Gabriella Cilmi is a famous Australian singer and songwriter who was born on 10 October 1991 in the Melbourne, in Dandenong. She is Italian descent, lives with her parents Paula and Joe (whose origins are in Calabria) and her brother Joseph.
At an early age Gabriella Cilmi developed an interest in a wide range of musical styles including many famous bands like Nina Simone, Led Zeppelin, Janis Joplin, The Sweet, T.Rex and Cat Stevens. Despite her natural aptitude and vocal talent, she was adviced that she lacked the discipline necessary to pursue a singing career. Her favourite idol is Janis Joplin, during this time she sang with a band performing cover songs by Jet, Silverch
air,Led Zeppelin and others. Cilmi recorded original songs with producers/writer Barbara and Adrian Hannan of The SongStore.In 2004 Cilmi captured the attention of Warner Music executive Michael Parisi whilst giving an impromptu rendition of the Rolling Stones' song "Jumping Jack Flash" at the Lygon Street Festa, a community festival in Melbourne. At the age of thirteen Cilmi travelled to the US and UK with Adrian Hannan and was offered four major US deals. She eventually signed a contract with Island Records UK. 4 years after her signing to Island Records, she went to see The Zutons in The newly built 'Echo Arena' in Liverpool, on 19th december 2008. She stood in the front row
Musical career
Cilmi has the same manager, Cassandra Gracey, writer and UK record label, with the Sugababes. She made her UK TV debut on 14 December 2007 when she sang her new single "Sweet About Me" on Later with Jools Holland. In December 2007 Cilmi's song "Sanctuary" featured in the film St Trinian's and on its soundtrack.
Cilmi has also song on the theme to UK TV Series Echo Beach which went to air in early 2008 on ITV1. It is a cover of "Echo Beach" by Martha and the Muffins. In February 2008 she supported the Parisian band Nouvelle Vague on their UK tour.
Cilmi's first album Lessons To Be Learned was written and recorded with hit production team Xenomania and was released on 31 March 2008 in the UK. She has been compared to Amy Winehouse and also Macy Gray, because of the occasional fracture in her voice.
The single "Sweet About Me" debuted on the UK Singles Chart at number sixty-eight (9 March 2008) and rose to number fifty the following week. The single rose again to number twenty several weeks after the physical CD was made available. Despite then falling back to number twenty-three, it re-entered the top twenty at number nineteen on 18 May, the single reached its highest position of number six so far, on the chart dated 15 June 2008, and it so far reached number seventeen in the Irish Singles Chart. It debuted at number thirteen in Australia on downloads alone, and has peaked at number one. She won six Aria awards in Australia, taking out Best Female Ar
tist, Breakthrough Artist: Single (Sweet About Me), Breakthrough Artist: Album (Lessons to be Learned), Best Pop Release (Lessons to be Learned), Highest Selling Single (Sweet About Me), and Single of the Year (Sweet About Me). Perhaps part of her success has been linked to her song, “Sweet About Me”, being used to sell deodorant around the world this year. The song also got to number 6 in the Dutch top 40, in September 2008.It is currently used in a TV commercial for Sure "upside-down" deodorant in Sweden, Denmark and the UK, which has resulted in Danish radio playing the song repeatedly.
She performed "Sweet About Me" on the Australian breakfast news program Sunrise on the Seven Network on 1 April 2008 and again on the talk show Rove five days later. She also performed this single on Ireland's chat show The Late Late Show on Friday, 23 May 2008.
From March to May 2008 she supported the Sugababes on their UK Change Tour, as well as supporting Nouvelle Vague. She also opened for James Blunt on his June 2008 Australian tour. Finally, she participated at the MTV Greece concert in Greece on October 4, 2008 alongside R.E.M. and Kaiser Chiefs.
After Sweet About Me dropped to number two for several weeks on the Australian ARIA Charts, she reclaimed the number one spot on 19 May 2008. On 9 July 2008, Cilmi's second UK single, "Save The Lies", was exclusively premiered on The Sun's website. On the 13th, the "Out Of Office Remix" was premiered on the Fresh40 chart show. Cilmi's second UK single did not show as much success as "Sweet About Me", peaking at 33 in the UK. During the release of "Save the Lies (Good To Me)" in the UK, there was a subsequent release in Australia. "Don't Wanna Go to Bed Now" did not show as much success as "Sweet About Me", peaking
at 28 on the charts.On 1 October she announced that "Sanctuary" was the fourth single. It was released on November 10, 2008 but failed to chart. Her 2008 Christmas song was a cover of a Connie Francis song Warm This Winter, which is currently featuring on the Co-operative's Christmas adverts. It charted at No22 on the UK singles Christmas chart purely from downloads of the track from the deluxe edition of its parent album, despite there being no music video, physical single release, or promotion from Cilmi herself.
Gabriella will also appear at the 2009 Australian Open.
Gabriella Cilmi discography Releases
↙Studio albums 1
↙Singles 5
↙Music videos 4
Studio albums
Lessons to Be Learned (2008)
Singles
"Sweet About Me" (2008)
"Don't Wanna Go to Bed Now" (2008) (Australia only)
"Save the Lies" (2008)
"Sanctuary" (2008)
"Warm This Winter" (2008)
Music videos
"Sweet About Me" (2008)
"Don't Wanna Go to Bed Now" (2008) (Australia only)
"Save the Lies" (2008)
"Sanctuary" (2008)
Awards and nominations
Year Type Award Result
2008 ARIA Awards Breakthrough Single Won
2008 ARIA Awards Breakthrough Album Won
2008 ARIA Awards Highest Selling Single Won
2008 ARIA Awards Best Pop release Won
2008 ARIA Awards Best Female Artist Won
2008 ARIA Awards Single Of The Year Won
2008 Q Awards Breakthrough Artist Nominated
2008 MTV European Music Awards Breakthrough Artist Shortlisted
