Rose Bygrave – Walking Home

Rose Bygrave – BIOGRAPHY –

Rose was born in The Western District of Victoria in 1955 and has been playing the piano since she was old enough to reach the keys. She has been a professional musician for over 25 years. Rose spent over ten years as a singer-songwriter-keyboard payer with the acclaimed Goanna Band during the 80’s and early 90’s. Goanna played an integral part in the early Aboriginal Land Rights struggle with the huge hit Solid Rock, written by Shane Howard.

The band’s first recording Spirit of Place, won the three main music industry awards. Throughout her career, she has maintained a strong bond with Aboriginal people and continues working with her music at every opportunity, in all areas of social justice and human rights. Over the years she has shared stages with many of the worlds favourite artists, supporting (of the commercially well known) James Taylor, Carlos Santana and Eric Clapton. As a guest of many Australian Festivals she has performed with many of the loved National and International artists. In 1998-99 Rose was involved as a mentor in the Aboriginal Song Lines program, which fosters emerging indigenous musicians.

A collaboration with Shane and Marcia Howard (from Goanna), Kerryn Tolhurst (Dingoes), Liam O’Mainlai (Hot House Flowers), Steven Cooney (Mary Black’s Band) and Seamus Begley (from Ireland), Aboriginal artists, Lional Fogherty (poet) and The Pigram Brothers from Broom … and others, produced a new Goanna CD Spirit Returns. This multicultural CD, on which Rose contributed 3 songs, was released at the Melbourne Concert Hall as part of the 1999 Melbourne International Festival Program and was hailed as ‘a triumphant crossing of the great cultural and geographical divides that exist for Australian musicians’.

In mid 1999 Rose produced and released her first solo independent CD White Bird. The ABC and many other radio stations added her songs to their national play lists. Four of the songs were added to compilation CDs and America’s Mollie O’Brien recorded one of the songs as well. At the Woodford Festival in 2000 Rose was invited to be the soloist with the choir during the famous fire event. This was broadcast live to 1.5 billion people on a worldwide lick via the BBC.

In 2001 rose released a second CD Walking Home… another critically acclaimed song writing, performance and production effort that has further consolidated her reputation as a soulful solid and much loved Australian artist. In 2002 Rose performed as guest at most of the major festival and as support for Luka Bloom on his Australian National tour.

In December that year she organised a major Benefit Concert called Bridges to Bali to raise money for the Balinese victims of the terrorist attack. The Concert was broadcast as an ABC live-to-air event and was also relayed to Radio Australia into the Asia-Pacific region. It was a great musical, emotional and financial success In 2003-2004 she continued her work as a musical mentor/Artist in Residence to troubled young people in regional Australia. She supported Dennis Locorriere and Paul Brady on their National Tours, she produced new songs for compilation CDs and performed at many Festivals and Concert Halls To mark the 20th anniversary of Goanna’s Spirit of Place, a re-mastered CD of that album featuring bonus tracks of ‘hidden songs’ was released by WEA.

In 2005 She travelled to India where she performed for students at the University of Calcutta and in the second half of the year she spent 6 months living in Rome where she spent time working on new songs for her forthcoming CD. Recently, Rose completed a successful short tour in QLD and performed with Shane and Marcia Howard as Goanna at the Countdown Reunion Spectacular, and during the summer of 06/07 organised 6 free 5 hour shows in regional Victoria as support for drought effected country people: Damian Howard, Tony O’Neil, Alan O’Connell, Dave Steel, Jon Emry, John Edgar, Tiffany Eckhardt, Peter Denahy Marcia Howard and Rose played musical chairs … and then some, on a really memorable tour. The New CD is Finished and was launched at the the Port Fairy Folk Festival. She lives in Queenscliff Victoria with her husband writer and poet Barry Hill.