Kate Ceberano

Kate Ceberano stands among Australia’s most accomplished and adaptable artists, whose recordings spanned multiple styles and established her as one of the country’s leading female vocalists throughout the 1980s and 1990s. She first attracted national attention in 1985 when, still a teenager, she became lead singer of the Australian funk-pop group I’m Talking. The band’s sole album, Bear Witness, yielded three hit singles, among them “Love Don’t Live Here Anymore.” After I’m Talking disbanded in 1987, Ceberano issued her first solo jazz recording that same year. Kate Ceberano and Her Septet, which included her brother Phil along with seasoned session players Alex Pertout and Jex Saarelaht, achieved strong commercial success. In 1988 she paired with Wendy Matthews for the vocal album You’ve Always Got the Blues. Later that year the lead single from her debut pop project, “Bedroom Eyes,” became the top-selling Australian single of 1988 and earned her consecutive ARIA trophies for best female vocalist. The full album, Brave, arrived in 1989 and was certified triple platinum; “Young Boys Are My Weakness” was also issued from it. A second jazz set, Like Now, appeared in 1990, followed by the pop album Think About It in 1991, which produced no major singles. In 1992 Ceberano was cast as Mary Magdalene in the Australian stage production of Jesus Christ Superstar, sharing the stage with John Farnham, Noiseworks frontman Jon Stevens, and former Rose Tattoo lead singer Angry Anderson. The resulting cast album reached four-times platinum status, and her rendition of “I Don’t Know How to Love Him” was released as a single. She returned to pop with Blue Box in 1996 and Pash in 1998, the latter featuring a title track whose 1960s-inspired sound marked her strongest chart success since “Bedroom Eyes.” A career-spanning compilation, True Romantic, was released in 1999.