Busby Marou (pronounced buz-bee ma-roo) are an Australian musical duo consisting of Thomas Busby and Jeremy Marou, from

Rockhampton Rockhampton is a city in the Rockhampton Region of Central Queensland, Australia. In the , the population of Rockhampton was 79,293. A common nickname for Rockhampton is "Rocky", and the demonym of Rockhampton is Rockhamptonite. The Scottish- ...

Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...

. At the

APRA Music Awards of 2012 The Australasian Performing Right Association Awards of 2012 (generally known as APRA Awards (Australia), APRA Awards) are a series of related awards which include the APRA Music Awards, Art Music Awards, and Screen Music Awards. The APRA Music A ...

, the duo won "Blues & Roots Work of the Year" category for their single "

Biding My Time "Biding My Time" is a composition by Pink Floyd bassist Roger Waters. Prior performance and recording Prior to the ''Relics'' compilation album, "Biding My Time" was an unreleased recording, heard only by fans who attended concerts where the band ...

", and they have gone on to win several other awards.

Background

In 2007, Thomas Busby and Jeremy Marou met in Rockhampton. Jeremy is of

Torres Strait Islander Torres Strait Islanders ( ) are the Indigenous Melanesians, Melanesian people of the Torres Strait Islands, which are part of the state of Queensland, Australia. Ethnically distinct from the Aboriginal Australians, Aboriginal peoples of the res ...

heritage, and both performers come from musical families. With similar musical interests, the two combined to perform and write music under the name Busby Marou.

Career

Busby Marou's debut EP, ''The Blue Road'', was recorded at Pete Murray's personal studios in

Byron Bay Byron Bay ( Minjungbal: ''Cavvanbah'') is a beachside town located in the far-northeastern corner of New South Wales, Australia (in Bundjalung Country). It is located north of Sydney and south of Brisbane. Cape Byron, a headland adjac ...

and produced by Anthony Lycenko who had worked with artists such as Murray,

David Bowie David Robert Jones (8 January 194710 January 2016), known as David Bowie ( ), was an English singer, songwriter and actor. Regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century, Bowie was acclaimed by critics and musicians, pa ...

and Shifter. The EP had a limited release. Busby Marou supported Pete Murray during the Toowoomba leg of his 2008 Australian Tour. In 2009 saw the duo as one of five successful applicants for "Breakthrough" – A Federal Government initiative supporting emerging indigenous contemporary musicians. The award assisted in the production of the band's debut, self-titled album, which was released in August 2010. In September 2010 at the Deadly Awards 2010 Busby Marou won the award for "Most Promising New Talent". Late in 2010, Busby Marou featured on the ''He Will Have His Way – Finn Brothers Tribute Album''. The album went Gold within a month of release. Their contribution was a cover of "

Better Be Home Soon "Better Be Home Soon" is a song written by Neil Finn and performed by rock band Crowded House. It appears on their second studio album, ''Temple of Low Men'', which was later released in July 1988. The song was issued as a single in June 1988 by ...

". On 12 February 2011, Busby Marou performed at the Rugby League All Stars match at the Gold Coast. In 2011, Busby Marou were signed to Warner Music Australia's indie imprint, Footstomp Records, and in June 2011, re-released their debut, self-titled album. In October 2013, Busby Marou released their second studio album, '' Farewell Fitzroy'' which debuted at number 5 on the

ARIA charts The ARIA Charts are the main Australian record chart, music sales charts, issued weekly by the Australian Recording Industry Association. The charts are a record of the highest selling songs and albums in various genres in Australia. ARIA beca ...

. In May and June 2014, the duo supported

James Blunt James Blunt (born James Hillier Blount, 22 February 1974) is an English singer, songwriter and musician. He is known for his songs "You're Beautiful" and "Goodbye My Lover". As a British Army captain in the aftermath of the Kosovo War, Blunt ...

for the Australian leg of his Moon Landing World Tour. In October 2014, "Days of Gold" became their first charting single, debuting at 82. In February 2017, Busby Marou released their third studio album, '' Postcards from the Shell House'', which debuted at number 1 on the

ARIA Albums Chart The ARIA Charts are the main Australian music sales charts, issued weekly by the Australian Recording Industry Association. The charts are a record of the highest selling songs and albums in various genres in Australia. ARIA became the offici ...

. 2019, saw Busby Marou release album '' The Great Divide''. The album featured ambient sounds and traditional music recorded by the duo when they visited

Mer Island Mer Island (also known as Murray Island or Maer Island) is a locality and island in Murray Island Group of the Torres Strait Island Region, Queensland, Australia. In the , Mer Island had a population of 406 people. The town is on the island's n ...

in the Torres Strait Island region. While there they listed to stories from the community regarding the impacts of

climate change Present-day climate change includes both global warming—the ongoing increase in Global surface temperature, global average temperature—and its wider effects on Earth's climate system. Climate variability and change, Climate change in ...

on the area and how it's affecting Torres Strait Islanders. In October 2020, the band performed at the

2020 AFL Grand Final The 2020 AFL Grand Final was an Australian rules football match contested between and at the Gabba in Brisbane, Queensland, on Saturday 24 October 2020. It was the 125th annual Grand Final of the Australian Football League (formerly the Vic ...

. In March 2023, Busby Marou announced the forthcoming release of ''

Blood Red The colour blood red is a dark shade of the colour red meant to resemble the colour of human blood (which is composed of oxygenated red erythrocytes, white leukocytes, and yellow blood plasma). It is the iron in hemoglobin specifically that ...

''. The album was their fifth studio album, and was released in July 2023.

Influences and views

Their musical influences include elements of

Crowded House Crowded House are an Australian-New Zealand rock band, formed in Melbourne, Victoria (state), Victoria, Australia, in 1985. Its founding members were Neil Finn (vocalist, guitarist, primary songwriter) and Paul Hester (drums), who were both for ...

Elvis Presley Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977) was an American singer and actor. Referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll", he is regarded as Cultural impact of Elvis Presley, one of the most significant cultural figures of the ...

Pearl Jam Pearl Jam is an American Rock music, rock band formed in Seattle, Washington, in 1990. One of the key bands in the grunge, grunge movement of the early 1990s, Pearl Jam has outsold and outlasted many of its contemporaries from the early 1990s, ...

and

Willie Nelson Willie Hugh Nelson (born April 29, 1933) is an American singer, guitarist, songwriter, actor and activist. He was one of the main figures of the outlaw country subgenre that developed in the late 1960s as a reaction to the conservative restr ...

. Busby has said that Paul Kelly and

John Farnham John Peter Farnham (born 1 July 1949) is a British-born Australian singer. Farnham was a teen pop idol from 1967 until the mid-1970s, billed as Johnny Farnham. He has since forged a career as an adult contemporary singer.McFarlane (1999). Enc ...

provided him with inspiration, while Marou says that his love for music stems from his Torres Strait Islander culture, in which "everyone's self-taught and there's three, four, five-piece harmonies everywhere you go". The music of the islands has also played a big part in the development of Busby Marou's style. The duo have never been overtly political, and do not talk about social issues in their concerts, but have spoken up in favour of the

Indigenous Voice to Parliament The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice, also known as the Indigenous Voice to Parliament, the First Nations Voice or simply the Voice, was a proposed Australian federal advisory body to comprise Aboriginal Australians, Aboriginal a ...

in the run-up to the referendum on the Voice on 14 October 2023. They performed alongside

Bernard Fanning Bernard Joseph Fanning (born 15 August 1969) is an Australian musician and singer-songwriter. He was the lead vocalist of Queensland alternative rock band Powderfinger from its formation in 1989. Born and raised in Toowong, Brisbane, Fanning ...

at a Yes campaign rally in

Brisbane Brisbane ( ; ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and largest city of the States and territories of Australia, state of Queensland and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia, with a ...

Discography

Albums

Extended plays

Singles

Awards and nominations

AIR Awards

The Australian Independent Record Awards (commonly known informally as

AIR Awards The Australian Independent Record Awards (commonly known as AIR Awards) is an annual awards night to recognise, promote and celebrate the success of Australia's Independent Music sector. History The inaugural 2006 awards were held at Blacket Hot ...

) is an annual awards night to recognise, promote and celebrate the success of Australia's Independent Music sector. ! , - , rowspan="2",

2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...

, themselves , Breakthrough Independent Artist , , rowspan="2", , - , ''Busby Marou'' , Best Independent Blues and Roots Album , , -

APRA Awards

The APRA Awards are presented annually from 1982 by the

Australasian Performing Right Association APRA AMCOS consists of Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA) and Australasian Mechanical Copyright Owners Society (AMCOS), both copyright management organisations or copyright collectives which jointly represent over 100,000 songwri ...

(APRA), "honouring composers and songwriters". ! , - ,

2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...

, , "

" (Thomas Busby, Jeremy Marou) , , Blues & Roots Work of the Year , , , , , - , rowspan="2",

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

, , "Get You out of Here" (Thomas Busby, Jeremy Marou) , , Blues & Roots Work of the Year , , , , , - , "Luck" (Thomas Busby, Don Walker) , , Blues & Roots Work of the Year , , , , , - , rowspan="2",

2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...

, , "Best Part of Me" (Thomas Busby, Jeremy Marou, Jon Hume) , , Blues & Roots Work of the Year , , , , rowspan="2", , - , "Getaway Car" (Thomas Busby, Jeremy Marou, David Ryan Harris) , , Blues & Roots Work of the Year , , , - ,

2020 The year 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of even ...

, , "Sound of Summer" , , Most Performed Blues & Roots Work of the Year , , , , , - ,

2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...

, , "Over Drinking Over You" , , Most Performed Blues & Roots Work , , , , , -

ARIA Music Awards

The

ARIA Music Awards The Australian Recording Industry Association Music Awards (commonly known informally as ARIA Music Awards, ARIA Awards, or simply the ARIAs) is an annual series of awards nights celebrating the Australian music industry, put on by the Austr ...

is an annual awards ceremony that recognises excellence, innovation, and achievement across all genres of

Australian music The music of Australia has an extensive history made of music societies. Indigenous Australian music forms a significant part of the unique heritage of a 40,000- to 60,000-year history which produced the iconic didgeridoo. Contemporary fusions o ...

. Busby Marou have been nominated for three awards. ! , - ,

, "My Second Mistake" (directed by Renny Wijeyamohan) , Best Video , , rowspan="2", , - ,

2017 2017 was designated as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development by the United Nations General Assembly. Events January * January 1 – Istanbul nightclub shooting: A gunman dressed as Santa Claus opens fire at the ...

, ''Postcards from the Shell House'' , Best Blues and Roots Album , , - ,

, ''The Great Divide'' , Best Blues and Roots Album , , , -

Country Music Awards of Australia

The

Country Music Awards of Australia The Country Music Awards of Australia also known as the Golden Guitar Awards (originally named Australasian Country Music Awards) is an annual awards night held in January during the Tamworth Country Music Festival, in Tamworth, New South Wale ...

is an annual awards night held in January during the

Tamworth Country Music Festival The Tamworth Country Music Festival is an annual Australian music festival held for 10 days from Friday to Sunday in mid to late January each year, sometimes including Australia Day, in Tamworth, New South Wales, Tamworth, New South Wales. The f ...

. Celebrating recording excellence in the

Australian country music Australian country music is a part of the music of Australia. There is a broad range of styles, from bluegrass, to yodeling to folk to the more popular. The genre has been influenced by Celtic and English folk music, the Australian bush balla ...

industry. They commenced in 1973. ! , - , rowspan="2", 2020 , , ''The Great Divide'' , , Contemporary Country Album of the Year , , , , rowspan="2", , - , Busby Marou , , Group or Duo of the Year , , , - , 2024 , , ''Blood Red'' , , Alt. Country Album of the Year , , , , , -

Gold Coast Music Awards

The Gold Coast Music Awards are an annual awards ceremony that recognises musicians from the Gold Coast area. ! , - , 2020 , "The Great Divide" , Release of the year , , , -

National Indigenous Music Awards

The

National Indigenous Music Awards The National Indigenous Music Awards (NIMA), also known as the NT Indigenous Music Awards from 2004 to 2008, are music awards presented to recognise excellence, innovation and leadership among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander musicians in ...

recognise excellence, innovation and leadership among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander musicians from throughout Australia. They commenced in 2004. ! , - , rowspan="3",

, themselves , Artist of the Year , , rowspan="3", , - , ''Busby Marou'' , Album of the Year , , - , , Song of the Year , , - , rowspan="3",

, ''Farewell Fitzroy'' , Album of the Year , , rowspan="3", , - , "My Second Mistake" , rowspan="2", Song of the Year , , - , "Get You Out of Here" , , - ,

, ''Postcards from the Shell House'' , Album of the Year , , , - ,

, "Days of Gold" , Song of the Year , , , -

Q Song Awards

The

Queensland Music Awards The Queensland Music Awards (commonly known as QMA and known as the Q Song Awards from 2006 to 2010) are annual awards celebrating Queensland's emerging artists. They commenced in 2006. Each year, the QMA Song of the Year is immortalised in ...

(previously known as Q Song Awards) are annual awards celebrating

Queensland, Australia Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Australia and New South Wales to the west, ...

's brightest emerging artists and established legends. They commenced in 2006. (wins only) ! , - ,

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

, "Paint My Cup" , Indigenous Song of the Year , , , - ,

, "Naba Norem (The Reef Song)" , Blues and Roots Song of the Year , , , - , 2024 , "Conversation" , Blues and Roots Song of the Year , ,

References

External links

* {{Authority control APRA Award winners Australian rock music groups Queensland musical groups Musical groups established in 2007