Pete Murray

Pete Murray
Birth name Peter Kenneth Murray
Born (1969-10-14) 14 October 1969
Chinchilla, Queensland
Origin Brisbane, Queensland
Genres Rock, acoustic
Occupation(s) Musician, singer-songwriter
Instruments Guitar, vocals
Years active 2002–present
Labels Sony BMG
Website petemurray.com

Peter Kenneth Murray (born 14 October 1969) is an Australian singer-songwriter whose first three full-length albums reached number 1 on the Australian music charts. He has been nominated several times at the ARIAs and has had several songs reach the top forty in Australia.[1]

His first LP, Feeler, reached number 1 a few months after its mid-2003 release, and his follow-up record, See The Sun, had a similar level of success, with all of the singles receiving widespread airplay.[2] His third studio album, Summer At Eureka, was released in May 2008. To date, Murray has sold over 1 million records. Some of the greatest influences on his career are Nick Drake, Neil Young and Bob Dylan.

In November 2013, Murray toured Canada with Paul Langlois and Rob Baker of The Tragically Hip.[3]

Biography

Early life and career beginnings

Peter Kenneth Murray was born in Chinchilla,[4] on 14 October 1969. His mother is Jan and he has a sister.[4] When Murray was 16 the family moved to Brisbane.[4] He attended St Joseph's College, Nudgee for his final two years of secondary schooling.[4] At the college Murray showed talent in rugby union, athletics and swimming. He briefly played Brisbane club rugby for GPS and Brothers. When he was 18, his father died of a heart attack,[4] Murray 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.[3] 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 traveling and pursuing a career in sports medicine.

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 the 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.

Feeler – mainstream success

In early 2003, Murray and his band entered the studio with producer Paul McKercher and his band (consisting of Ben McCarthy on bass guitar and keyboards, Christian Sargeant on drums, Paul Tyrell on guitar and Col McIntyre on reeds & flute) to make the Feeler album. On his website, 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 21 July 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 it up. 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 "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. By 2008, the album had sold half-a-million copies.[5]

Murray began a tour of larger Australian venues. Due to the level of demand, he announced nine extra dates. One of his sell-out performances at the Sydney Metro Theatre on 27 March 2004 was made 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 hits in "Opportunity" and "Better Days". "Class A" and "George's Helper" were also released as singles. Days after its release, Murray performed at the 2005 NRL grand final.[6] See the Sun sold 350,000 copies.[5]

Summer at Eureka

His third album, Summer at Eureka, was released on 17 May 2008. On 26 May 2008, it entered the charts at number 1 in Australia, his third consecutive chart-topping album. The first single from the album was "You Pick Me Up", which reached number 36 on the Australian charts. The second single from the album, "Saving Grace", was released on 2 August 2008.

The Stonemasons

Murray's supporting band is The Stonemasons, with Andy Sylvio on drums, Jonathan Zion on bass guitar, Ben McCarthy on keyboards and Pete Williamson on guitar. Williamson parted left The Stonemasons to pursue a career with the Australian band Mammal, and was replaced by Brett Wood, but in 2014, Williamson had returned to play guitar.

Blue Sky Blue

His fourth album, Blue Sky Blue, was released in Australia on 2 September 2011.

Personal life

Murray married Amanda Coutts on 7 October 2006 in Eureka, New South Wales.[4][7] In July 2009, Murray and Coutts had separated and shared custody of their two children.[8] Coutts worked as a designer and renovated a set of stables into a home.[9]

Awards and nominations

APRA awards

The APRA Awards have been presented annually from 1982 by the Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA).[10]

Year Nominee/work Award Result
2005"So Beautiful" (Peter Murray)Most Performed Australian Work[11]Won
2006"Better Days" (Murray)Song of the Year[12]Nominated
2007"Opportunity" (Murray)Most Performed Australian Work[13]Nominated

Discography

Pete Murray discography
Studio albums 6
Video albums 2
Singles 14

Studio albums

Year Title Peak chart positions Certifications
(thresholds)
AUS
[14]		 NZL
[15]		 NLD
[16]
2002 The Game
  • Released: 2003
  • Label: N/A (independent release)
 — — — —
2003 Feeler 1 15 53
2005 See the Sun
  • Released: 25 September 2005
  • Label: Sony Music Australia
 1 22 87
  • ARIA: 5x Platinum
2008 Summer at Eureka
  • Released: 16 May 2008
  • Label: Sony Music Australia
 1 19 17
  • ARIA: Platinum
2011 Blue Sky Blue
  • Released: 2 September 2011
  • Label: Sony Music Australia
 6 — —
  • ARIA: Gold
2017 Camacho
  • Released: 2 June 2017
  • Label: Sony Music Australia
 3 — —

Singles

Year Title Peak chart positions Certifications
(thresholds)		 Album
AUS
[14]		 NZL
[15]		 NLD
[16]
2004 "Feeler" ——— — Feeler
"So Beautiful" 91362
"Bail Me Out" 56—— —
"Please" 33—— —
"Lines" ——— —
2005 "Better Days" 1332—
  • ARIA: Gold
 See the Sun
"Class A" ——— —
2006 "Opportunity" 2932— —
"George's Helper" ——— —
2008 "You Pick Me Up" 36—83 — Summer at Eureka
"Saving Grace" 44—— —
"Chance to Say Goodbye" ——— —
2011 "Always a Winner" 38—— — Blue Sky Blue
"Free" 42—— —
2014 "This Woman's Work"
(as part of Hope for Isla and Jude)		 79—— — N/A

Video albums

  • Passing Time (June 2004)
  • A Year in the Sun (September 2006)

References

  1. ↑ ""So Beautiful" at APRA search engine". Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA). Retrieved 15 May 2010.
    - "Pete Nominated For The 2006 MTV AMVA's - Get Voting!". 6 February 2006. Archived from the original on 28 September 2007. Retrieved 17 June 2007.
  2. ↑ "Pete Murray - Biography". Archived from the original on 21 August 2006. Retrieved 17 June 2007.
  3. 1 2 "Singer/Songwriter - Pete Murray". ABC. 21 November 2003. Retrieved 15 June 2007.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Rocca, Jane (25 September 2011). "Pete Murray: 'I don't think I will get married again'". Executive Style. Fairfax Media. Retrieved 22 May 2016.
  5. 1 2 Wigney, James (18 May 2008). "Pete Murray's sun after dark". The Daili Telegraph (Australia). News Corporation. Retrieved 9 August 2008.
  6. ↑ Halloran, Jessica (3 October 2005). "Stereotype fun: toys for boys and short skirts for girls". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 30 August 2011.
  7. ↑ Sams, Christine (6 October 2006). "Murray's golden moment". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 17 June 2007.
  8. ↑ "Pete Murray splits from wife Amanda Couttis", The Courier-Mail, 31 July 2009
  9. ↑ Feagins, Lucy (12 August 2015). "Amanda Coutts". The Design Files. Retrieved 22 May 2016.
  10. ↑ "APRA History". Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA). Retrieved 17 May 2010.
  11. ↑ "2005 Winners - APRA Music Awards". Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA). Retrieved 17 May 2010.
  12. ↑ "Nominations - 2006". Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA). Retrieved 17 May 2010.
  13. ↑ "Most Performed Australian Work nominations - 2007". Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA). Retrieved 17 May 2010.
  14. 1 2 "australian-charts.com – Discography Pete Murray". Hung Medien. Retrieved 10 June 2017.
  15. 1 2 "charts.org.nz – Discography Pete Murray". Hung Medien. Retrieved 10 June 2017.
  16. 1 2 "dutchcharts.nl – Discografie Pete Murray". Hung Medien. Retrieved 10 June 2017.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.