|
|
Delta Lea Goodrem (born 9 November 1984)
is a multi-ARIA Award winning Australian
singer-songwriter, pianist and Logie Award winning
actress. Signed to Sony at the age of 15, Goodrem rose
to prominence in 2002, starring in the popular
Australian soap Neighbours, and this assisted her in
establishing an international music career. Her musical
output falls under the pop and ballad genres and heavily
features the piano, which she usually plays in her bare
feet when performing live.
Goodrem has to date, achieved seven number one ARIA
singles and multiple UK Top 10 singles. Her debut album,
2003's Innocent Eyes, made her one of Australia's
highest selling female recording artists, spending 29
weeks at #1, selling over a million copies in Australia
and 2.5 million worldwide. Its successor, 2004's
Mistaken Identity, whilst unable to match the commercial
success of its predecessor; entered the ARIA charts at
#1 and gained multi-platinum status.
To date, she has sold 3.5 million albums
worldwide. In 2005, Goodrem embarked on The Visualise
Tour, her debut concert tour of Australia. "In This
Life", the 1st single from her so far untitled 3rd
album, has premiered on Australian radio on 28 August,
and will be in record stores 17 days later.
In 2003, at the age of 18, amidst her blooming career,
Goodrem was diagnosed with Hodgkin's Lymphoma, a form of
cancer. She has since made a full recovery and now
spends much of her time promoting cancer charities.
Childhood and discovery: Delta Goodrem was born
on 9 November 1984 in Sydney, New South Wales to parents
Denis and Lea Goodrem. She has a younger brother named
Trent. Goodrem, who showed a strong interest in music
and performing from a very young age, attended The Hills
Grammar School, though due to its curriculum placing
strong emphasis on sport (Goodrem taking part in
netball, running and swimming), music was primarily kept
separate.
At the age of seven, she appeared in an American
commercial for the Galoob toy company, starring
alongside fellow Australian Bec Cartwrightand began
playing piano at ten years of age while taking up
singing, dancing and acting lessons. She appeared in
numerous commercials for companies such as Optus and
Nesquik, and had several minor roles in episodes of
successful Australian television shows including Hey
Dad...!, A Country Practice and Police Rescue.
At the age of thirteen Goodrem recorded a five song demo
CD, financed through her television work. It was sent to
the Sydney Swans Football Club (of which Goodrem is a
supporter) and they passed it onto Glenn Wheatley, the
manager behind successful Australian artists, Little
River Band and John Farnham. Interested in Goodrem's
potential as a recording artist, Wheatley signed Goodrem
an artist development deal with independent label,
Empire Records.
Between June 1999 to September 2000, she worked with
producers Paul Higgins and Trevor Carter on thirteen
tracks for an album called Delta, which saw "an
ambitious 15-year-old keen to emulate the pop sound of
the Spice Girls, Britney Spears and Mandy Moore."
The album has yet to surface, Goodrem preventing its
release years later via civil action in 2004.
2001–2003: Career launch, Neighbours and Innocent
Eyes: At the age of 15, Goodrem signed a record deal
with Sony and began work on an album of pop-dance songs
including the unsuccessful debut single "I Don't
Care", which peaked at number sixty-four on the
ARIA singles chart in November 2001. The album and
proposed second single "A Year Ago Today" were
pushed aside as a result, allowing Goodrem and Sony to
re-evaluate her future musical direction. In 2002,
Goodrem took up the role as shy school girl and aspiring
singer Nina Tucker in the popular soap Neighbours, which
helped re-launch Goodrem's music career. The piano-based
ballad "Born to Try" premiered on the show and
became her first ARIA number one and UK Top 3. Goodrem's
role on the show scored her a Logie for "Most
Popular New Talent" at the 2003 Logie Awards and
two other nominations at the 2004 Logie Awards
(including a Gold Logie nomination).
In January 2003, "Lost Without You" again
topped the ARIA singles chart and reached number four in
the UK, increasing Goodrem's popularity. Her largely
self-penned debut album Innocent Eyes was released in
March and debuted at number-one on the ARIA album
charts, breaking Australian records previously held by
John Farnham's Whispering Jack (1986) by staying at
number-one for 25 consecutive weeks, while tying with
Neil Diamond's Hot August Night (1972) as the second
longest charting number-one album with a total of 29
weeks at top spot. It was the highest selling album in
Australia of 2003 and sold over a million copies in
Australia alone, 2.5 million worldwide. The album also
charted highly in the UK, peaking at #2.
"Not Me, Not I", released following the
announcement Delta Goodrem had been diagnosed with
cancer, became her fourth consecutive ARIA number-one
single, overtaking the previous effort of three
number-one's from Kylie Minogue's debut Kylie album.
Goodrem ceased work on Neighbours and her music to begin
treatment and in early October, announced she would not
renew her contract with Glenn Wheatley, mother Lea
Goodrem replacing him as her manager.
Later that month, Goodrem won seven ARIA Awards,
including "Best Female Artist", surpassing
Natalie Imbruglia's previous record of six awards in
1999.Too unwell to perform at the ceremony, singer
Darren Hayes performed a rendition of "Lost Without
You" as a tribute, bringing an overwhelmed Goodrem
to tears. Her first full-length DVD Delta became the
highest selling music DVD by an Australian artist in
Australia ever, with a certification of 12x platinum,
while Australian-only release "Predictable"
became her fifth consecutive number one ARIA single in
December. Delta made a recording that she didn't want to
be released publicly and had to battle with her old
record company to prevent them from releasing it.
2004–2006: Mistaken Identity, film debut and The
Visualise Tour
After announcing in late December 2003 that she was in
remission, Goodrem began work on her second album. In
September 2004, she became the face of soft drink giant
Pepsi in Australia, appearing on the product,
billboards, TV advertisements and performing an
exclusive show for competition winners. In October,
first single "Out of the Blue", co-written and
produced by Guy Chambers, debuted at number-one in
Australia and number nine in the UK. October saw Goodrem
launch her own lingerie line titled "Delta by
Annabella".
Goodrem's second album Mistaken Identity, notable for
its darker themes inspired by the hardships of her
previous twelve months, was released in early November
and debuted at number-one in Australia, Top 10 in New
Zealand, but peaked at a disappointing number
twenty-five in the UK. "Almost Here", a duet
with Irish singer Brian McFadden, reached number three
in the UK, became her seventh ARIA number one, and her
first number one in Ireland. Singles released only in
Australia - "Mistaken Identity", "A
Little Too Late" and "Be Strong" - were
moderately successful.
In March 2005, she starred in her first film role of
Hating Alison Ashley, a film based on the popular
children's novel, Goodrem acting the title character.
The film performed poorly at the box office and was not
a critical success, some critics citing Goodrem's
performance as too robotic and detached. April saw
Goodrem relocate in New York to launch her career in the
United States with a re-worked version of "Lost
Without You".
She appeared in the last two episodes of
short-lived American series North Shore in a bid to gain
greater exposure but the single proved to be of only
limited success, peaking at number eighteen on the
Billboard Adult Contemporary chart and failing to enter
the Billboard Hot 100. Plans to release a hybrid of her
first two albums were later terminated and Goodrem looks
to have put America on hold.
In July, Goodrem embarked on her first headline concert
tour of Australia, The Visualise Tour. Ticket prices
(ninety-nine Australian dollars each) came under
criticism for being higher than most international acts
touring Australia at the time and this initially led to
slow sales. By the time the concerts were due to take
place, many venues sold out after tickets were reduced
to $60. Once the tour concluded, over 80,000 tickets had
been bought in total making The Visualise Tour one of
Australia's highest selling local tours. The Visualise
Tour: Live in Concert was released in November and
became Goodrem's second #1 DVD.
On 15 March, 2006, Goodrem performed a new song,
"Together We Are One", at the Commonwealth
Games Opening Ceremony in front of 80,000 spectators and
up to 1.5 billion television viewers worldwide. The
song, written specifically for the event with Chambers
and McFadden, was released in Australia, peaking at
number two, and was performed by the Top 5 contestants
on American Idol. In June, Goodrem signed to Modest!
Entertainment for her world-wide management.
October saw Goodrem promoting in Japan with the release
of an updated version of Innocent Eyes and the
Japan-only single "Flawed", which reached
number one on the Japanese download chart. The album
peaked at number eight on the Japanese international
chart (excluding Japanese artists) and number nineteen
on the official Japanese album chart (including Japanese
artists). In November, Goodrem appeared with Westlife on
UK talent series The X Factor to perform a duet titled
"All Out of Love" and was in Melbourne on
Christmas Eve to headline the annual Carols by
Candlelight.
2007–present: Upcoming third album: Goodrem is
currently producing material for her third studio album,
rumoured to be self-titled, which is due for an
Australian release in October. Goodrem has described the
material as "...a lot lighter", compared to
her previous album Mistaken Identity. In January she
stated, "As people become more aware of your life,
they can pinpoint what songs are about.
On this album, I've tried to remove a
lot of that and just write great pop songs, songs that
are from my heart but there's no baggage with
them". On 10 August, Goodrem was in Los Angeles to
film the music video for "In This Life", the
first single from the third album. The video is to
unveil a sexier image for the singer, who in several
scenes is said to sport a Brigitte Bardot look.
Her third album, due to be released on 20 October,
includes new songs "God Laughs", "Brave
Face" and "Believe Again".
Personal life, Cancer: On 8 July 2003, at the age
of 18, Goodrem was diagnosed with Hodgkin's Lymphoma, a
form of cancer which attacks the body's immune system.
As a result, she was forced to put all working
commitments on hold while undertaking treatment for the
disease. In an exclusive interview with the Australian
Women's Weekly, Goodrem revealed that her body had been
giving warning signs since 2002.
Symptoms included a head to toe rash,
fatigue, weight loss, night sweats and the appearance of
a lump on her neck. "I was doing sit-ups when I
felt something pop in my neck. I reached down and I felt
a small lump at the base of my throat. It wasn't sore,
it wasn't visible, but I could feel it." As part of
her treatment, Goodrem undertook chemotherapy, which
resulted in the loss of her hair, and radiation therapy.
News of her diagnosis made newspaper and television
headlines and an outpouring of support was shown by fans
and the general public alike, Goodrem thanking them
during The Visualise Tour for all the letters and well
wishes she received. Much of Goodrem's 2004 album
Mistaken Identity - in particular "Extraordinary
Day" - is inspired by her battle. Reflecting on
that period of her life, Goodrem says,
“ It's weird to see pictures of that time. In some
ways the fact that I was so sick was so out there, and
yet I kept it really private. No-one saw me on the days
I was really sick...I was 18 when I was diagnosed and I
had a number one album and single in the country. And in
the UK, I was number two. It was such a bipolar year.”
Relationships: During her work on Neighbours,
Goodrem dated fellow cast member Blair McDonough and it
is widely speculated that the song "Not Me, Not
I" was written about their breakup. In 2004,
Goodrem began a nine month relationship with Australian
tennis player Mark Philippoussis.
Her "comeback" single
"Out of the Blue" was written about his
support during her cancer battle. The couple ended in
controversy when newspapers reported Philippoussis had
been unfaithful. Reports indicated Philippoussis had
been linked with socialite Paris Hilton before breaking
it off with Goodrem, though this was denied by
Philippoussis, it was confirmed by Goodrem.
In 2004, Goodrem began dating former Westlife singer
Brian McFadden, with whom she collaborated on the single
"Almost Here", and this caused immense tabloid
scrutiny in the UK. It was suggested the pair had
embarked on their relationship before McFadden and
then-wife Kerry Katona had separated. This was strongly
denied by both Goodrem and McFadden.
In May 2006, newspapers claimed that Goodrem's mother
had advised her to end her relationship with McFadden in
order to concentrate on furthering her career. Despite
repeated rumours that the couple are engaged, this has
been denied by both Goodrem and McFadden.
Philanthropy: Goodrem regularly visits sick
children in hospital and uses her own experience with
cancer to help raise awareness for other young people
affected by the disease. A percentage of each ticket for
The Visualise Tour went towards the "Delta Goodrem
Leukaemia & Lymphoma Research Trust Fund",
established by Goodrem in support of cancer research. In
May 2005, Goodrem helped launch "Teen Info on
Cancer", a UK website aimed at supporting young
teenage sufferers.
In November 2005, Goodrem became an ambassador for
Research Australia's "Thank You Day", which
honours the country's health and medical researchers and
received a Thank You Day Celebrity Advocacy Award
"in recognition of her efforts in raising funds and
awareness for Australian medical research and
charities." Goodrem is set to be the face of
Alternative Hair, the UK hairdressing industry's top
fundraising event, in aid of cancer charity Leukaemia
Research. Goodrem is also member of RADD (Recording
Artists, Actors And Athletes Against Drink Driving), a
group of celebrities raising awareness of the risks of
drink driving. |
Snoron Celebrities and Models Wallpapers 
