- Emma Dean
-
Emma Dean 
Emma Dean, 2007
Courtesy Ricky SullivanBackground information Birth name Emma Kate Dean Born 14 November 1983 Origin Brisbane, Australia Genres folk, pop, alternative, rock, Soft Rock Years active 2003–present Labels Doily/MGM Website emmadean.com Emma Kate Dean[1] (born 14 November 1983) is a musician from Brisbane, Australia. Dean uses a soprano singing voice, and has played violin, mandolin, keyboards and piano for Bittersuite (2003–2005, with Georgia Weber), Kate Miller-Heidke Band (2003–2006) or her own Emma Dean Band.[2]
Emma Dean Band was formed in 2005 with her brother, Anthony Dean, on drums and Dane Pollock on guitar, John Turnbull on bass guitar and Rachel Meredith on cello.[3]
Contents
History
Music became the most obvious career move for Emma. Emma enthuses about her childhood in all her performances. She claims that at the age of three she was told that her backside was too big to be a ballerina and that this shattered her dreams of dancing Swan Lake and The Nutcracker alongside Australia's best-known dancers. A few years later, while at a new, alternative dance school she played the role of Edith in a contemporary version of Picnic at Hanging Rock. Shortly after, she quit dancing to pursue her career in music.
Career
In 2002, she formed the duo, Bittersuite, with Georgia Weber and recorded two EPs - Front Row Seat and Open Windows Closed Doors.[4]
In 2005, Dean split with Weber to move into a solo career, she formed the Emma Dean Band with her brother, Anthony Dean, on drums and Dane Pollock on guitar, John Turnbull on bass guitar and Rachel Meredith on cello. She released a self-financed, self-distributed four-track debut EP, Hanging out the Washing. In November 2006, she released her second EP, Face Painter, and performanced in Women In Voice 15 and the Queensland Performing Arts' Spirit of Christmas alongside David Campbell.
Dean played in the Kate Miller-Heidke Band during 2003–2006, playing violin, piano and backing vocals.[5] Once again, with her solo career firmly in mind, she left Miller-Heidke's group to concentrate on her own career.
Dean is active on the Australian music scene, playing regular sold-out shows, touring the rest of the country and supporting major international acts such as The Dresden Dolls and Teddy Geiger as well as the homegrown Bobby Flynn and Tecoma.
"Cocaine" and Real Life Computer Game
At a show in Brisbane, Dean performed "Cocaine", "Real Life Computer Game" and "More". In September Dean made her first trip overseas to Berlin, accompanied by fellow Brisbane singer/songwriter Edward Guglielmino. In February 2008, Emma debuted a new song called "Cocaine" at a show at the Judith Wright Centre Of Contemporary Arts in Brisbane which would eventually become a single from her debut album. Dean said of the song at the time: "After reading a false internet rumour involving myself as a cocaine addict, I began to ponder the things in my life I have not yet experienced. After this stream of consciousness I gave birth to 'Cocaine'—an upbeat song about a time in my life where I was not on drugs but was desperately longing for some sort of high. Funnily enough, I found this in 'Cocaine'."
Kaz Mitchell writing in Melbourne's Impress magazine said of Emma's debut album, "Real Life Computer Game is as fresh and inventive as I had hoped it would be, and easily fits into my top 10 albums of the year so far."
2009 - Downside Up, The Tempest, The Wheel of Frank Confession Tour, The New Dead: Medea Material and The Woodford Folk Festival
Her theatrical fascination led Emma to the dark-side in early 2009 – the decadent world of cabaret. The musical Downside Up (co-written with Jacob Diefenbach) debuted to a sold out audience at The Judith Wright Centre in Brisbane. Shortly after, Emma began another theatrical collaboration with physical theatre company Zen Zen Zo for their “off kilter” adaptation of Shakespeare’s The Tempest.
The Tempest received rave reviews with Katherine Lyall-Watson writing in ourbrisbane.com -
"... the music is stunning. Emma Dean and Colin Webber composed the score and it conveys mood, tension, beauty and whimsy perfectly... What a stroke of genius for director Lynne Bradley to cast Emma Dean as Ariel. Emma plays the grand piano and the violin during the show, using her violin to add menace when needed. And her voice is pure magic. She sang some of Ariel's lines, spoke others, and was captivating throughout. Emma Dean is a compelling performer, whether as a singer, musician or actor."
Emma took a two month break from the world of performing in August and September 2009. Emma returned to Brisbane in late September to prepare for an East Coast tour of the cabaret show The Wheel of Frank Confession.
Part musical showcase and part intimate theatre piece, “the Wheel of Frank Confession” brought together Emma, Emily Davis (Adl), Ben Stewart (Bris) and Brendan Maclean (Syd) for a show that pushed the boundaries of conventional music performance. The artists in this show gave up the constrictive segregation of “opener” through to “headliner” and the graduated importance this lent to present a homogenous front. On “the Wheel…” tour, they each had their own space on stage to share songs, discuss them, challenge and harass one another, tell tales (tall and true) and generally to interact with one another and the audience. And last, but not at all least, to spin the dreaded “Wheel of Frank Confession” and to confess their deepest, darkest secrets, desires and fears. It was a heart-lifting, heart-breaking, dark, funny, spontaneous, quirky, confessional, confidential, eye-opening, intuitive, instructional and sexy experience.
Discography
Albums
- Real Life Computer Game (June 2008)
- The Tempest Soundtrack (June 2009)
This CD is the soundtrack recorded by Emma and Colin Webber for Zen Zen Zo Physical Theatre's 2009 production of The Tempest based on Shakespeare's play.
EPs
- Hanging Out the Washing (2005, self-release)
- Face Painter (November 2006, Doily Records/MRA Distribution)
- Downside Up (2009)
Downside Up was recorded and mixed by Jacob Diefenbach and contains a selection of songs from the music theatre piece written by Emma and Jacob.
Singles
- "Cocaine" (February 2008, promotional single)
Guest Vocals
- "Breathing Fire" on Double Dragon (band) 2008 album "Devastator" Truth Inc Records
References
- General
- Spencer, Chris; Zbig Nowara, Paul McHenry with notes by Ed Nimmervoll (2002) [1987]. The Who's Who of Australian Rock. Noble Park, Vic.: Five Mile Press. ISBN 1-86503-891-1.[6] Note: [on-line] version established at White Room Electronic Publishing Pty Ltd in 2007 and was expanded from the 2002 edition.
- Specific
- ^ ""Real Life Computer Game" at APRA search engine". Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA). http://www.apra-amcos.com.au/worksearch.axd?q=Real%20Life%20Computer%20Game. Retrieved 24 February 2010.
- ^ Spencer et al, (2007) Dean, Emma entry. Retrieved 24 February 2010.
- ^ Spencer et al, (2007) Emma DEAN BAND entry. Retrieved 24 February 2010.
- ^ Spencer et al, (2007) BITTERSUITE entry. Retrieved 24 February 2010.
- ^ Spencer et al, (2007) Kate MILLER-HEIKE BAND entry. Retrieved 24 February 2010.
- ^ "Who's who of Australian rock / compiled by Chris Spencer, Zbig Nowara & Paul McHenry". catalogue. National Library of Australia. http://catalogue.nla.gov.au/Record/2090055. Retrieved 8 February 2010.
External links
Categories:- 1976 births
- Australian female singers
- Australian singer-songwriters
- Living people
- People from Brisbane
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.
