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GenreRock
Rank4,818 (new)
Albums13
Songs58
AboutOn the strength of two strong rock anthem singles and the group's vivacious dreadlocked teenage female singer, Killing Heidi emerged as the act dominating the Australian sales charts at the turn of the new Millennium. Like every "overnight sensation," Killing Heidi arrived with an important gestation period.
Singer Ella Hooper and her guitar-playing older brother Jessie grew up in the small Violet Town (population approximately 2,000), a good day's drive from both Melbourne and Sydney. They spent their formative years listening to their drama and music teacher parents' record collections (Bob Dylan, Van Morrison, Joni Mitchell). The local radio offered few meaningful alternatives. As adolescence set in the national government-run youth network, Triple J had arrived in the area, exposing Ella and Jessie Hooper to a world of new sounds. Jessie discovered Nirvana and Smashing Pumpkins. Ella gravitated towards Hole and Veruca Salt. American Thighs was the first CD she bought.
Brother and sister started jamming at home, and in 1996, the pair played an acoustic gig on the city lawns at the Violet Town arts festival. Ella was 13, Jessie 15. Their performance, including two songs Ella had written, made an impression on a local studio owner who offered the Hoopers free studio time. With school friends acting as rhythm section, they recorded those originals and submitted the results in a Triple J-sponsored competition seeking to unearth new talent. They won their section.
With their song "Kettle" gaining national (non-commercial) Triple J airplay, Ella and Jessie juggled with attending school and beginning to play serious gigs. Producer Paul Kosky was inspired by hearing "Kettle" on the radio to check out the group at an outdoor festival. Working on records by Clouds, Kate Ceberano, and Crowded House (Woodface), Kosky had become frustrated with watching the music leave his studio and disappear in the hands of record companies. He wanted to find an act to manage as well as produce. He decided on Killing Heidi.
The first mainstream single didn't appear until August of 1999. By then the experienced rhythm section of Adam Pedretti on drums and Warren Jenkin on bass had been installed, months had been spent developing the music in the studio, and the band had been signed to Roadshow Music, the independent Australian home of Savage Garden. That first single, "Weir" (a tale of life after high school), was still charting nationally three months later when the second single, "Mascara" (about self-image), leapfrogged it into the national number one position, which "Mascara" held four weeks. Their debut album Reflector entered the chart at number one and went double platinum in Australia. Reflector eventually sold 300,000 albums in Australia earning 5x platinum status and Killing Heidi won four ARIA awards in October 2000. However, the momentum halted when a cyst was found on Hooper's vocal cords and she underwent an operation in 2001. Her voice was slow to recover.
The band recorded its second album Present despite Hooper's continuing problems with her vocal cords. Present wasn't as successful as Reflector, failing to make the top ten of the Australian album charts with only 50,000 copies sold. It spawned two singles "Heavensent" which reached the top 30 in early 2002 and "Outside of Me" which reached a peak of #12 later in 2002. The band left Kosky as a result of ongoing friction between the band and manager and signed up with Chris Robinson.
The band went over to Los Angeles in late 2003 to record a comeback album and rented a house in the San Fernando Valley while the album was recorded. The songs were written both in Violet Town and in Los Angeles. In late August 2004, Killing Heidi released their third studio album. Self-titled, the album featured a less styled and more sonically expressive sound, and was hailed by critics as a major return to form for the band. Killing Heidi debuted at #7 on the charts, reaching gold accreditation in its first week of sales, though the album fell out of the charts relatively quickly.
The first single from the band's third album was "I Am", released on July 12, 2004. Debuting at #16 on the Australian singles charts, it spent three months in the Top 50 charts and eventually reached Gold sales, making it Killing Heidi's most successful single since 2000's "Live Without It". "I Am" also features on the Australian version of the Spider-Man 2 soundtrack.
In September 2004, the second single from the album, "Calm Down" was released, though it made only moderate impact, peaking at #23. Killing Heidi spent the rest of 2004 touring Australia on their national Calm Down tour, which became highly successful for the band. Early 2005 saw a third song from the album, "Running Underwater" released to radio, but like Ammyl in 2003, it was not released as a commercial single.
Later in 2005, Killing Heidi officially split with record company Sony BMG and began work on their next album. In an interview in early 2006, Ella stated that the recording process was almost finished. The band has also announced that they have produced the new album themselves.
Tentatively titled Holding Pattern, Killing Heidi's fourth studio album is, at this stage, slated for a 2006 release. Early reports suggest that the new album has a more organic sound to it, with Ella claiming that the style of music on the upcoming album is the kind of Killing Heidi the band had always wanted to be.
Singer Ella Hooper and her guitar-playing older brother Jessie grew up in the small Violet Town (population approximately 2,000), a good day's drive from both Melbourne and Sydney. They spent their formative years listening to their drama and music teacher parents' record collections (Bob Dylan, Van Morrison, Joni Mitchell). The local radio offered few meaningful alternatives. As adolescence set in the national government-run youth network, Triple J had arrived in the area, exposing Ella and Jessie Hooper to a world of new sounds. Jessie discovered Nirvana and Smashing Pumpkins. Ella gravitated towards Hole and Veruca Salt. American Thighs was the first CD she bought.
Brother and sister started jamming at home, and in 1996, the pair played an acoustic gig on the city lawns at the Violet Town arts festival. Ella was 13, Jessie 15. Their performance, including two songs Ella had written, made an impression on a local studio owner who offered the Hoopers free studio time. With school friends acting as rhythm section, they recorded those originals and submitted the results in a Triple J-sponsored competition seeking to unearth new talent. They won their section.
With their song "Kettle" gaining national (non-commercial) Triple J airplay, Ella and Jessie juggled with attending school and beginning to play serious gigs. Producer Paul Kosky was inspired by hearing "Kettle" on the radio to check out the group at an outdoor festival. Working on records by Clouds, Kate Ceberano, and Crowded House (Woodface), Kosky had become frustrated with watching the music leave his studio and disappear in the hands of record companies. He wanted to find an act to manage as well as produce. He decided on Killing Heidi.
The first mainstream single didn't appear until August of 1999. By then the experienced rhythm section of Adam Pedretti on drums and Warren Jenkin on bass had been installed, months had been spent developing the music in the studio, and the band had been signed to Roadshow Music, the independent Australian home of Savage Garden. That first single, "Weir" (a tale of life after high school), was still charting nationally three months later when the second single, "Mascara" (about self-image), leapfrogged it into the national number one position, which "Mascara" held four weeks. Their debut album Reflector entered the chart at number one and went double platinum in Australia. Reflector eventually sold 300,000 albums in Australia earning 5x platinum status and Killing Heidi won four ARIA awards in October 2000. However, the momentum halted when a cyst was found on Hooper's vocal cords and she underwent an operation in 2001. Her voice was slow to recover.
The band recorded its second album Present despite Hooper's continuing problems with her vocal cords. Present wasn't as successful as Reflector, failing to make the top ten of the Australian album charts with only 50,000 copies sold. It spawned two singles "Heavensent" which reached the top 30 in early 2002 and "Outside of Me" which reached a peak of #12 later in 2002. The band left Kosky as a result of ongoing friction between the band and manager and signed up with Chris Robinson.
The band went over to Los Angeles in late 2003 to record a comeback album and rented a house in the San Fernando Valley while the album was recorded. The songs were written both in Violet Town and in Los Angeles. In late August 2004, Killing Heidi released their third studio album. Self-titled, the album featured a less styled and more sonically expressive sound, and was hailed by critics as a major return to form for the band. Killing Heidi debuted at #7 on the charts, reaching gold accreditation in its first week of sales, though the album fell out of the charts relatively quickly.
The first single from the band's third album was "I Am", released on July 12, 2004. Debuting at #16 on the Australian singles charts, it spent three months in the Top 50 charts and eventually reached Gold sales, making it Killing Heidi's most successful single since 2000's "Live Without It". "I Am" also features on the Australian version of the Spider-Man 2 soundtrack.
In September 2004, the second single from the album, "Calm Down" was released, though it made only moderate impact, peaking at #23. Killing Heidi spent the rest of 2004 touring Australia on their national Calm Down tour, which became highly successful for the band. Early 2005 saw a third song from the album, "Running Underwater" released to radio, but like Ammyl in 2003, it was not released as a commercial single.
Later in 2005, Killing Heidi officially split with record company Sony BMG and began work on their next album. In an interview in early 2006, Ella stated that the recording process was almost finished. The band has also announced that they have produced the new album themselves.
Tentatively titled Holding Pattern, Killing Heidi's fourth studio album is, at this stage, slated for a 2006 release. Early reports suggest that the new album has a more organic sound to it, with Ella claiming that the style of music on the upcoming album is the kind of Killing Heidi the band had always wanted to be.
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