Emma Dean
Encyclopedia
Emma Kate Dean is a musician
from Brisbane
, Australia. Dean uses a soprano
singing voice, and has played violin
, mandolin
, keyboards
and piano
for Bittersuite (2003–2005, with Georgia Weber), Kate Miller-Heidke Band
(2003–2006) or her own Emma Dean Band.
Emma Dean Band was formed in 2005 with her brother, Anthony Dean, on drums
and Dane Pollock on guitar
, John Turnbull on bass guitar
and Rachel Meredith on cello
.
and The Nutcracker
alongside Australia's best-known dancers. A few years later, while at a new, alternative dance school she played the role of Edith in a contemporary version of Picnic at Hanging Rock
. Shortly after, she quit dancing to pursue her career in music.
- Front Row Seat and Open Windows Closed Doors.
In 2005, Dean split with Weber to move into a solo career, she formed the Emma Dean Band with her brother, Anthony Dean, on drums
and Dane Pollock on guitar
, John Turnbull on bass guitar
and Rachel Meredith on cello
. She released a self-financed, self-distributed four-track debut EP, Hanging out the Washing. In November 2006, she released her second EP, Face Painter, and performanced in Women In Voice 15 and the Queensland Performing Arts' Spirit of Christmas alongside David Campbell
.
Dean played in the Kate Miller-Heidke Band
during 2003–2006, playing violin
, piano
and backing vocals
. Once again, with her solo career firmly in mind, she left Miller-Heidke's group to concentrate on her own career.
Dean is active on the Australian music scene, playing regular sold-out shows, touring the rest of the country and supporting major international acts such as The Dresden Dolls
and Teddy Geiger
as well as the homegrown Bobby Flynn
and Tecoma.
, Dean performed "Cocaine", "Real Life Computer Game" and "More". In September Dean made her first trip overseas to Berlin, accompanied by fellow Brisbane singer/songwriter Edward Guglielmino
. In February 2008, Emma debuted a new song called "Cocaine" at a show at the Judith Wright Centre Of Contemporary Arts in Brisbane which would eventually become a single from her debut album. Dean said of the song at the time: "After reading a false internet rumour involving myself as a cocaine addict, I began to ponder the things in my life I have not yet experienced. After this stream of consciousness I gave birth to 'Cocaine'—an upbeat song about a time in my life where I was not on drugs but was desperately longing for some sort of high. Funnily enough, I found this in 'Cocaine'."
Kaz Mitchell writing in Melbourne's Impress magazine said of Emma's debut album, "Real Life Computer Game is as fresh and inventive as I had hoped it would be, and easily fits into my top 10 albums of the year so far."
The Tempest received rave reviews with Katherine Lyall-Watson writing in ourbrisbane.com -
"... the music is stunning. Emma Dean and Colin Webber composed the score and it conveys mood, tension, beauty and whimsy perfectly... What a stroke of genius for director Lynne Bradley to cast Emma Dean as Ariel. Emma plays the grand piano and the violin during the show, using her violin to add menace when needed. And her voice is pure magic. She sang some of Ariel's lines, spoke others, and was captivating throughout. Emma Dean is a compelling performer, whether as a singer, musician or actor."
Emma took a two month break from the world of performing in August and September 2009. Emma returned to Brisbane in late September to prepare for an East Coast tour of the cabaret show The Wheel of Frank Confession.
Part musical showcase and part intimate theatre piece, “the Wheel of Frank Confession” brought together Emma, Emily Davis (Adl), Ben Stewart (Bris) and Brendan Maclean (Syd) for a show that pushed the boundaries of conventional music performance. The artists in this show gave up the constrictive segregation of “opener” through to “headliner” and the graduated importance this lent to present a homogenous front. On “the Wheel…” tour, they each had their own space on stage to share songs, discuss them, challenge and harass one another, tell tales (tall and true) and generally to interact with one another and the audience. And last, but not at all least, to spin the dreaded “Wheel of Frank Confession” and to confess their deepest, darkest secrets, desires and fears. It was a heart-lifting, heart-breaking, dark, funny, spontaneous, quirky, confessional, confidential, eye-opening, intuitive, instructional and sexy experience.
This CD is the soundtrack recorded by Emma and Colin Webber for Zen Zen Zo Physical Theatre's 2009 production of The Tempest based on Shakespeare's play.
Downside Up was recorded and mixed by Jacob Diefenbach and contains a selection of songs from the music theatre piece written by Emma and Jacob.
Musician
A musician is an artist who plays a musical instrument. It may or may not be the person's profession. Musicians can be classified by their roles in performing music and writing music.Also....* A person who makes music a profession....
from Brisbane
Brisbane
Brisbane is the capital and most populous city in the Australian state of Queensland and the third most populous city in Australia. Brisbane's metropolitan area has a population of over 2 million, and the South East Queensland urban conurbation, centred around Brisbane, encompasses a population of...
, Australia. Dean uses a soprano
Soprano
A soprano is a voice type with a vocal range from approximately middle C to "high A" in choral music, or to "soprano C" or higher in operatic music. In four-part chorale style harmony, the soprano takes the highest part, which usually encompasses the melody...
singing voice, and has played violin
Violin
The violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....
, mandolin
Mandolin
A mandolin is a musical instrument in the lute family . It descends from the mandore, a soprano member of the lute family. The mandolin soundboard comes in many shapes—but generally round or teardrop-shaped, sometimes with scrolls or other projections. A mandolin may have f-holes, or a single...
, keyboards
Keyboard instrument
A keyboard instrument is a musical instrument which is played using a musical keyboard. The most common of these is the piano. Other widely used keyboard instruments include organs of various types as well as other mechanical, electromechanical and electronic instruments...
and piano
Piano
The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
for Bittersuite (2003–2005, with Georgia Weber), Kate Miller-Heidke Band
Kate Miller-Heidke
Kate Miller-Heidke is a singer-songwriter from Brisbane, Australia. Although classically trained, she has followed a career in alternative pop music. She is signed to Sony Australia, Epic in the US and RCA in the UK.-Career:...
(2003–2006) or her own Emma Dean Band.
Emma Dean Band was formed in 2005 with her brother, Anthony Dean, on drums
Drum kit
A drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....
and Dane Pollock on guitar
Guitar
The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
, John Turnbull on bass guitar
Bass guitar
The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
and Rachel Meredith on cello
Cello
The cello is a bowed string instrument with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is a member of the violin family of musical instruments, which also includes the violin, viola, and double bass. Old forms of the instrument in the Baroque era are baryton and viol .A person who plays a cello is...
.
History
Music became the most obvious career move for Emma. Emma enthuses about her childhood in all her performances. She claims that at the age of three she was told that her backside was too big to be a ballerina and that this shattered her dreams of dancing Swan LakeSwan Lake
Swan Lake ballet, op. 20, by Pyotr Tchaikovsky, composed 1875–1876. The scenario, initially in four acts, was fashioned from Russian folk tales and tells the story of Odette, a princess turned into a swan by an evil sorcerer's curse. The choreographer of the original production was Julius Reisinger...
and The Nutcracker
The Nutcracker
The Nutcracker is a two-act ballet, originally choreographed by Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov with a score by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. The libretto is adapted from E.T.A. Hoffmann's story "The Nutcracker and the Mouse King". It was given its première at the Mariinsky Theatre in St...
alongside Australia's best-known dancers. A few years later, while at a new, alternative dance school she played the role of Edith in a contemporary version of Picnic at Hanging Rock
Picnic at Hanging Rock
Picnic at Hanging Rock is a 1967 drama and mystery novel by Australian author Joan Lindsay. She wrote it over a four-week period at her home Mulberry Hill in Baxter, on Victoria's Mornington Peninsula. It was first published in 1967 in Australia by Cheshire Publishing and was released in...
. Shortly after, she quit dancing to pursue her career in music.
Career
In 2002, she formed the duo, Bittersuite, with Georgia Weber and recorded two EPsExtended play
An EP is a musical recording which contains more music than a single, but is too short to qualify as a full album or LP. The term EP originally referred only to specific types of vinyl records other than 78 rpm standard play records and LP records, but it is now applied to mid-length Compact...
- Front Row Seat and Open Windows Closed Doors.
In 2005, Dean split with Weber to move into a solo career, she formed the Emma Dean Band with her brother, Anthony Dean, on drums
Drum kit
A drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....
and Dane Pollock on guitar
Guitar
The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
, John Turnbull on bass guitar
Bass guitar
The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
and Rachel Meredith on cello
Cello
The cello is a bowed string instrument with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is a member of the violin family of musical instruments, which also includes the violin, viola, and double bass. Old forms of the instrument in the Baroque era are baryton and viol .A person who plays a cello is...
. She released a self-financed, self-distributed four-track debut EP, Hanging out the Washing. In November 2006, she released her second EP, Face Painter, and performanced in Women In Voice 15 and the Queensland Performing Arts' Spirit of Christmas alongside David Campbell
David Campbell (Australian musician)
David Joseph Campbell is an Australian singer and stage performer. He has performed and recorded many different genres of music from rock to classics. He is the son of singer Jimmy Barnes.-Theatre career:...
.
Dean played in the Kate Miller-Heidke Band
Kate Miller-Heidke
Kate Miller-Heidke is a singer-songwriter from Brisbane, Australia. Although classically trained, she has followed a career in alternative pop music. She is signed to Sony Australia, Epic in the US and RCA in the UK.-Career:...
during 2003–2006, playing violin
Violin
The violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....
, piano
Piano
The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
and backing vocals
Backing vocalist
A backing vocalist or backing singer is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists...
. Once again, with her solo career firmly in mind, she left Miller-Heidke's group to concentrate on her own career.
Dean is active on the Australian music scene, playing regular sold-out shows, touring the rest of the country and supporting major international acts such as The Dresden Dolls
The Dresden Dolls
The Dresden Dolls are an American musical duo from Boston, Massachusetts. Formed in 2000, the group consists of Amanda Palmer and Brian Viglione...
and Teddy Geiger
Teddy Geiger
-Singles:-Album appearances:-Television and movie appearances:-External links:****...
as well as the homegrown Bobby Flynn
Bobby Flynn
Robert Andrew "Bobby" Flynn is an Australian singer-songwriterThe band made a nationwide tour through Australia in 2007, appearing in many regional centres including Burnie, Wagga Wagga, Townsville and Lismore....
and Tecoma.
"Cocaine" and Real Life Computer Game
At a show in BrisbaneBrisbane
Brisbane is the capital and most populous city in the Australian state of Queensland and the third most populous city in Australia. Brisbane's metropolitan area has a population of over 2 million, and the South East Queensland urban conurbation, centred around Brisbane, encompasses a population of...
, Dean performed "Cocaine", "Real Life Computer Game" and "More". In September Dean made her first trip overseas to Berlin, accompanied by fellow Brisbane singer/songwriter Edward Guglielmino
Edward Guglielmino
Edward Guglielmino is a musician in Brisbane, Australia.-Music career:Edward Guglielmino is a musician, an academic and a blogger; he originally started pursuing music in high-school in 2000. He writes quirky guitar pop. One of his gigs listed as a highlight in April in the book Australia Year in...
. In February 2008, Emma debuted a new song called "Cocaine" at a show at the Judith Wright Centre Of Contemporary Arts in Brisbane which would eventually become a single from her debut album. Dean said of the song at the time: "After reading a false internet rumour involving myself as a cocaine addict, I began to ponder the things in my life I have not yet experienced. After this stream of consciousness I gave birth to 'Cocaine'—an upbeat song about a time in my life where I was not on drugs but was desperately longing for some sort of high. Funnily enough, I found this in 'Cocaine'."
Kaz Mitchell writing in Melbourne's Impress magazine said of Emma's debut album, "Real Life Computer Game is as fresh and inventive as I had hoped it would be, and easily fits into my top 10 albums of the year so far."
2009 - Downside Up, The Tempest, The Wheel of Frank Confession Tour, The New Dead: Medea Material and The Woodford Folk Festival
Her theatrical fascination led Emma to the dark-side in early 2009 – the decadent world of cabaret. The musical Downside Up (co-written with Jacob Diefenbach) debuted to a sold out audience at The Judith Wright Centre in Brisbane. Shortly after, Emma began another theatrical collaboration with physical theatre company Zen Zen Zo for their “off kilter” adaptation of Shakespeare’s The Tempest.The Tempest received rave reviews with Katherine Lyall-Watson writing in ourbrisbane.com -
"... the music is stunning. Emma Dean and Colin Webber composed the score and it conveys mood, tension, beauty and whimsy perfectly... What a stroke of genius for director Lynne Bradley to cast Emma Dean as Ariel. Emma plays the grand piano and the violin during the show, using her violin to add menace when needed. And her voice is pure magic. She sang some of Ariel's lines, spoke others, and was captivating throughout. Emma Dean is a compelling performer, whether as a singer, musician or actor."
Emma took a two month break from the world of performing in August and September 2009. Emma returned to Brisbane in late September to prepare for an East Coast tour of the cabaret show The Wheel of Frank Confession.
Part musical showcase and part intimate theatre piece, “the Wheel of Frank Confession” brought together Emma, Emily Davis (Adl), Ben Stewart (Bris) and Brendan Maclean (Syd) for a show that pushed the boundaries of conventional music performance. The artists in this show gave up the constrictive segregation of “opener” through to “headliner” and the graduated importance this lent to present a homogenous front. On “the Wheel…” tour, they each had their own space on stage to share songs, discuss them, challenge and harass one another, tell tales (tall and true) and generally to interact with one another and the audience. And last, but not at all least, to spin the dreaded “Wheel of Frank Confession” and to confess their deepest, darkest secrets, desires and fears. It was a heart-lifting, heart-breaking, dark, funny, spontaneous, quirky, confessional, confidential, eye-opening, intuitive, instructional and sexy experience.
Albums
- Real Life Computer Game (June 2008)
- The Tempest Soundtrack (June 2009)
This CD is the soundtrack recorded by Emma and Colin Webber for Zen Zen Zo Physical Theatre's 2009 production of The Tempest based on Shakespeare's play.
EPs
- Hanging Out the Washing (2005, self-release)
- Face Painter (November 2006, Doily Records/MRA Distribution)
- Downside Up (2009)
Downside Up was recorded and mixed by Jacob Diefenbach and contains a selection of songs from the music theatre piece written by Emma and Jacob.
Guest Vocals
- "Breathing Fire" on Double Dragon (band)Double Dragon (band)Double Dragon are a heavy metal band, from Adelaide, Australia. Their name is a homage to the 1980s cult video game Double Dragon. Double Dragon's musical style is heavy metal, but has also been described as melodic death metal or metalcore, featuring twin guitar harmonies, prominent lead guitar...
2008 album "Devastator" Truth Inc Records
External links
- Official website
- Emma Dean at MySpaceMySpaceMyspace is a social networking service owned by Specific Media LLC and pop star Justin Timberlake. Myspace launched in August 2003 and is headquartered in Beverly Hills, California. In August 2011, Myspace had 33.1 million unique U.S. visitors....