Описание
Biography
Lee Kernaghan was born on April 15, 1964, in Corryong, Victoria on the foothills of the Snowy Mountains high country. The son of a truck driver and later multi platinum recording artist Ray Kernaghan, Lee spent his formative years growing up in the Riverina country of Southern NSW. Lee’s Grandfather was a third generation drover of sheep and cattle and his experiences on the road with his Pop ran deep, producing a string of hits that began with the release of his first album, the ARIA award winning The Outback Club in 1992. His first number one hit ‘Boys from the Bush’ became an anthem, a celebration of a way of life that connected with the hearts and minds of a younger generation of rural Australians. His music was country but it rocked and was the harbinger of a new era for Australian Country Music. “When Garth (Porter) and I first wrote Boys from the Bush I had no idea it would ever be a hit. It was just a song about me and my mates, working on the land, going to the pub and tearing around in utes. I didn’t think anyone would be that interested in us...we were just kids from the bush but Garth said “this record (The Outback Club) has to be about your life and where you come from” so we wrote that song and several others and before long I had a band and we were out on the road performing them live.”
New Star Rising
In January 1993 Kernaghan was awarded his first Golden Guitar for Song of the Year (Boys from the Bush) along with more Golden Guitars for Album of the Year (The Outback Club) and Male Vocalist of the Year. Kernaghan and Porter collaborated again in 1993 to produce the highly acclaimed Three Chain Road album which featured the smash hits She’s my Ute, The Outback Club and the award winning duet Leave him in the Longyard with Slim Dusty. Three Chain Road won Kernaghan a record five Golden Guitars at the Australian Country Music Awards, the 1994 ARIA Award for Country Album of the Year and Double Platinum Certification from the Australian Record Industry Association. Throughout his career Lee Kernaghan has dominated the charts with successive hit albums including Three Chain Road, 1959, Hat Town, Electric Rodeo, The New Bush, The Big Ones and #1 album Spirit of The Bush. Awarded Hit Maker of the Decade in recognition of unprecedented chart success throughout the 90’s Lee was recently named the biggest hit-maker of the last twenty years on the Australian Country Tracks Chart 2009 edging out musical greats from Australia and America for the number one position.
Lost In The Wilderness
It hadn’t always been smooth sailing for Kernaghan who after winning the 1982 Starmaker award soon found himself in the musical wilderness. “I remember being on a real high after Starmaker but my first single didn’t have any impact at radio, there was a failed record and management deal somewhere in there and before long I was back in Albury, NSW trying to get gigs anywhere for me and my band. Nobody wanted to hear much country back then so I was mainly singing pop/rock covers and some rock ‘n roll. I remember working in a piano bar playing cocktail music for a couple of years and even called bingo at the SS&A club between sets. Probably the darkest day was playing at the Carriers Arms Hotel in early 1990. I loaded in my PA and started playing at 8pm but a couple of hours went by and nobody turned up. At 11pm the bar manager said I could knock off and I loaded all my gear back into this little modified horse float I was towing, knowing that not a soul had turned up to my show, not even my Mum!”
Pass The Hat Around
Kernaghan has always been passionate about the bush, children, families and the people of rural, remote and regional Australia. “The boys and I rolled into Charleville QLD one Saturday morning back in 1997. We’d been touring hard through the bush for the previous few years and had seen first hand the effects of drought and economic rationalisation on smaller towns and commun
