Kate Melina Miller-Heidke ( ; born 16 November 1981) is an Australian singer and songwriter. Although classically trained, she has generally followed a career in alternative pop music. She signed to Sony Australia, Epic in the US and RCA in the UK, but since 2014 has been an independent artist. Four of her solo studio albums have peaked in the top 10 of the ARIA Albums Chart, Curiouser (October 2008), Nightflight (April 2012), O Vertigo! (March 2014) and Child in Reverse (October 2020). Her most popular single, "The Last Day on Earth" (July 2009), reached No. 3 on the ARIA Singles Chart after being used in promos for TV soap, Neighbours, earlier in that year. At the ARIA Music Awards, Miller-Heidke has been nominated 17 times.
She represented Australia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2019 in Tel Aviv, Israel, with her song, "Zero Gravity" (January 2019). Miller-Heidke is the only person to have sung at Coachella, the New York Metropolitan Opera, and Eurovision."Vale Evan Williams" by Tim Douglas, The Australian, 18 May 2019 She has won five Helpmann Awards.
Early life
Kate Melina Miller-Heidke was born on 16 November 1981 in Gladstone, Queensland. Note: For additional work user may have to select 'Search again' and then 'Enter a title:' &/or 'Performer:' Her mother, Jenny Miller, was a ballet dancer and then a dance teacher and her father, Greg Heidke, is a high school principal."Can Kate bring Eurovision gold glory to Central Queensland?" by Christine McKee, Sunshine Coast Daily, 15 May 2019 After her parents separated, she was raised between Indooroopilly with her mother and Auchenflower with her father; she has two siblings. One of her cousins, Annie Lee, portrays Mourne Kransky in the comedy trio, the Kransky Sisters.
For secondary education Miller-Heidke attended Kelvin Grove State College (two years), Brigidine College, Indooroopilly (one year) prior to graduating from St Aidan's Anglican Girls' School (two years) in 1998."Diva Brisvegas Kate Miller-Heidke: from opera to pop and back again" by Candida Baker, news.com.au, 7 March 2014 She completed a Bachelor of Music degree in Classical Voice from the Queensland Conservatorium of Music at Griffith University on full scholarship, followed by a Master of Music degree at Queensland University of Technology.
Career
2000–2005: Career beginnings, Elsewhere, and solo EPs
As a classical singer, she has won awards: Elizabeth Muir Prize (2000), Donald Penman Prize (2001), Linda Edith Allen Memorial Prize (2002) and Horace Keats Prize (2002). Her conservatorium performances were in Orpheus in the Underworld (2000), Venus and Adonis (2002) and The Pilgrim's Progress (2002). As an Opera Queensland Developing Artist, Miller-Heidke has performed as an understudy in productions, Sweeney Todd, Don Pasquale and Un ballo in maschera. In July 2005 she made her solo professional operatic debut with Opera Queensland in the role of Flora in Britten's The Turn of the Screw.
Miller-Heidke, while a tertiary student, from 2000 played in several Brisbane alternative pop bands. She was lead singer and songwriter with acoustic pop/folk band Elsewhere, which formed in 2000, and released a self-titled extended play of original songs before breaking up in 2003. She briefly played keyboards in Pete Murray's backing band, and started her solo career in 2003.
She performed at an annual event, Women in Voice, three times: in 2002, 2004 and 2005, where she shared the stage with Pearly Black, Margret RoadKnight, Jenny Morris and Chrissy Amphlett. Miller-Heidke became known in Brisbane from these performances and her 2005 appearance in Women in Voice 14 won her the Helpmann Award for Best Performance in an Australian Contemporary Concert. John Shand of The Sydney Morning Herald felt, "The young [Miller-Heidke] raised the bar with a witty rendition of David Byrne's 'Psycho Killer', part Peter Sellers and part mock-opera."
In June 2004 Miller-Heidke independently recorded and distributed her first EP, Telegram; from its seven tracks, five were written or co-written by her and two by her then-boyfriend, Keir Nuttall.Profile by Noel Mengel, "Something for Kate among the rock hits", Brisbane Courier-Mail, 10 August 2006 Nuttall is the founding mainstay lead guitarist and vocalist in Brisbane-based progressive rock band Transport, which formed in 2001. Nuttall and fellow Transport members have also worked as part of Miller-Heidke's backing band since 2004. In 2005 she released a second EP with four tracks, Comikaze, however only 500 copies were made. It was later referred to as an "aborted comedy CD." In 2007 she explained that it was a "big mistake and promptly stopped pressing them.", AAP/ninemsn.com (24 August 2007)
Miller-Heidke was preparing to sing the role of Mabel in Gilbert and Sullivan's Pirates of Penzance with Opera Australia in late 2005. Instead she turned from classical to pop music when "Space They Cannot Touch", a track from Telegram, became a hit on Australia's national youth radio network, Triple J and was named by station presenter Richard Kingsmill as his "pick of the week" in September. Radio support led to increased national attention for her music: not only did she gain thousands of fans, she signed with EMI Music Australia, obtained her first talent manager, Leanne de Souza, and her first agent, Dorry Kartabani, at the Harbour Agency. She then began touring Australia with her band.
As well as touring Australia she appeared at festivals in Woodford – where she was named Queen of the Woodford Folk Festival in 2002–2003"Kate Miller-Heidke from the album Telegram" , Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC), OZtrax, 2004 – and in Port Fairy and Blue Mountains. She was a guest panellist on TV shows, RocKwiz, Spicks and Specks and Q&A. She has performed on ABC TV's The Sideshow and Q&A, on Network Ten's Rove and Good News Week, Seven Network's Sunrise and The Morning Show, and on live broadcasts of the ARIA Music Awards.
2006–2007: Circular Breathing and Little Eve
Miller-Heidke was invited by Australian singer-songwriter Deborah Conway to take part in the 2006 Broad Festival project during August, with three other Australian female artists, they performed their own and each other's songs. Joining Miller-Heidke and Conway were Melinda Schneider, Mia Dyson and Ella Hooper.
Miller-Heidke released her third EP, Circular Breathing with six tracks, in May 2006 via Waterbear Records/Sony BMG. For the EP she provided vocals, piano and wurlitzer, with Nuttall on guitars, Emma Dean on violin and vocals, Steve Pope on drums and percussion, Scott Saunders on bass guitar, and John Turnbull provided a whistling cameo in "Jamie". Pope and Saunders are Nuttall's bandmates from Transport. Eleven Magazines reviewer rated it at four-and-a-half stars and explained, "It's very boppy and very light and carefree. The lyrics are a bit lacking, a bit like diary of a teenager kind of thing. Though, the acoustic element of the album, particularly the strong piano use holds it together." The album provided a single, "Apartment", also in 2006.
She followed with her debut album, Little Eve, on 26 May 2007. It was produced by Magoo (Regurgitator, Not from There, Gerling) at Black Box Studios, Brisbane. Aside from herself and members of Transport, Miller-Heidke used strings by Zhivago String Quartet and Danielle Bentley, a choir/chorus of seven singers, and additional session musicians. It peaked at No. 11 on the ARIA Albums Chart and was certified gold in 2008 by ARIA for shipment of 35,000 copies.Kate Miller-Heidke peaks in Australia: For all except noted: Live at the Hi-Fi: Live at the Sydney Opera House: Fatty Gets a Stylist: The ARIA Report – Issue 1115 "Zero Gravity": Child in Reverse: Australian musicologist, Ian McFarlane, felt it, "drew comparisons with Kate Bush and Tori Amos or 'like Nina Hagen, just with a much better voice'." AllMusic's Jody Macgregor gave it four-out-of-five stars and observed, "When she uses her deceptively gigantic voice to sing about these little lives, Miller-Heidke achieves something that goes above and beyond the simple pleasures of pop music – a genuine profoundness."
Its lead single, "Words", released in the same month, reached the top 50 on the related ARIA Singles Chart. ARIA's Ian Wallace observed, "Although traces of her operatic style are recognisable in her songs, [she] has since decided to shy away from the opera circuit and make a dash for the pop scene." At the ARIA Music Awards of 2007 she received five nominations, Best Female Artist, Best Pop Release, Breakthrough Artist – Album for Little Eve and Producer of the Year for Magoo's work on Little Eve, and Breakthrough Artist – Single for "Words". A re-recorded version of "Space They Cannot Touch" (originally on Telegram) was issued in March of the following year as her third single from Little Eve.
2008–2010: Curiouser and mainstream success
Miller-Heidke's second album, Curiouser, was released on 18 October 2008, which was recorded in Los Angeles, she worked with co-producers Nuttall and Mickey Petralia (Beck, Flight of the Conchords). The tracks were mostly written during a two-month period with creative collaborator and now-husband, Nuttall. (8:51) The album's lead single, "Can't Shake It" debuted on the ARIA Singles Chart at No. 38 in October 2008, making it her first top 40 song. Curiouser was her first top 10 album: peaking at No. 2. McFarlane called it her "major breakthrough." In April 2009 Miller-Heidke returned to operatic works and won critical acclaim for her performance as Baby Jane in Jerry Springer: The Opera at the Sydney Opera House.
Miller-Heidke and Nuttall co-wrote "Caught in the Crowd", which was issued as the album's second single in February 2009 and peaked at No. 33 on the ARIA singles charts in June. They were awarded the $US25,000 grand prize in the 2008 International Songwriting Competition for its composition. They were the first Australians to win the grand prize. It was used by Australian secondary schools for anti-bullying programs. "Caught in the Crowd" was re-released in November and was accredited as a gold single in 2010.
Her following single, "The Last Day on Earth" (July 2008), reached No. 3 in Australia, her first top 10 hit. It had been used in promos for TV soap opera, Neighbours. Due to that single's popularity, Curiouser re-entered the top 50 in August 2008; it also reached No. 1 on iTunes for three weeks. The track later peaked at No. 1 on the ARIA Australian Artist Singles Chart. "The Last Day on Earth" and Curiouser were both certified platinum by ARIA for shipment of 70000 units. Curiouser gained critical praise in the United States: Sasha Frere-Jones from The New Yorker, wrote "I got lucky last week and found a gem in the pile; Curiouser. If your favourite American pop star is coming across slightly washed out, you will want to hear Miller-Heidke. Curiouser is a big clutch of pantone swatches.""Stacks: Kate Miller-Heidke" by Sasha Frere-Jones, The New Yorker (29 October 2009)