Leah Flanagan

Leah Flanagan is a singer-songwriter from Darwin, Northern Territory, currently based in Sydney. Leah has released two albums and has toured extensively through Australia with her music and as part of festival ensembles.[1][2][3] She has also appeared on the Australian TV shows Spicks & Specks[4], Faboriginal and RocKwiz.[5]

Leah Flanagan
Leah Flanagan performing live 2015. Photo by Chris Frape.
Background information
Occupation(s)Singer
InstrumentsVocals, guitar

Biography

Flanagan studied classical music at the Elder Conservatorium of Music in Adelaide.[6]

Flanagan has collaborated with Sinead O'Connor, Meshell Ndegeocello, poet Sam Wagan Watson,[7] The Black Arm Band,[8] Paul Kelly and Ursula Yovich, and recorded a duet with Marlon Williams of Archie Roach’s "I’ve Lied".[1] She has featured on the ABC's Spicks and Specks and SBS's Rockwiz, as well as the production 1967: Music in the Key of Yes alongside Dan Sultan, Adalita and Ursula Yovich.[9]

Flanagan in a 2012 promotional image by Tajette O'Halloran

Background/history

Flanagan is a singer-songwriter and guitarist from Darwin in the far north of Australia. She identifies as biracial due to her Aboriginal (Alyawarre), Italian (Venetian) and Irish heritage. She graduated from the Elder Conservatorium of Music in Adelaide with a degree in Classical Music. From 2009 to 2011 Leah performed in the productions Murundak, Hidden Republic and Dirtsong with touring company The Black Arm Band[8] at many major festivals across Australia. Her performances in this period included one at the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.

In 2010 she appeared at the Melbourne International Arts Festival's production Seven Songs To Leave Behind with John Cale, Rickie Lee Jones, Sinead O'Connor, Meshell Ndegeocello and Gurrumul with Black Arm Band members Ursula Yovich, Dan Sultan and Shellie Morris.[10]

Leah was invited by Deborah Conway to be part of her Songtrails project for the 2009 and 2011 Queensland Music Festivals, which led to her collaborating with Australian artists Peter Farnan (Boom Crash Opera), Robert Forster (The Go-Betweens) and Rebecca Barnard (Rebecca's Empire) to deliver a series of workshops and to perform concerts across regional Queensland.[11]

Leah composed a show entitled Midnight Muses, based on the work of award-winning Brisbane poet Sam Wagan-Watson, for the Adelaide Cabaret Festival.[12] It premiered in 2011 and later appeared at the 2013 Sydney Festival.[13]

She was invited to perform as a featured soloist in the first Australian production of Leonard Bernstein's MASS at the 2012 Adelaide Festival.[14]

In late 2015 Leah was invited by Archie Roach to record a duet of his song "I've Lied" with Marlon Williams for the 25th Anniversary release of Charcoal Lane. Rolling Stone praised the collaboration and gave the anniversary album 4 1/2 stars.[1]

Leah is an ambassador for APRA AMCOS.[15]

Collaborations and projects
  • Mission Songs Project[16]
  • Buried Country[2]
  • Black Arm Band[8]
  • 1967: Songs in the Key of Yes[9]
  • Exiles[7]
  • Seven Songs To Leave Behind[10]
  • Midnight Muses[12]
  • MASS[14]
  • Liberty Songs[17]
  • Songtrails[11]

Television

Leah has appeared on the Australian TV music quiz shows Spicks and Specks and Rockwiz; on the latter performing Elvis Costello's Shipbuilding in a duet with multiple ARIA Award winning composer David Bridie.[4] She has also appeared on the light comedy sports programme Marngrook Footy Show, performing a version of Stevie Wonder's For Once in My Life.

Discography
  • Nirvana Nights (2010)
  • Everything (single 2014)
  • Chills (single 2016)
  • Saudades (2016)

References
  1. Rolling Stone Australia – Album Review: Archie Roach – Charcoal Lane (25th Anniversary Edition )
  2. Buried Country – Home
  3. Leah Flanagan's new album Saudades: from Portugal without love
  4. LEAH FLANAGAN ON SPICKS & SPECKS Pt 1 – YouTube
  5. Leah Flanagan – Rockwiz – Youtube
  6. "Leah Flanagan, 2014". National Film and Sound Archive. 2014. Retrieved 14 August 2020.
  7. Exile Concert – Bio
  8. http://www.blackarmband.com.au
  9. Nick Cave, PJ Harvey, an adult ball pit and nude dancers headline Sydney festival 2017 | Australia news | The Guardian
  10. Nocookies | The Australian
  11. Making Song Trails in north Queensland – ABC North Qld – Australian Broadcasting Corporation
  12. Leah Flanagan – Midnight Muses | ArtsHub Australia
  13. Leah Flanagan Live at Sydney Festival – The Live Set – ABC Radio National (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)
  14. Adelaide Festival // Mass
  15. "Leah Flanagan appointed National Manager of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Music Office". APRA AMCOS. 9 December 2019. Retrieved 13 August 2020.
  16. Mission Songs Project – Contemporary Indigenous Songs from the 20th Century
  17. Get down and get festive in Darwin – ABC Darwin – Australian Broadcasting Corporation
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