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. [1]
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. [2] 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. [3]
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PETE MURRAY TICKETS
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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.
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)
#My Time
#Fall Your Way
#So Beautiful
#Lines
#So Why
#Bail Me Out
#With Only You
#Shine
#Young Mr Attitude
#Fly With You
#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. s of }} 2008
[], the album has sold half-a-million copies.
[4]
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.
[4]
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.
[6]
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.
[7] 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.
[8]
Discography
Albums
- The Game
(2002)
- Feeler
(2003) - #1 Australia
- See the Sun
(2005) - #1 Australia
- Summer at Eureka
(2008) - #1 Australia
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
- Pete Nominated For The 2006 MTV AMVA's - Get Voting!
- Pete Murray - Biography
- Singer/Songwriter - Pete Murray
- Pete Murray's sun after dark
- Pete Murray's sun after dark
- YouTube - Pete Murray - Saving Grace [Official Video]
- Murray's golden moment
- Pete Murray splits from wife Amanda Couttis - The Courier-Mail, ''31 July 2009''