Ella Hooper

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Ella Hooper
Ella Hooper in 2012
Ella Hooper in 2012
Background information
Birth nameElla Keighery Hooper
Born (1983-01-30) 30 January 1983 (age 38)
Melbourne, Australia
OriginViolet Town, Victoria, Australia
GenresRock, indie, pop rock, country, acoustic
Years active1996–present
LabelsWah Wah
Associated actsKilling Heidi, Broad, The Verses
WebsiteElla Hooper website

Ella Keighery Hooper (born 30 January 1983)[1] is an Australian rock music singer-songwriter,[2] radio presenter and TV personality. Hooper is the lead singer of Killing Heidi. The band formed in 1996 (when Ella was 13) and also featured her older brother Jesse Hooper. Their biggest hits were "Mascara" (no. 1, 30 January 2000, Australian charts), "Live Without It" (no. 5, 23 April 2000) and "Weir" (no. 6, 19 December 1999).[3] Killing Heidi broke up in 2006. Ella and Jesse have performed small scale venues as an acoustic band, The Verses.[4] Ella is now a radio presenter on 2DayFM[5] and was one of the two captains in the short-lived revival of the ABC television show Spicks and Specks that commenced in February 2014.[6]

Early history[]

Born in Melbourne to Helen Keighery and Jeremy Hooper.[7] Hooper grew up in Violet Town, a small rural township (950 people) 175 km north of Melbourne.[8] After finishing Violet Town Primary School, Hooper travelled 27 km by bus to Benalla High School (called Benalla College from 1994) until Year 11. Her parents worked as English and drama teachers, and encouraged Hooper to develop her songwriting skills while Jesse became a guitarist very early on. The Hooper siblings wrote and performed songs for a 1996 Triple J competition and won with "Kettle". Hooper moved to Melbourne after Killing Heidi were signed to a recording deal with Wah Wah Music's and Chris Robinson.[9] They released "Weir" as their first single in August 1999, Hooper left secondary schooling to concentrate on touring Killing Heidi.

Killing Heidi[]

Main article: Killing Heidi

As a member of Killing Heidi, Hooper won four ARIA Awards in 2000: "Album of the Year" for Reflector, "Best Group", "Breakthrough Artist – Album" and "Best Rock Group".[10] With Jesse, Hooper was awarded APRA 2001 Songwriter of the Year.[11][12]

Hooper underwent surgery on her vocal cords to remove a cyst.[9]

Solo[]

After Killing Heidi broke up in 2006, Hooper then began playing acoustic gigs at smaller venues in Australia alongside Jesse as The Verses.[4] In mid-2006 she toured Australia with the all-female musical line-up of Broad, alongside Australian pop musician Deborah Conway, among others.[13]

Hooper was a regular guest on the ABC's musical quiz show Spicks and Specks; she has also appeared on the SBS programme RocKwiz and made an appearance on the premiere of David Tench Tonight.

In March 2011, she released her version of "On the Inside", the theme song to Prisoner.[14]

In 2012, Ella became the host, mentor and MC for The Telstra Road to Discovery, a respected talent development program that scours the country for the next generation of singing and songwriting talent.

Ella decided to embark on a solo career after a conversation with Stevie Nicks.[15] She released her first solo single "Low High" on 9 November 2012. The single was produced and recorded by Jan Skubizewski (Owl Eyes, Illy, Way of the Eagle) in his Collingwood studio. The song featured a guest performance by horror-country act, Graveyard Train.

"Häxan", her second single, was released on 26 April 2013, and launched at The Workers Club on 9 May 2013. A third single, "The Red Shoes", followed over a year later, in June 2014. All three singles feature on Ella's debut album In Tongues, which was released on 21 November 2014 via Pledge Music.[16]

Hooper returned to television on 5 February 2014, as one of two team captains (along with Adam Richard) in the comeback of the ABC's musical quiz show Spicks and Specks.[6][17]

In 2016, Ella made a surprise appearance in the seventh episode of an Australian documentary web series called How To Be A Fan With Hex.[18]

Ella released a new single, "To the Bone" on 27 July 2018. She later announced in an interview that she is planning to release a mini-album in 2019.[15]

On 18 January 2019, Hooper was named as an entry in Eurovision - Australia Decides, a competition to represent Australia at the Eurovision Song Contest 2019.[19] Her song "Data Dust" finished 10th out of 10. In February 2019 Hooper confirmed the upcoming release of an EP saying "I've been working on a new EP or mini album over the last few months and playing the new tracks live before they're released is a great way to see what's really connecting with my audience before I put the final touches on the songs."[20]

In 2019, Hooper joined seven celebrities including Lisa Curry, Georgie Parker, Casey Donovan and Lynne McGranger for – a one night only special event choreographed by Todd McKenney, where they bared all for women's health awareness, in particular breast cancer. Hooper shared publicly for the first time that her mum was diagnosed with stage 3 breast cancer.[21]

Discography[]

List of studio albums, with selected details
Title Album details
In Tongues
  • Released: 27 November 2014
  • Label: Independent
  • Formats: CD, digital download, Vinyl
Venom EP
  • Released: 7 August 2015[22]
  • Label: Gaga Digi
  • Formats: Digital download

Singles[]

List of singles, with selected chart positions
Year Title Peak chart
positions 		Album
AUS
2012 "Low High" — In Tongues
2013 "Häxan" —
2014 "The Red Shoes" —
2015 "I Am Woman" (with Judith Lucy) — N/A
2018 "To the Bone" — N/A
2019 "Data Dust" — N/A

References[]

  1. ^ Ella Hooper biography Retrieved 11 May 2014. Archived 12 May 2014 at the Wayback Machine
  2. ^ "Australasian Performing Right Association". APRA. Archived from the original on 5 December 2007. Retrieved 6 November 2007.
  3. ^ "Killing Heidi discography". australian-charts.com. Retrieved 6 November 2007.
  4. ^ Jump up to: a b Jackson, Belinda (31 May 2013). "Spotted by locals: Ella Hooper's High Country". The Sydney Morning Herald. Fairfax Media. Retrieved 11 May 2014.
  5. ^ "Australian Top 20". 2DayFM. Southern Cross Austereo. 2014. Retrieved 11 May 2014.
  6. ^ Jump up to: a b "Spicks and Specks". ABC TV. ABC. 2013. Retrieved 26 March 2014.
  7. ^ "Killing Heidi fansite". Retrieved 6 November 2007.
  8. ^ "Violet Town tourism website". Violet Town Action Group. Archived from the original on 13 November 2007. Retrieved 6 November 2007.
  9. ^ Jump up to: a b Murfett, Andrew (4 July 2004). "Heidi reborn". The Age. Retrieved 6 November 2007.
  10. ^ "2000: 14th Annual ARIA Awards". Australian Recording Industry Association ARIA. Archived from the original on 26 September 2007. Retrieved 6 November 2007.
  11. ^ "APRA Music Awards – Winners 2001". APRA. Archived from the original on 28 September 2007. Retrieved 6 November 2007.
  12. ^ "The Judges". The Song Comp. 2013. Archived from the original on 13 December 2013. Retrieved 8 December 2013.
  13. ^ "Broad 2006 web site". Maiden Australia Productions. Archived from the original on 8 October 2007. Retrieved 6 November 2007.
  14. ^ Alice Coster; Nicola Webber & Kate McMahon (4 March 2011). "Tattle". Herald Sun. p. 24.
  15. ^ Jump up to: a b Dan Webb (30 September 2018). "Ella Hooper talks gender inequality and Triple J". Sungenre. Retrieved 2 October 2018.
  16. ^ http://www.pledgemusic.com/projects/ellahooper
  17. ^ Ellis, Scott (11 November 2013). "Spicks and Specks is back". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 31 December 2013.
  18. ^ "How to be a Fan with Hex: Episode 7 Tribute Band".
  19. ^ "Eurovision 2019: Here Are The Final Three Acts In The Running To Represent Australia". musicfeeds. 18 January 2019. Retrieved 19 January 2019.
  20. ^ "Ella Hooper is using upcoming dates to preview new music". noise11. 15 February 2019. Retrieved 15 February 2019.
  21. ^ "Home & Away stars among eight brave celebrities getting naked on live TV for a good cause". 7NEWS.com.au. 2 August 2019. Retrieved 21 March 2020.
  22. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 12 August 2015.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
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