Kasey Chambers

Musician

Birthday June 4, 1976

Birth Sign Gemini

Birthplace Mount Gambier, South Australia, Australia

Age 47 years old

Nationality Australia

#57940 Most Popular

1974

Her older brother, Nash Chambers, was born in 1974.

1976

Kasey Chambers (born 4 June 1976) is an Australian country singer-songwriter and musician born in Mount Gambier to fellow musicians Diane and Bill Chambers.

Her older brother is musician and producer Nash Chambers.

Kasey Chambers was born in 1976 in Mount Gambier, South Australia to Diane and Bill Chambers.

From July 1976 the Chambers family travelled around the Nullarbor Plain, where the parents hunted foxes and rabbits for pelts during seven or eight months a year, spanning nine years.

During the "hot months" (generally from November to March) they returned to Southend, South Australia, where her family owned a fish and chip shop for a time.

1986

From 1986 Bill and Diane returned to performing as a country-music duo while their children attended school in Southend.

In the following year their parents added first Chambers and then Nash to their act, which became the Dead Ringer Band – named for the children looking like their parents.

1987

Chambers was recorded on vocals for two albums released under Bill's name, Sea Eagle (1987) and Kindred Spirit (1991).

1989

Chambers met fellow country singer-songwriter Beccy Cole in mid-1989 in Adelaide, and she joined Dead Ringer Band on a tour through New South Wales before going solo.

Chambers later recalled, "I never really met anyone at this point in my life that was of the same generation as me – a young girl who liked country music. And funnily enough the first song that I ever wrote in my life was called 'Beccy', about Beccy. It's the worst song you've ever heard in your whole life."

She cited Emmylou Harris as one of her primary influences, recalling that her parents had frequently Harris' music throughout her childhood.

1990

The group ended when Chambers' parents divorced in the late 1990s, Diane moved to Norfolk Island, and Bill moved to Sydney.

1992

All four were members of family country-music group Dead Ringer Band in Bowral, New South Wales from 1992 to 1998; Chambers launched her solo career thereafter.

From 1992 Dead Ringer Band released an extended play and four albums.

1993

For their first album, Red Desert Sky (November 1993), she was named as Kasey Jo Chambers, provided vocals and wrote four of its tracks.

It was co-produced by the group with Eddie Sikorski at John Reynolds Recording Studio, Adelaide.

1998

Chambers recorded her debut solo album, The Captain, on Norfolk Island during July and August 1998 with her brother Nash producing and father Bill on guitar.

United States country musicians, Buddy and Julie Miller added guitars and vocals to four tracks.

1999

The Captain was released in May 1999 via EMI Music Australia and in June 2000 in the US by Asylum Records.

It peaked at No. 11 on the ARIA Albums Chart and No. 1 on the related ARIA Country Albums chart.

At the ARIA Music Awards of 1999 she won Best Country Album and in the following year she won Best Female Artist for its title track, which was issued in 2000.

2001

Five of her twelve studio albums have reached No. 1 on the ARIA Albums Chart, Barricades & Brickwalls (September 2001), Wayward Angel (May 2004), Carnival (August 2006) Rattlin' Bones (April 2008), and Dragonfly (January 2017).

The Captain was certified double platinum for shipment of 140,000 copies by Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) in 2001.

It reached the top 50 of the Billboard Top Country Albums in 2001.

She toured the US as a support act to Lucinda Williams and later supported Emmylou Harris on the Australian leg of that artist's tour.

"The Captain" was played in episode 8 ("He Is Risen") of the third season of The Sopranos, in April 2001.

Chambers' second studio album, Barricades & Brickwalls, was released in September 2001 via EMI Music, which was also produced by Nash.

It debuted at No. 4 in the ARIA Albums Chart and peaked at No. 1 in February of the following year.

2002

Its third single, "Not Pretty Enough" (January 2002), also peaked at No. 1 on the related ARIA Singles Chart in the same month.

The track was written by Chambers and according to Australian musicologist, Ian McFarlane, "[it's] about being ignored by commercial radio."

Subsequent singles "Million Tears" (June 2002) and "If I Were You" (October) also made the top 40.

At the ARIA Music Awards of 2002 she won three categories, Album of the Year, Best Female Artist and Best Country Album, for Barricades & Brickwalls.

In February 2002 it was released in the US, which peaked at No. 104 on the Billboard 200, topping the related Heatseeker Chart and reaching the top 20 of their country music chart.

It received "generally favorable reviews" according to aggregate site, Metacritic, with a rating of 74% from 12 critics.

2003

It was certified seven times platinum in 2003 for shipment of at least 490,000 copies.

2011

Her autobiography, A Little Bird Told Me..., co-authored with music journalist Jeff Apter, was released in 2011.

He cited her autobiography, A Little Bird Told Me (2011), "'I wrote [it] as a song about feeling invisible... it was obvious that out in the music industry there was only one path for most young women – over-sexualised and over made up. To succeed you needed to look like Britney or Shakira."

She is the first Australian country music artist to have simultaneous No. 1 single and album.

2018

In November 2018 she was inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame and has won an additional 14 ARIA Music Awards with nine for Best Country Album.