- Margaret Urlich
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Margaret Urlich 
Urlich performing live in Hawkes Bay, 2008. Photograph by Tim Whittaker.Background information Born 1965 (age 45–46) Origin New Zealand Genres Rock, Pop, New Wave, Jazz Years active 1985–present Labels CBS, Sony, Columbia Website http://www.margareturlich.com/ Margaret Urlich (born in Auckland, New Zealand) is an ARIA Award-winning[1] musician based in New South Wales. Urlich came to Sydney, Australia, in 1988 to pursue her singing career. Her debut solo album, Safety in Numbers, was highly successful winning Breakthrough Artist - Album at that years ARIA Awards,[1] as was the follow-up Chameleon Dreams in 1992. Urlich has been successful Trans-Tasman, selling over 400,000 albums during her career, ranking her as one of New Zealand's most successful recording artists.
Contents
Biography
Margaret Urlich began her career as the vocalist for the new-wave group Peking Man with her brother Pat, Tim Calder, Perry Marshall, Jan Foulkes, Neville Hall, John Fearon and Jay F-bula. Peking Man had a number of hit songs in New Zealand, "Good Luck to You", which reached #6, "Lift Your Head Up High", reaching #21 and the number one, "Room That Echoes", in 1985.[2] Later she was a member of an all-girl pop group in New Zealand called When The Cat's Away. Urlich moved to Australia during the late 1980s and released her solo debut album Safety In Numbers in 1989. The album peaked at #4 on the New Zealand album charts[3] and #5 on the Australian album charts[4] and went triple platinum in Australia. Urlich winning an ARIA Award in 1991 for "Best Breakthrough Artist."[5]
In 1990 Urlich, previous mostly unknown outside of New Zealand, provided backing vocals on a track for Australian artist Daryl Braithwaite, on his second album Rise, which released late 1990. The song she featured in was the Rickie Lee Jones ballad "The Horses", which was a #1 hit for Braithwaite.[6] The video clip featured Braithwaite singing on a beach, with a model (riding a horse), lip syncing Urlich's voice. Margaret chose not to appear in Darryl's film clip as she had just released 'Safety in Numbers' and was working hard to establish herself as a solo artist.
In March 1991, Urlich, armed with a half million dollar recording budget, returned to the studio to commence pre-production for her second album, Chameleon Dreams, with English writer/producer Robyn Smith, the man behind her highly successful debut. By mid year, Urlich and Smith had entered Sydney's 301 Studios to record their two songs, plus a third track written by Smith and Barry Blue. The same team had been responsible for two of the best tracks on Safety in Numbers (Escaping and Guilty People), and their latest offering Boy In The Moon, proved pivotal to the sound of the new album. Other tracks were collected by travelling all over the world.
First Urlich went to London to co-write with celebrated writers like Rob Fisher with whom she wrote the album's title track Chameleon Dreams. She then went on to Los Angeles, where she met up with Grammy Award-winning writer/producer Ian Prince, and with whom she wrote two songs for the album and he produced four tracks. She returned to London again, where she co-wrote a number of songs with Simon Law and Tony Swain before completing the project with three tracks produced by Swain.
The success of Chameleon Dreams earned Urlich the "Best Selling New Zealand Artist of the Year" award at The 1992 World Music Awards in Monte Carlo. She attended the awards ceremony and performed Love Train.
In 1993 Urlich was part of Export Music Australia (EMA) and Austrade's second Wizards of Oz promotion, she toured Japan with fellow singer Rick Price and the group Yothu Yindi.
She spent much of 1994 living back in New Zealand and appeared as Mary Magdalene in a major concert production of Andrew Lloyd Webber's rock opera Jesus Christ Superstar. Urlich released a version of "I Don't Know How to Love Him" which reached #44 on the New Zealand singles charts.[3]
For her third album, The Deepest Blue she returned to her long standing partnership with British Writer/Producer Robyn Smith. Smith and Urlich co-wrote all but two of the tracks on the album. The Deepest Blue was released in August 1995 but failed to have the same impact as her previous two albums, only reaching #18 on the New Zealand charts[3] and #17 on the Australian charts.[4]
In 1998, her contract with Sony Music having expired, she moved to the Southern Highlands of New South Wales where she set up home and a new recording studio with her partner.
Here she produced her fourth album, Second Nature, a recording project produced by Eddie Rayner from Split Enz that was recorded on and off over 12 months and involved musicians from Australia and New Zealand. The album comprised cover versions of some of Margaret's favourite NZ songs that she grew up with. These included artists like Split Enz, Crowded House, Dave Dobbyn, Max Merritt, Shona Laing, Don McGlashan and Tim Finn. The album was released in New Zealand in 1999 and reached #11 on the charts. It achieved platinum status in that country.[3]
Discography
- 1989 Safety in Numbers
- 1992 Chameleon Dreams
- 1994 Live
- 1995 The Deepest Blue
- 1999 Second Nature
- 2011 The Essential
Awards and recognition
Year Award-giving Body Award Result 1985 New Zealand Music Awards Best Female Vocalist Won 1986 New Zealand Music Awards Best Female Vocalist Won 1989 New Zealand Music Awards Album Of The Year Won 1989 New Zealand Music Awards Single Of The Year Won 1989 New Zealand Music Awards Best Female Vocalist Won 1989 New Zealand Music Awards Best Album Cover Won 1990 New Zealand Music Awards Best Female Vocalist Won 1991 ARIA Awards Breakthrough Artist Won 1992 World Music Awards Best Selling New Zealand Artist of the Year Won 1993 ARIA Awards Best Female Artist Nominated 1994 ARIA Awards Best Female Artist Nominated 1994 ARIA Awards Best Adult Contemporary Album Nominated References
- ^ a b "1991 ARIA Award winners". ALLdownunder.com. http://alldownunder.com/oz-p/aria/1991-aria.htm. Retrieved 18 March 2010.
- ^ "Peking Man". Charts.org.nz. http://charts.org.nz/showitem.asp?interpret=Peking+Man&titel=Good+Luck+To+You&cat=s. Retrieved 18 March 2010.
- ^ a b c d "Margaret Urlich". Charts.org.nz. http://charts.org.nz/showinterpret.asp?interpret=Margaret+Urlich. Retrieved 18 March 2010.
- ^ a b "Margaret Urlich". Australian-charts.com. http://australian-charts.com/showinterpret.asp?interpret=Margaret+Urlich. Retrieved 18 March 2010.
- ^ "ARAI Awards - Margaret Urlich". Australian Recording Industry Association. http://www.ariaawards.com.au/history-by-artist.php?letter=M&artist=Margaret%20Urlich. Retrieved 19 March 2010.
- ^ "Daryl Braithwaite - The Horses". Australian-charts.com. http://australian-charts.com/showitem.asp?interpret=Daryl+Braithwaite&titel=The+Horses&cat=s. Retrieved 18 March 2010.
External links
Categories:- 1965 births
- Living people
- ARIA Award winners
- New Zealand expatriates in Australia
- New Zealand female singers
- New Zealand musicians
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