released on the 17th of May, 2008. On 26 May, 2008 it achieved #1 status in Australia, becoming his third consecutive #1 album. The first single of the album was "You Pick Me Up", which reached #36 on the Australian Charts. The second single from the album will be "Saving Grace", which was scheduled for release on August 2.

The Stonemasons

His supporting band is The Stonemasons, featuring Andy Sylvio on drums, Jonathan Zion on bass and Brett Wood on guitar. Pete Williamson was the former lead guitarist with The Stonemasons, however, he now seems to be involved with the Australian band Mammal. Ben McCarthy was the keyboardist but he is now working with Kate Miller-Heidke.

Personal life

Murray married Amanda Coutts on October 7, 2006, in Eureka, New South Wales.[6] In July 2009, it was reported that Murray and his wife had separated and have been living separate lives while sharing custody of their two young sons.[7]

Discography

Albums

DVDs

  • Passing Time (June 2004)
  • A Year In The Sun (September 2006)

Singles/EPs

From Feeler:

  • "Feeler" (2004) - Digital release
  • "So Beautiful" (2004) - #9 Australia, #13 New Zealand, #62 Netherlands
  • "Bail Me Out" (2004) - #56 Australia
  • "Please" (2004) - #33 Australia
  • "Lines" (2004) - Digital release

From See the Sun:

  • "Better Days" (2005) - #13 Australia, #32 New Zealand
  • "Class A" (2005) - Digital release
  • "Opportunity" (2006) - #29 Australia (Also featured in the episode "My Identity Crisis" in the sitcom Scrubs)
  • "George's Helper" (2006)

From Summer at Eureka:

  • "You Pick Me Up" (2008) - #36 Australia, #83 Netherlands
  • "Saving Grace" (2008) - #44 Australia
  • "Chance To Say Goodbye" - TBA

References

  1. ^ "Pete Murray Profile - Lyrics on Demand". LyricsOnDemand.com. http://www.lyricsondemand.com/artistinfo/p/petemurrayprofile.html. Retrieved 2007-06-17. 
  2. ^ "Pete Nominated For The 2006 MTV AMVA's - Get Voting!". 2006-02-06. http://www.petemurray.com/newsTours/home.do?newsId=20030829002926. Retrieved 2007-06-17. 
  3. ^ "Pete Murray - Biography". http://www.petemurray.com/biography/home.do. Retrieved 2007-06-17. 
  4. ^ a b "Singer/Songwriter - Pete Murray". ABC. 2003-11-21. http://www.abc.net.au/nsw/stories/s999260.htm. Retrieved 2007-06-15. 
  5. ^ a b "Pete Murray's sun after dark". News Corporation. 2008-05-18. http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/story/0,22049,23714419-5009160,00.html. Retrieved 2008-08-09. 
  6. ^ Sams, Christine (2006-10-06). "Murray's golden moment". http://www.smh.com.au/news/people/murrays-golden-moment/2006/10/07/1159641572806.html. Retrieved 2007-06-17. 
  7. ^ Pete Murray splits from wife Amanda Couttis - The Courier-Mail, 31 July 2009

External links


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