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Jessica MauboyBecauseBeen WaitingBurnInescapableLet Me Be MeRunning BackSaturday NightWhat Happened To Us
In February 2007, she released her debut live album, The Journey, which reached number four on the ARIA Albums Chart, and was certified Gold by the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA). The album contained selected songs Mauboy performed as part of the top-twelve on Australian Idol. Later that year, she briefly became a member of all-girl pop group Young Divas, before resuming her solo career early in 2008. Mauboy released her debut studio album, Been Waiting, in November 2008, which spawned her first number-one hit single, "Burn", as well as the album's other top-ten hits, "Because" and "Running Back". In 2010, Been Waiting was certified double Platinum by the ARIA, for shipments of 140,000 units, and became the second highest-selling Australian album of 2009.[2] At the 2009 ARIA Music Awards, Mauboy earned seven nominations for the album and singles; she won 'Highest Selling Single' for "Running Back". Her second studio album, Get 'Em Girls, was released
in November 2010; it debuted at number six on the ARIA Albums Chart
and was certified Gold. Additionally, it spawned the hit singles, "Saturday Night" and "Inescapable". As of August 2011, Mauboy has released five top-ten singles, as well as two
top-ten albums.[3] Mauboy made her acting debut in the film adaptation
of the 1990 Aboriginal musical, Bran Nue Dae (2010), for which
she received a nomination for "Female Actress of the Year" at the 2010 Deadly Awards. Mauboy's cameo role in TV series, Underbelly: Razor
and a lead role in The Sapphires, are due to be screened in 2011
and 2012, respectively. Jessica Hilda Mauboy was born on 4 August 1989 and raised in Darwin, Northern Territory.[4] Her father, Ferdi, is of Indonesian descent who came from West Timor,[5] and her mother, Therese, is an Indigenous Australian.[5][6][7][8] Mauboy is the youngest of five children and from an early age, she was involved in the local church choir with her grandmother.[7][9] Her home was described as the "noisiest house on the block", with her mother often singing, her father playing guitar and the rest of the family displaying their passion for music.[7] Mauboy attended Sanderson High School in Darwin.[10] At the age of fourteen, Mauboy's talents were
exposed through the Telstra Road to Tamworth competition at the
2004 Tamworth Country Music Festival.[11] As the first winner of
the competition, Mauboy travelled to Sydney to perform[7] and scored
a recording deal with Sony Music Australia.[4] She then released
a country-inspired rendition of the Cyndi Lauper's hit "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun".[4] A video for her version of the song had a release;[12] however, the song
went nowhere and Mauboy returned to Darwin until auditioning for
TV talent show, Australian Idol, in 2006.[4] She auditioned for the fourth season of Australian
Idol in Alice Springs, singing Whitney Houston's "I Have Nothing".[9] Her audition impressed all three judges, and she progressed through to the
semi-finals.[9] Following the semi-final process, Mauboy had advanced
through to the top twelve. The media cited her previous Sony contract
as grounds for dismissal, but since the contract had expired, Australian
Idol producers refused to remove her from the show.[4] Throughout
the series, Mauboy continued to impress the judges with her performances.
In the final eleven week, following her rendition of Kelly Clarkson's "Walk Away", judge Kyle Sandilands commented on Mauboy's weight, that if she wished to succeed
in the music industry, she should "lose the jelly belly".[13] Mauboy appeared stunned by the comment.[13] In an interview with Who magazine's
Alicia Neil, two years after the comment was made, Mauboy stated "I kind of took it as a joke ... I look back on it as a positive thing – it made
me a stronger person."[14] In the final ten week, Mauboy received the first touchdown of the season
from judge Mark Holden for her rendition of Christina Aguilera's
hit, "Beautiful".[1] During the final nine week, Mauboy had a sore throat that resulted in a
mediocre rendition of Phil Collins' "Another Day in Paradise" and near-elimination, which landed her in the bottom three.[4] Following that
week, she never landed in the bottom three again, and ended up
progressing through to the final show with Damien Leith.[15] The
grand finale was held on 27 November at the Sydney Opera House.[8]
After the viewer votes had been tallied it was announced that Mauboy
was runner-up to Leith.[16] In December 2006, Jessica Mauboy signed a recording contract with Sony Music Australia – two weeks after the fourth season of Australian Idol ended.[17] In 2007, Mauboy appeared in advertisements for the shampoo product, Head & Shoulders.[18] She released her debut live album, The Journey in Australia on 24 February 2007.[19] The album was a two-disc package. Disc one contained re-recorded covers of the selected songs Mauboy performed as part of the top twelve on Australian Idol, while disc two included a DVD of her performances on the series.[19] The Journey debuted at number four on the ARIA Albums Chart and was certified Gold by the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA).[3][20] In September 2007, Mauboy joined as the new member of the girl group Young Divas, replacing one of the group's original members, Ricki-Lee Coulter, who had left in June to resume her solo career.[21] Their second studio album, New Attitude, was released on 24 November.[22] Its lead single, "Turn Me Loose", was released on 3 November,[23] and reached number fifteen on the ARIA Singles Chart.[24] The album debuted at number ten on the ARIA Albums Chart and was certified Gold.[20][24] Meanwhile in March 2008, Mauboy signed on to the
Australian Government In2Oz program, designed to promote closer
ties with Indonesia. As a part of the program, she travelled to
Indonesia for a three day trip performing around the country, including
an appearance on Indonesian Idol, singing Beyoncé's "Crazy in Love" and "Sempurna" with former Indonesian Idol contestants Mike, Judika and Lucky.[25] It was during
this time that Mauboy had begun to work on her first solo studio
album. Following her three day trip from Indonesia, she returned
to Sydney for a week-long recording session.[25] In August, Mauboy
announced that after a year with the Young Divas, she had decided
to quit in order to concentrate on her solo career.[26] Founding
member Paulini Curuenavuli had also decided to depart, leaving
Kate DeAraugo and Emily Williams as the only remaining members.[26]
Their manager David Champion stated that the group would undergo
a third line-up change following the departures of Mauboy and Curuenavuli,
with a third album to be released later in the year.[26] However
both DeAraugo and Williams subsequently resumed their solo careers,
and the group officially disbanded. In late 2008, Jessica Mauboy re-located from Darwin to Sydney and prepared for the release of her debut studio album, Been Waiting.[27] It was released on 22 November; it peaked at number twelve and was certified double Platinum for shipments of 140,000 units.[3][28][29] Mauboy co-wrote six of the album's songs, which were produced by Audius Mtawarira, Israel Cruz, Jonas Jeberg, Cutfather, Adam Reily, Fingaz, and Kwamé.[30] The album received positive reviews from critics. Davey Boy from Sputnikmusic gave the album three out of five stars and wrote that it was an "impressive debut which suggests that there could indeed be quality music to look forward to in the future as she matures and gains experience".[31] "Running Back", featuring American rapper Flo Rida, was released as the album's lead single on 19 September.[32] It peaked at number three and was certified double Platinum.[3][33] The album's second single, "Burn", became Mauboy's first number-one single,[3] and was certified Platinum.[34] In February 2009, Mauboy signed with UK record label Ministry of Sound.[35] The album's title track was released as the third single on 6 March.[36] The song peaked at number twelve and was certified Gold.[3][34] The following singles, "Because" and "Up/Down", peaked at numbers nine and eleven, respectively,[3] and both were certified Gold.[34] In April 2009, Mauboy teamed up with Bloom Cosmetics to create two designer collection nail polishes,[37] which included shades of sangria red and metallic green.[38] Two dollars from the sale of each of the nail polish bottles was donated to Children's Hospital Foundations Australia to support the research into childhood illness.[37][38] The album was released in Japan on 22 April 2009.[39] At the 2009 Deadly Awards, Mauboy won three awards
in the categories of 'Female Artist of the Year', 'Album of the
Year' for Been Waiting, and 'Single Release of the Year' for "Burn".[40] Along with Flo Rida, Mauboy served as a support act for Beyoncé on the
Australian leg of her I Am... Tour in September 2009.[41] At the
2009 ARIA Music Awards, Mauboy earned seven nominations for the
album and singles; she was nominated for 'Highest Selling Album',
'Best Pop Release', 'Breakthrough Artist Album', 'Best Female Artist',
'Breakthrough Artist Single' for "Running Back", and 'Highest Selling Single' for "Running Back" and "Burn".[42] Eventually, Mauboy won 'Highest Selling Single' for "Running Back".[43] In January 2010, Jessica Mauboy had a starring role in the film adaptation of the 1990 Aboriginal musical Bran Nue Dae.[44] The film was directed by Rachel Perkins and also starred Ernie Dingo, Geoffrey Rush, Missy Higgins, and Deborah Mailman.[45] In the film, Mauboy played the role of Rosie, a local church singer who has a love interest for a school boy named Willie (played by Rocky McKenzie).[44] Five days after Bran Nue Dae was issued, Mauboy signed to Universal Music for an exclusive world-wide long-term publishing agreement.[46] In April 2010, Mauboy was part of the Byron Bay's Bluesfest along with many other national and international acts.[47] In May 2010, she collaborated with four other international artists representing their continents—Sean Kingston representing America, Jody Williams representing Africa, Tabitha Nauser (Asia), Steve Appleton (Europe), with Mauboy representing Oceania—on a song titled "Everyone".[48] The song was initially recorded to be used as the theme song for the 2010 Summer Youth Olympics.[48] Mauboy, Williams, Nauser and Appleton performed the song at the opening of the Youth Olympics held in Singapore on 14 August 2010.[48] Kingston was unable to attend the performance, due to a passport mix-up.[49] During the 2010 ARIA Music Awards, Mauboy mispronounced the word 'debut' as 'de-butt' twice, while referring to rock band Tame Impala's album Innerspeaker (which she called Innerspeak), as a finalist for the 'Album of the Year' award. Two days later, Mauboy told radio station Nova that "I wasn't actually reading it. It wasn't going through my head ... I only got the script that day and it was just like 'have a look and see ya later, and go do your hair and make-up.' That's how the lady was when she handed me the script."[50] Mauboy released her second studio album, Get 'Em Girls, on 5 November 2010.[51] She had travelled to the United States in February 2010 to work on the album in Los Angeles, New York, and Atlanta with a wide range of American songwriters and producers, most of whom she had not worked with previously.[6] Mauboy co-wrote three of the album's songs.[52] The album debuted at number six and was certified Gold.[3][53] It received mixed reviews from critics. Majhid Heath from ABC Online Indigenous gave the album two-and-a-half out of five stars, writing that its a "non-cohesive mess of similar sounding, auto-tuned ravaged pop/R&B that diminishes the talent of this brilliant young songstress".[54] The album's title track featuring American rapper Snoop Dogg, was released as its lead single on 17 September 2010,[55] and peaked at number nineteen.[3] Mauboy performed "Get 'Em Girls" with dance troupe Justice Crew at the 2010 NRL Grand Final on 3 October.[56] Mauboy also performed the song at the 2010 Nickelodeon Australian Kids' Choice Awards on 8 October, where she co-hosted the award ceremony with Liam Hemsworth and Jerry Trainor, and took home the award for 'Fave Aussie Muso'.[57][58] "Saturday Night", featuring American rapper Ludacris, was released as the album's second single on 25 October.[59] The song peaked at number seven and was certified double Platinum.[3][60] "What Happened to Us", featuring English singer Jay Sean, and "Inescapable" were released as the album's third and fourth singles, respectively. In April 2011, Mauboy served as a support act for American singer Chris Brown's Australian leg of his F.A.M.E. Tour.[61] As from June 2011, Mauboy has been cast in a lead
role in the upcoming film, The Sapphires, based on the stage show
of the same name. The film was directed by Wayne Blair, and is
set in the late 1960s during the Vietnam war. Mauboy plays the
role of Julie, one of four Indigenous Australian singers.[62] The
film is expected to be released in September–October 2012.[63]
In August 2011, Mauboy was working with clothing label, Kuku, to
create a collection of party dresses, available at premium boutiques.[64]
Mauboy will make a cameo appearance in the television series, Underbelly:
Razor, playing a beautiful nightclub singer.[65] Mauboy's music is generally R&B and pop,[66] but she also incorporates hip hop into some of her songs.[67] Mauboy grew up listening to country singers Patsy Cline and Dolly Parton,[12] as well as rappers Tupac, Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg.[68] She likes to play the piano while singing songs by Mariah Carey, Whitney Houston, and the Bee Gees.[5] Mauboy cites Carey as one of her musical inspirations. She says, "I've always been a big fan of Mariah Carey. I think it's her personality. As much as she has an amazing voice, she has a crazy personality and I love the fact that she’s not afraid to hide that."[69] Mauboy has also named Houston as another one of her musical inspirations,[69] and has stated that she is a fan of Jennifer Lopez.[5][69] Mauboy's debut album, Been Waiting, has been described as "a blend of electro beats, heartfelt pop tunes and R&B bass lines."[70] Most of the themes on the album deal with boys, love and break-ups.[70] Mauboy told Star Online that: It's definitely something that I had in mind and that I really wanted to put down quickly before I forgot about it. Being in the studio gave me that inspiration to keep going ... I wanted the album to be mixed up and messed up. That's what it's all about as I was in a messed-up relationship at the time and that's the base line of the album and I just wanted to forget about it.[70] Jarrad Bevan from The Mercury noted that the album
also contains themes about "everyday life", "family issues", and "friendship".[71] Alasdair Duncan from Rave magazine, described Mauboy's second album, Get
'Em Girls, as "a more hard-edged take on R&B and pop than her debut, pumped full of hip hop beats, jagged synths and futuristic
vocal effects."[66] Mauboy said that she wanted each song on the album to talk about a "woman's needs", and that the album's theme was "very much about the empowerment of women and the domination of women."[69] Aside from her vocals and piano work, Mauboy has also co-written some of
her material. She co-wrote six songs on her first album,[30] and
three on her second album.[52] Although Mauboy has no writing credits
for the songs "Fight for You" and "Here for Me" on the album Get 'Em Girls she stated in an interview that while working with
American producer Harvey Mason, Jr. both came up with the melodies
and hooks for these songs.[69] She also experimented with an operatic-type
voice on her song "Scariest Part".[69] In 2010, she was nominated for 'Breakthrough Songwriter of the Year' at
the APRA Awards.[72] The Journey (2007) [edit] Filmography
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