Pete Murray (Australian singer-songwriter)

Peter Kenneth Murray (born 14 October 1969) is an Australian singer-songwriter who has had three albums reach number 1 on the Australian (ARIA) charts. He has been nominated several times at the ARIAs and has had several songs reach the top forty in Australia.[1]

Pete Murray
Birth namePeter Kenneth Murray
Born (1969-10-14) 14 October 1969
Chinchilla, Queensland, Australia
OriginBrisbane, Queensland, Australia
GenresRock, folk, acoustic
Occupation(s)Musician, singer-songwriter
InstrumentsGuitar, vocals
Years active2002–present
LabelsSony BMG
Websitepetemurray.com

In November 2013, Murray toured Canada with Paul Langlois and Rob Baker of The Tragically Hip.[2]

Biography

1969–2002: Early life and career beginnings

Peter Kenneth Murray was born in Chinchilla,[3] on 14 October 1969. His mother is Jan and he has a sister.[3] When Murray was 16 the family moved to Brisbane.[3] He attended St Joseph's College, Nudgee for his final two years of secondary schooling.[3] At the college Murray showed talent in rugby union, athletics and swimming. He briefly played Brisbane club rugby for GPS and Brothers. When he was 18, his father died of a heart attack,[3] Murray 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.[2] 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 traveling and pursuing a career in sports medicine.

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 the 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.

2003–2004: Feeler
Main article: Feeler (Pete Murray album)

In early 2003, Murray signed a contract with Sony BMG and he entered the studio with producer Paul McKercher and his band (consisting of Ben McCarthy on bass guitar and keyboards, Christian Sargeant on drums, Paul Tyrell on guitar and Col McIntyre on reeds & flute) to make the Feeler album. On his website, 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 21 July 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 it up. 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 "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. By 2008, the album had sold half-a-million copies.[4]

Murray began a tour of larger Australian venues. Due to the level of demand, he announced nine extra dates. One of his sell-out performances at the Sydney Metro Theatre on 27 March 2004 was made 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.

2005–2007: See the Sun
Main article: See the Sun (Pete Murray album)

Murray's third studio album, See the Sun was released in September 2005. The album spawned three official singles, "Better Days", "Opportunity" and "George's Helper", while a video was made for radio single "Class A". Days after its release, Murray performed at the 2005 NRL grand final.[5] See the Sun sold 350,000 copies.[4]

2008–2010:Summer at Eureka

His fourth studio album, Summer at Eureka, was released on 17 May 2008. On 26 May 2008, it entered the charts at number 1 in Australia, his third consecutive chart-topping album. The first single from the album was "You Pick Me Up", which reached number 36 on the Australian charts. The second single from the album, "Saving Grace", was released on 2 August 2008.

2011–2015:Blue Sky Blue
Main articles: Blue Sky Blue (album) and Blue Sky Blue "The Byron Sessions"

His fifth studio album, Blue Sky Blue, was released in Australia on 2 September 2011 and peaked at number 6 in Australia and was certified gold. In 2012, many of the songs were re-recorded with a number of the songs recorded as duets. This album was titled Blue Sky Blue "The Byron Sessions" and peaked at number 17 in Australia in 2013.

2016–present:Camacho
Main article: Camacho (album)

In June 2017, Murray released his seventh studio album Camacho. The album peaked at number 3 in Australia.

On 26 June 2020, Murray released "Found My Place", his first new single since Camacho.[6]

Personal life

Murray married Amanda Coutts on 7 October 2006 in Eureka, New South Wales.[3][7] In July 2009, Murray and Coutts had separated and shared custody of their two children.[8] Coutts worked as a designer and renovated a set of stables into a home.[9]

In 2016 he married his partner of 4 years Mira Eady.[10]

Discography
Pete Murray discography
Studio albums7
Video albums2
Singles20

Studio albums
Year Title Peak chart positions Certifications
(thresholds)
AUS
[11]		 NZL
[12]		 NLD
[13]
2001 The Game
  • Released: 2001
  • Label: Auxiliary Records
 — — — —
2003 Feeler 1 15 53
2005 See the Sun
  • Released: 25 September 2005
  • Label: Sony Music Australia
 1 22 87
  • ARIA: 4x Platinum[15]
2008 Summer at Eureka
  • Released: 16 May 2008
  • Label: Sony Music Australia
 1 19 17
2011 Blue Sky Blue
  • Released: 2 September 2011
  • Label: Sony Music Australia
 6 — —
2013 Blue Sky Blue "The Byron Sessions"
  • Released: 1 February 2013
  • Label: Sony Music Australia
 17 — —
2017 Camacho
  • Released: 2 June 2017
  • Label: Sony Music Australia
 3 — —

Singles
Year Title Peak chart positions Certifications
(thresholds)		 Album
AUS
[11][18][19]		 NZL
[12]		 NLD
[13]
2003 "Feeler" ——— — Feeler
"Lines" ——— —
"So Beautiful" 91362
2004 "Bail Me Out" 56—— —
"Please" 33—— —
2005 "Better Days" 1332— See the Sun
"Class A" [upper-alpha 1]—— —
2006 "Opportunity" 2932— —
"George's Helper" ——— —
2008 "You Pick Me Up" 36—83 — Summer at Eureka
"Saving Grace" 44—— —
"Chance to Say Goodbye" ——— —
2011 "Always a Winner"[22] 38—— Blue Sky Blue
"Free"[24] 42——
2012 "Let You Go"[25] ———
2013 "Blue Sky Blue"
(featuring Fantine)[26]		 ——— Blue Sky Blue "The Byron Sessions"
2014 "This Woman's Work"
(as part of Hope for Isla and Jude)		 79[27]—— — N/A
2017 "Take Me Down"[28] 215—— — Camacho
"Connected"[29] ——— —
2018 "Heartbeats"[30] ——— —
2020 "Found My Place"[6] ——— — tbc


Notes

  1. "Class A" was released as radio promotion single only and ineligible to chart in 2005

Awards and nominations

ARIA Music Awards

The ARIA Music Awards are annual awards, which recognises excellence, innovation, and achievement across all genres of Australian music. They commenced in 1987. Murray has been nominated for 17 awards.[31]

Year Nominee / work Award Result
2003FeelerBreakthrough Artist – AlbumNominated
Best Blues and Roots AlbumNominated
Paul McKercher for FeelerProducer of the YearNominated
Engineer of the YearNominated
2004FeelerHighest Selling AlbumNominated
"So Beautiful"Best Male ArtistNominated
Single of the YearNominated
Best Pop ReleaseNominated
Best VideoNominated
Passing TimeBest Music DVDNominated
Paul McKercher & Pete Murray for "So Beautiful"Producer of the YearNominated
2006See the SunHighest Selling AlbumNominated
Best Male ArtistNominated
2008Summer at EurekaBest Male ArtistNominated
Anthony Lycenko for Summer at EurekaEngineer of the YearNominated
2009Chance to Say GoodbyeBest Blues and Roots AlbumNominated
2017CamachoBest Adult Contemporary AlbumNominated

APRA awards

The APRA Awards are several award ceremonies run in Australia by the Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA) to recognise composing and song writing skills, sales and airplay performance by its members annually. The awards have been presented annually since 1982.[32]

Year Nominee / work Award Result
2005"So Beautiful" (Peter Murray)Most Performed Australian Work[33]Won
2006"Better Days" (Murray)Song of the Year[34]Nominated
2007"Opportunity" (Murray)Most Performed Australian Work[35]Nominated
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References
  1. ""So Beautiful" at APRA search engine". Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA). Retrieved 15 May 2010.
    - "Pete Nominated for the 2006 MTV AMVA's – Get Voting!". 6 February 2006. Archived from the original on 28 September 2007. Retrieved 17 June 2007.
  2. "Singer-Songwriter – Pete Murray". ABC. 21 November 2003. Retrieved 15 June 2007.
  3. Rocca, Jane (25 September 2011). "Pete Murray: 'I don't think I will get married again'". Executive Style. Fairfax Media. Retrieved 22 May 2016.
  4. Wigney, James (18 May 2008). "Pete Murray's sun after dark". The Daili Telegraph (Australia). News Corporation. Retrieved 9 August 2008.
  5. Halloran, Jessica (3 October 2005). "Stereotype fun: toys for boys and short skirts for girls". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 30 August 2011.
  6. "Pete Murray releases new single "Found My Place"". NME. 26 June 2020. Retrieved 26 June 2020.
  7. Sams, Christine (6 October 2006). "Murray's golden moment". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 17 June 2007.
  8. "Pete Murray splits from wife Amanda Couttis", The Courier-Mail, 31 July 2009
  9. Feagins, Lucy (12 August 2015). "Amanda Coutts". The Design Files. Retrieved 22 May 2016.
  10. "Pete Murray plays it cool with his new album", Canberra Times, 27 July 2017
  11. "australian-charts.com – Discography Pete Murray". Hung Medien. Retrieved 10 June 2017.
  12. "charts.nz – Discography Pete Murray". Hung Medien. Retrieved 10 June 2017.
  13. "dutchcharts.nl – Discografie Pete Murray". Hung Medien. Retrieved 10 June 2017.
  14. "ARIA Charts – Accreditations – 2004 Albums". ARIA. 2004. Retrieved 23 January 2020.
  15. "ARIA Charts – Accreditations – 2006 Albums". ARIA. 2006. Retrieved 23 January 2020.
  16. "ARIA Charts – Accreditations – 2008 Albums". ARIA. 2008. Retrieved 23 January 2020.
  17. "ARIA Charts – Accreditations – 2011 Albums". ARIA. 2011. Retrieved 23 January 2020.
  18. "australian-charts.com – Forum – ARIA Chartifacts 17-April-2017". australian-charts.com. 17 April 2017. Retrieved 24 October 2018.
  19. "ARIA Single Accreditations 2011". www.aria.com.au. 31 December 2011. Retrieved 24 October 2018.
  20. "ARIA Charts – Accreditations – 2004 Singles". ARIA. 2004. Retrieved 23 January 2020.
  21. "ARIA Charts – Accreditations – 2006 Singles". ARIA. 2006. Retrieved 23 January 2020.
  22. "Always a Winner – single". Apple Music. Retrieved 18 February 2020.
  23. "ARIA Charts – Accreditations – 2011 Singles". ARIA. 2011. Retrieved 23 January 2020.
  24. "Free – single". Apple Music. Retrieved 18 February 2020.
  25. "Let You Go – single". Apple Music. Retrieved 18 February 2020.
  26. "Pete Murray – Blue Sky Blue ft. Fantine". YouTube. 15 January 2013. Retrieved 18 February 2020.
  27. Ryan, Gavin (13 December 2014). "ARIA Singles: Mark Ronson And Bruno Mars Are no. 1". Noise11. Retrieved 18 February 2020.
  28. "Pete Murray Returns with New Single "Take Me Down"". Rhythms. 20 April 2017. Retrieved 18 February 2020.
  29. "Pete Murray – Connected (Official Video)". YouTube. 9 September 2017. Retrieved 18 February 2020.
  30. "Heartbeats – single". Apple Music. Retrieved 18 February 2020.
  31. "Aria Awards". ARIA Awards. Retrieved 23 January 2020.
  32. "APRA History". Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA). Retrieved 17 May 2010.
  33. "2005 Winners – APRA Music Awards". Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA). Retrieved 17 May 2010.
  34. "Nominations – 2006". Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA). Retrieved 17 May 2010.
  35. "Most Performed Australian Work nominations – 2007". Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA). Retrieved 17 May 2010.
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