Kate Miller-Heidke
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Kate Melina Miller-Heidke ( ; born 16 November 1981) is an Australian singer and songwriter. Although classically trained, she has generally followed a career in alternative pop music. She signed to Sony Australia,
Epic Epic commonly refers to: * Epic poetry, a long narrative poem celebrating heroic deeds and events significant to a culture or nation * Epic film, a genre of film defined by the spectacular presentation of human drama on a grandiose scale Epic(s) ...
in the US and
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in the UK, but since 2014 has been an
independent artist Independent music (also commonly known as indie music, or simply indie) is a broad style of music characterized by creative freedoms, low-budgets, and a do-it-yourself approach to music creation, which originated from the liberties afforded by i ...
. Four of her solo studio albums have peaked in the top 10 of 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 ...
, '' Curiouser'' (October 2008), '' Nightflight'' (April 2012), '' O Vertigo!'' (March 2014) and '' Child in Reverse'' (October 2020). Her most popular single, " The Last Day on Earth" (July 2009), reached No. 3 on the ARIA Singles Chart after being used in promos for TV soap, ''
Neighbours ''Neighbours'' is an Australian television soap opera that has aired since 18 March 1985. It was created by television executive Reg Watson. The Seven Network commissioned the show following the success of Watson's earlier soap '' Sons and ...
'', earlier in that year. At 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 ...
Miller-Heidke has been nominated 17 times. She represented Australia in the
Eurovision Song Contest 2019 The Eurovision Song Contest 2019 was the 64th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Tel Aviv, Israel, following the country's victory at the with the song "Toy" by Netta. Organised by the European Broadcasting Union ...
in Tel Aviv, Israel, with her song, "
Zero Gravity Weightlessness is the complete or near-complete absence of the sensation of weight, i.e., zero apparent weight. It is also termed zero g-force, or zero-g (named after the g-force) or, incorrectly, zero gravity. Weight is a measurement of the fo ...
" (January 2019). Miller-Heidke is the only person to have sung at
Coachella Coachella (officially called the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival and sometimes known as Coachella Festival) is an annual music festival, music and arts festival held at the Empire Polo Club in Indio, California, in the Coachella Valle ...
, the New York
Metropolitan Opera The Metropolitan Opera is an American opera company based in New York City, currently resident at the Metropolitan Opera House (Lincoln Center), Metropolitan Opera House at Lincoln Center, situated on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. Referred ...
, and
Eurovision The Eurovision Song Contest (), often known simply as Eurovision, is an international song competition organised annually by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) among its members since 1956. Each participating broadcaster submits an origina ...
. She has won five
Helpmann Awards The Helpmann Awards are accolades for live entertainment and performing arts in Australia, presented by industry group Live Performance Australia (LPA) since 2001. The annual awards recognise achievements in the disciplines of musical theatre ...
.


Early life

Kate Melina Miller-Heidke was born on 16 November 1981 in
Gladstone, Queensland Gladstone () is a coastal city in the Gladstone Region, Queensland, Australia. In the , the Gladstone urban area had a population of 45,185 people. It is by road north-west of the state capital, Brisbane, and south-east of Rockhampton, Queensl ...
. Note: For additional work user may have to select 'Search again' and then 'Enter a title:' &/or 'Performer:' Her mother, Jenny Miller, was a ballet dancer and then a dance teacher and her father, Greg Heidke, is a high school principal."Can Kate bring Eurovision gold glory to Central Queensland?"
by Christine McKee, ''
Sunshine Coast Daily The Sunshine Coast Daily is an online newspaper specifically serving the Sunshine Coast region of Queensland, Australia. It is owned by News Corp Australia. It was originally founded as a print newspaper, however since 2020 the publication is ...
'', 15 May 2019
After her parents separated, she was raised between Indooroopilly with her mother and Auchenflower with her father; she has two siblings. One of her cousins, Annie Lee, portrays Mourne Kransky in the comedy trio, the Kransky Sisters. For secondary education Miller-Heidke attended
Kelvin Grove State College Kelvin Grove State College is a government primary secondary school in Kelvin Grove, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, three kilometres from Brisbane’s central business district and adjacent the Kelvin Grove campus of Queensland University o ...
(two years), Brigidine College, Indooroopilly (one year) prior to graduating from
St Aidan's Anglican Girls' School St Aidan's Anglican Girls' School is an Independent school, independent, Anglican Church of Australia, Anglican, day school for girls, located in Corinda, Queensland, Corinda, a western suburb of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. It was named af ...
(two years) in 1998."Diva Brisvegas Kate Miller-Heidke: from opera to pop and back again"
by Candida Baker,
news.com.au News.com.au (stylised in all lowercase) is an Australian website owned by News Corp Australia. It had 9.6 million unique readers in April 2019 and covers national and international news, lifestyle, travel, entertainment, technology, finance an ...
, 7 March 2014
She completed a
Bachelor of Music A Bachelor of Music (BMus; sometimes conferred as Bachelor of Musical Arts) is an academic degree awarded by a college, university, or conservatory upon completion of a program of study in music. The degree may be awarded for performance, music ed ...
degree in Classical Voice from the Queensland Conservatorium of Music at
Griffith University Griffith University is a public university, public research university in South East Queensland on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of Australia. The university was founded in 1971, but was not officially opened until 1975. Griffith ...
on full scholarship, followed by a
Master of Music The Master of Music (MM or MMus) is, as an academic title, the first graduate degree in music awarded by universities and conservatories. The MM combines advanced studies in an applied area of specialization (usually performance in singing or i ...
degree at
Queensland University of Technology The Queensland University of Technology (QUT) is a public university, public research university located in the city of Brisbane in Queensland, Australia. It has two major campuses, a modern city campus in Gardens Point, Brisbane, Gardens Point ...
.


Career


2000–2005: Career beginnings, Elsewhere, and solo EPs

As a classical singer, she has won awards: Elizabeth Muir Prize (2000), Donald Penman Prize (2001), Linda Edith Allen Memorial Prize (2002) and Horace Keats Prize (2002). Her conservatorium performances were in ''
Orpheus in the Underworld ''Orpheus in the Underworld'' and ''Orpheus in Hell'' are English names for (), a comic opera with music by Jacques Offenbach and words by Hector-Jonathan Crémieux, Hector Crémieux and Ludovic Halévy. It was first performed as a two-act "op ...
'' (2000), '' Venus and Adonis'' (2002) and ''
The Pilgrim's Progress ''The Pilgrim's Progress from This World, to That Which Is to Come'' is a 1678 Christian allegory written by John Bunyan. It is commonly regarded as one of the most significant works of Protestant devotional literature and of wider early moder ...
'' (2002). As an
Opera Queensland Opera Queensland is an opera company based in Brisbane, Queensland. The company was founded with funding from the Queensland State Government in 1981 under the name ''Lyric Opera of Queensland'' after the Queensland Opera Company was closed in ...
Developing Artist, Miller-Heidke has performed as an
understudy In theatre, an understudy, referred to in opera as cover or covering, is a performer who learns the lines and blocking or choreography of a regular actor, actress, or other performer in a play. Should the regular actor or actress be unable to ap ...
in productions, ''
Sweeney Todd Sweeney Todd is a fictional character who first appeared as the villain of the penny dreadful serial '' The String of Pearls'' (1846–1847). The original tale became a feature of 19th-century melodrama and London legend. A barber from Fleet St ...
'', ''
Don Pasquale ''Don Pasquale'' () is a Gaetano Donizetti opera buffa, or comic opera, in three acts, with an Italian libretto completed largely by Giovanni Ruffini as well as the composer. It was based on a libretto by Angelo Anelli for Stefano Pavesi's oper ...
'' and '' Un ballo in maschera''. In July 2005 she made her solo professional operatic debut with Opera Queensland in the role of Flora in Britten's ''
The Turn of the Screw ''The Turn of the Screw'' is an 1898 gothic horror novella by Henry James which first appeared in serial format in '' Collier's Weekly'' from January 27 to April 16, 1898. On October 7, 1898, it was collected in ''The Two Magics'', publis ...
''. Miller-Heidke, while a tertiary student, from 2000 played in several Brisbane
alternative pop Alternative rock (also known as alternative music, alt-rock or simply alternative) is a category of rock music that evolved from the independent music underground of the 1970s. Alternative rock acts achieved mainstream success in the 1990s w ...
bands. She was lead singer and songwriter with acoustic pop/folk band Elsewhere, which formed in 2000, and released a self-titled extended play of original songs before breaking up in 2003. She briefly played keyboards in Pete Murray's backing band, and started her solo career in 2003. She performed at an annual event, Women in Voice, three times: in 2002, 2004 and 2005, where she shared the stage with Pearly Black, Margret RoadKnight, Jenny Morris and
Chrissy Amphlett Christine Joy Amphlett (; 25 October 1959 – 21 April 2013) was an Australian singer, songwriter and actress, best known as the frontwoman of the rock band Divinyls. She was notable for her brash, overtly sexual persona and subversive hu ...
. Miller-Heidke became known in Brisbane from these performances and her 2005 appearance in Women in Voice 14 won her the
Helpmann Award The Helpmann Awards are accolades for live entertainment and performing arts in Australia, presented by industry group Live Performance Australia (LPA) since 2001. The annual awards recognise achievements in the disciplines of musical theatre ...
for Best Performance in an Australian Contemporary Concert. John Shand of ''
The Sydney Morning Herald ''The Sydney Morning Herald'' (''SMH'') is a daily Tabloid (newspaper format), tabloid newspaper published in Sydney, Australia, and owned by Nine Entertainment. Founded in 1831 as the ''Sydney Herald'', the ''Herald'' is the oldest continuous ...
'' felt, "The young iller-Heidkeraised the bar with a witty rendition of David Byrne's 'Psycho Killer', part Peter Sellers and part mock-opera." In June 2004 Miller-Heidke independently recorded and distributed her first EP, ''
Telegram Telegraphy is the long-distance transmission of messages where the sender uses symbolic codes, known to the recipient, rather than a physical exchange of an object bearing the message. Thus flag semaphore is a method of telegraphy, whereas pi ...
''; from its seven tracks, five were written or co-written by her and two by her then-boyfriend,
Keir Nuttall Keir Francis Nuttall (born 1974) is a Brisbane-based guitarist-singer-songwriter. He is a founding mainstay member of the rock trio, Transport, which formed in 2001. He married Australian singer-songwriter and actor, Kate Miller-Heidke, in 20 ...
.Profile by Noel Mengel, "Something for Kate among the rock hits", ''Brisbane Courier-Mail'', 10 August 2006 Nuttall is the founding mainstay lead guitarist and vocalist in Brisbane-based progressive rock band
Transport Transport (in British English) or transportation (in American English) is the intentional Motion, movement of humans, animals, and cargo, goods from one location to another. Mode of transport, Modes of transport include aviation, air, land tr ...
, which formed in 2001. Nuttall and fellow Transport members have also worked as part of Miller-Heidke's backing band since 2004. In 2005 she released a second EP with four tracks, '' Comikaze'', however only 500 copies were made. It was later referred to as an "aborted comedy CD." In 2007 she explained that it was a "big mistake and promptly stopped pressing them." Miller-Heidke was preparing to sing the role of Mabel in
Gilbert and Sullivan Gilbert and Sullivan refers to the Victorian-era theatrical partnership of the dramatist W. S. Gilbert (1836–1911) and the composer Arthur Sullivan (1842–1900) and to the works they jointly created. The two men collaborated on fourteen com ...
's ''
Pirates of Penzance ''The Pirates of Penzance; or, The Slave of Duty'' is a comic opera in two acts, with music by Arthur Sullivan and libretto by W. S. Gilbert, W. S. Gilbert. Its official premiere was at the Fifth Avenue Theatre in New York City on 3 ...
'' with
Opera Australia Opera Australia is the principal opera company in Australia. Based in Sydney, New South Wales, its performance season at the Sydney Opera House accompanied by the Opera Australia Orchestra runs for approximately eight months of the year, with t ...
in late 2005. Instead she turned from classical to pop music when " Space They Cannot Touch", a track from ''Telegram'', became a hit on Australia's national youth radio network,
Triple J Triple J is an Australian government-funded national radio station founded in 1975 as a division of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC). It aims to appeal to young listeners of alternative music, and plays far more Australian conten ...
and was named by station presenter
Richard Kingsmill Richard Kingsmill is an Australian radio announcer and music journalist. He worked for ABC radio station triple j from 1988 until his redundancy in December 2023, and was the station's longest-serving presenter. From 2017 he was group music d ...
as his "pick of the week" in September. Radio support led to increased national attention for her music: not only did she gain thousands of fans, she signed with
EMI Music Australia EMI Recorded Music Australia Pty Ltd (called EMI Music Australia until May 2013) is an Australian imprint of Universal Music Australia, formerly a subsidiary label of EMI Recordings Ltd and, between 1979 and 1996, that of Thorn EMI. It is Austr ...
, obtained her first talent manager, Leanne de Souza, and her first agent, Dorry Kartabani, at the Harbour Agency. She then began touring Australia with her band. As well as touring Australia she appeared at festivals in Woodford – where she was named Queen of the
Woodford Folk Festival The Woodford Folk Festival is an annual music and cultural festival held near the semi-rural town of Woodford, Queensland, Woodford, north of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, Queensland, Australia. It is one of the biggest annual cultural e ...
in 2002–2003"Kate Miller-Heidke from the album ''Telegram''"
,
Australian Broadcasting Corporation The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) is Australia’s principal public service broadcaster. It is funded primarily by grants from the federal government and is administered by a government-appointed board of directors. The ABC is ...
(ABC), OZtrax, 2004
– and in
Port Fairy Port Fairy (historically known as Belfast) is a town in south-western Victoria, Australia. It lies on the Princes Highway in the Shire of Moyne, west of Warrnambool and west of Melbourne, at the point where the Moyne River enters the Souther ...
and Blue Mountains. She was a guest panellist on TV shows, ''
RocKwiz ''RocKwiz'' is an Australian television live music trivia quiz show, focused on rock music and featuring different guest artist musicians who perform live in each episode. The show was co-created by Brian Nankervis, Peter Bain-Hogg, and Ken C ...
'', '' Spicks and Specks'' and '' Q&A''. She has performed on ABC TV's '' The Sideshow'' and ''Q&A'', on Network Ten's '' Rove'' and ''
Good News Week ''Good News Week'' is an Australian satirical panel game show hosted by Paul McDermott that aired from 19 April 1996 to 27 May 2000, and 11 February 2008 to 28 April 2012. The show's initial run aired on ABC until being bought by Network Ten in ...
'', Seven Network's ''
Sunrise Sunrise (or sunup) is the moment when the upper rim of the Sun appears on the horizon in the morning, at the start of the Sun path. The term can also refer to the entire process of the solar disk crossing the horizon. Terminology Although the S ...
'' and '' The Morning Show'', and on live broadcasts of 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 ...
.


2006–2007: ''Circular Breathing'' and ''Little Eve''

Miller-Heidke was invited by Australian singer-songwriter
Deborah Conway Deborah Ann Conway (born 8 August 1959) is an Australian rock singer-songwriter and guitarist, and had a career as a model and actress. She was a founding member of the 1980s rock band Do-Ré-Mi with their top-5 hit "Man Overboard". Conway pe ...
to take part in the 2006 Broad Festival project during August, with three other Australian female artists, they performed their own and each other's songs. Joining Miller-Heidke and Conway were
Melinda Schneider Melinda Schneider (born Melinda-Jane Bean; 7 October 1971) is an Australian country music singer. She has been performing since she was three and sang with her mother, yodelling country artist Mary Schneider, on the album ''The Magic of Yodell ...
, Mia Dyson and Ella Hooper. Miller-Heidke released her third EP, ''
Circular Breathing Circular breathing is a breathing technique used by players of some wind instruments to produce a continuous tone without interruption. It is accomplished by inhaling through the nose while simultaneously pushing air out through the mouth usi ...
'' with six tracks, in May 2006 via Waterbear Records/Sony BMG. For the EP she provided vocals, piano and
wurlitzer The Rudolph Wurlitzer Company, usually referred to as simply Wurlitzer, is an American company started in Cincinnati in 1853 by German immigrant (Franz) Rudolph Wurlitzer. The company initially imported stringed, woodwind and brass instruments ...
, with Nuttall on guitars, Emma Dean on violin and vocals, Steve Pope on drums and percussion, Scott Saunders on bass guitar, and John Turnbull provided a whistling cameo in "Jamie". Pope and Saunders are Nuttall's band mates from Transport. ''Eleven Magazine''s reviewer rated it at four-and-a-half stars and explained, "It's very boppy and very light and carefree. The lyrics are a bit lacking, a bit like diary of a teenager kind of thing. Though, the acoustic element of the album, particularly the strong piano use holds it together." The album provided a single, "Apartment", also in 2006. She followed with her debut album, '' Little Eve'', on 26 May 2007. It was produced by Magoo (
Regurgitator Regurgitator are an Australian alternative rock band from Brisbane, Queensland, formed in late 1993 by Quan Yeomans on lead vocals, guitar and keyboards; Ben Ely on bass guitar, keyboards and vocals; and Martin Lee on drums. Their debut stud ...
, Not from There, Gerling) at Black Box Studios, Brisbane. Aside from herself and members of Transport, Miller-Heidke used strings by Zhivago String Quartet and Danielle Bentley, a choir/chorus of seven singers, and additional session musicians. It peaked at No. 11 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 ...
and was certified gold in 2008 by ARIA for shipment of 35,000 copies.Kate Miller-Heidke peaks in Australia: * For all except noted: * ''Live at the Hi-Fi'': * ''Live at the Sydney Opera House'': * ''Fatty Gets a Stylist''
The ARIA Report – Issue 1115
* "Zero Gravity": * ''Child in Reverse'':
Australian musicologist,
Ian McFarlane Ian McFarlane (born 1959) is an Australian music journalist, music historian and author, whose best known publication is the ''Encyclopedia of Australian Rock and Pop'' (1999), which was updated for a second edition in 2017. As a journalist ...
, felt it, "drew comparisons with Kate Bush and Tori Amos or 'like Nina Hagen, just with a much better voice'."
AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...
's Jody Macgregor gave it four-out-of-five stars and observed, "When she uses her deceptively gigantic voice to sing about these little lives, Miller-Heidke achieves something that goes above and beyond the simple pleasures of pop music – a genuine profoundness." Its lead single, "
Words A word is a basic element of language that carries meaning, can be used on its own, and is uninterruptible. Despite the fact that language speakers often have an intuitive grasp of what a word is, there is no consensus among linguists on its ...
", released in the same month, reached the top 50 on the related ARIA Singles Chart. ARIA's Ian Wallace observed, "Although traces of her operatic style are recognisable in her songs, hehas since decided to shy away from the opera circuit and make a dash for the pop scene." At the
ARIA Music Awards of 2007 The 21st Annual Australian Recording Industry Association Music Awards (generally known as ARIA Music Awards or simply ARIA Music Awards, The ARIAs) were held on 28 October 2007 at the Acer Arena at the Sydney Olympic Park complex. Rove McManus ...
she received five nominations, Best Female Artist, Best Pop Release, Breakthrough Artist – Album for ''Little Eve'' and
Producer of the Year The Grammy Award for Producer of the Year, Non-Classical is an honor presented to record producers for quality non-classical music at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards. Honors in ...
for Magoo's work on ''Little Eve'', and Breakthrough Artist – Single for "Words". A re-recorded version of "Space They Cannot Touch" (originally on ''Telegram'') was issued in March of the following year as her third single from ''Little Eve''.


2008–2010: ''Curiouser'' and mainstream success

Miller-Heidke's second album, '' Curiouser'', was released on 18 October 2008, which was recorded in Los Angeles, she worked with co-producers Nuttall and Mickey Petralia (
Beck Beck David Hansen (born Bek David Campbell; July 8, 1970), known mononymously as Beck, is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and record producer. He rose to fame in the early 1990s with his Experimental music, experimental and Lo-fi mus ...
,
Flight of the Conchords Flight of the Conchords are a New Zealand musical comedy duo formed in Wellington in 1998. The band consists of multi-instrumentalists Bret McKenzie and Jemaine Clement. Beginning as a popular live comedy act in the early 2000s, the duo's c ...
). The tracks were mostly written during a two-month period with creative collaborator and now-husband, Nuttall. The album's lead single, " Can't Shake It" debuted on the ARIA Singles Chart at No. 38 in October 2008, making it her first top 40 song. ''Curiouser'' was her first top 10 album: peaking at No. 2. McFarlane called it her "major breakthrough." In April 2009 Miller-Heidke returned to operatic works and won critical acclaim for her performance as Baby Jane in '' Jerry Springer: The Opera'' at the
Sydney Opera House The Sydney Opera House is a multi-venue Performing arts center, performing arts centre in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Located on the foreshore of Sydney Harbour, it is widely regarded as one of the world's most famous and distinctive b ...
. Miller-Heidke and Nuttall co-wrote " Caught in the Crowd", which was issued as the album's second single in February 2009, which peaked at No. 33 on the ARIA singles charts in June. They were awarded the $US25,000 grand prize in the 2008 International Songwriting Competition for its composition. They were the first Australians to win the grand prize. It was used by Australian secondary schools for anti-bullying programs. "Caught in the Crowd" was re-released in November and was accredited as a gold single in 2010. Her following single, " The Last Day on Earth" (July 2008), reached No. 3 in Australia, her first top 10 hit. It had been used in promos for TV soap opera, ''
Neighbours ''Neighbours'' is an Australian television soap opera that has aired since 18 March 1985. It was created by television executive Reg Watson. The Seven Network commissioned the show following the success of Watson's earlier soap '' Sons and ...
''. Due to that single's popularity, ''Curiouser'' re-entered the top 50 in August 2008; it also reached No. 1 on iTunes for three weeks. The track later peaked at No. 1 on the ARIA Australian Artist Singles Chart. "The Last Day on Earth" and ''Curiouser'' were both certified platinum by ARIA for shipment of 70000 units. ''Curiouser'' gained critical praise in the United States:
Sasha Frere-Jones Alexander Roger Wallace "Sasha" Frere-Jones ( né Jones; born 1967) is an American writer, music critic, and musician. Frere-Jones was pop critic of the ''New Yorker'' from 2004 to 2015. In January 2015, he left the ''New Yorker'' to work for ' ...
from ''
The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. It was founded on February 21, 1925, by Harold Ross and his wife Jane Grant, a reporter for ''The New York T ...
'', wrote "I got lucky last week and found a gem in the pile; ''Curiouser''. If your favourite American pop star is coming across slightly washed out, you will want to hear Miller-Heidke. ''Curiouser'' is a big clutch of pantone swatches." At the
ARIA Music Awards of 2009 The 23rd Annual Australian Recording Industry Association Music Awards (generally known as ARIA Music Awards or simply The ARIAs) took place on 26 November 2009 at the Acer Arena at the Sydney Olympic Park complex. The ceremony was telecast on ...
in November, the Miller-Heidke performed and was also nominated four more times, Single of the Year for "The Last Day on Earth", Best Video for "The last Day on Earth" (directed by Mark Alston) and Best Female Artist and Best Pop Release for ''Curiouser''. She toured throughout the US, United Kingdom and continental Europe as support act for
Ben Folds Benjamin Scott Folds (born September 12, 1966) is an American singer-songwriter from Winston-Salem, North Carolina. After playing in several small independent bands throughout the late 80s and into the early 90s, Folds came to prominence as the f ...
. Folds explained, "she's one of those people that actually does deserve to be called a unique talent." She released her first music DVD, ''Live in San Francisco'' (October 2010). "The Last Day on Earth" received another nomination, for Most Popular Australian Single, in the newly installed public-voted categories at the
ARIA Music Awards of 2010 The 24th Annual Australian Recording Industry Association Music Awards (generally known as ARIA Music Awards or simply The ARIAs) are a series of award ceremonies which included the 2010 ARIA Artisan Awards, ARIA Hall of Fame Awards, ARIA Fine ...
. Through 2010 to 2011, Miller-Heidke played at international festivals,
Coachella Coachella (officially called the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival and sometimes known as Coachella Festival) is an annual music festival, music and arts festival held at the Empire Polo Club in Indio, California, in the Coachella Valle ...
,
Lilith Fair Lilith Fair was a concert tour and travelling music festival, founded by Canadian musician Sarah McLachlan, Nettwerk Music Group's Dan Fraser and Terry McBride (CEO), Terry McBride, and New York talent agent Marty Diamond. It took place during ...
, Rifflandia,
Byron Bay Bluesfest The Byron Bay Bluesfest, formerly the East Coast International Blues & Roots Music Festival, is an annual Australian music festival that has been held over the Easter long weekend in the Byron Bay, New South Wales, area since 1990. The festiva ...
, Southbound and
Peats Ridge Festival Peats Ridge Festival was an Australian sustainable arts and music festival, held in Glenworth Valley, Peats Ridge, New South Wales, Peats Ridge, one hour's drive north of Sydney and a 90-minute drive from Newcastle, New South Wales. Established ...
. She also featured on UK singer
Passenger A passenger is a person who travels in a vehicle, but does not bear any responsibility for the tasks required for that vehicle to arrive at its destination or otherwise operate the vehicle, and is not a steward. The vehicles may be bicycles, ...
's album ''Flight of the Crow'' (2010).


2011–2013: ''Fatty Gets a Stylist'' and ''Nightflight''

On 24 June 2011 Miller-Heidke's side project, Fatty Gets a Stylist, released a self-titled album. She had formed the project as a short-term, alternative pop duo with Nuttall. The album was written and recorded on a lap top over several months, with Nuttall producing, in different locations in Australia, South East Asia and West London. It reached No. 90 on the ARIA Albums Chart. Its second single, " Are You Ready?" (June), was used in a New York Lottery ad on US TV and in promo for the
Seven Network Seven Network (stylised 7Network, and commonly known as Channel Seven or simply Seven) is an Australian commercial free-to-air Television broadcasting in Australia, television network. It is owned by Seven West Media, Seven West Media Limited, ...
's shows, in which actors from various shows mime to the words while walking, ending with
Alf Stewart Alfred James "Alf" Stewart is a fictional character from the Australian soap opera ''Home and Away'', played by Ray Meagher. Alf was created as one of the show's eighteen original characters. Meagher auditioned for the role of Tom Fletcher, befo ...
from ''
Home and Away ''Home and Away'' (''H&A'') is an Australian television soap opera. It was created by Alan Bateman and commenced broadcast on the Seven Network on 17 January 1988. Bateman came up with the concept of the show during a trip to Kangaroo Point, N ...
'' yelling the final line, "Let's go!". ''Fatty Gets a Stylist'', was credited to Miller-Heidke as her third solo album, ''Liberty Bell'', outside Australia. When English opera director, Tom Morris, saw Miller-Heidke in the role of Baby Jane back in 2009, he had asked her to audition for his production of
John Adams John Adams (October 30, 1735 – July 4, 1826) was a Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father and the second president of the United States from 1797 to 1801. Before Presidency of John Adams, his presidency, he was a leader of ...
' opera ''
The Death of Klinghoffer ''The Death of Klinghoffer'' is an American opera, with music by John Adams to an English-language libretto by Alice Goodman. First produced in Brussels and New York in 1991, the opera is based on the hijacking of the passenger liner ''Achille ...
'' for the
English National Opera English National Opera (ENO) is a British opera company based in London, resident at the London Coliseum in St Martin's Lane. It is one of the two principal opera companies in London, along with The Royal Opera. ENO's productions are sung in E ...
(ENO) at the
London Coliseum The London Coliseum (also known as the Coliseum Theatre) is a theatre in St Martin's Lane, City of Westminster, Westminster, built as one of London's largest and most luxurious "family" variety theatres. Opened on 24 December 1904 as the Lond ...
. Following two months' rehearsals, she sang the role of British Dancing Girl for a two-week run in early 2012. She performed the role again at the
Metropolitan Opera The Metropolitan Opera is an American opera company based in New York City, currently resident at the Metropolitan Opera House (Lincoln Center), Metropolitan Opera House at Lincoln Center, situated on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. Referred ...
in New York in October 2014. On 13 April 2012 Miller-Heidke's third Australian studio album, '' Nightflight'', was released. It had been recorded at two studios in Melbourne and another in London: Nuttall co-producing with Lindsay Gravina (
Jebediah Jebediah are an Australian alternative rock band formed in 1994 in Perth, Western Australia. They were formed by Chris Daymond on lead guitar, Bob Evans (musician), Kevin Mitchell (aka Bob Evans) on lead vocals and rhythm guitar, and Vanessa T ...
,
the Living End The Living End is an Australian punk rock band from Melbourne, formed in 1994. Since 2002, the line-up consists of Chris Cheney (vocals, guitar), Scott Owen (double bass, vocals), and Andy Strachan (drums). The band rose to fame in 1997 after ...
,
Thirsty Merc Thirsty Merc are an Australian pop rock band, formed in 2002 by Rai Thistlethwayte, Phil Stack (bass guitar), Karl Robertson (drums), and Matthew Baker (guitar). In 2004, Baker was replaced by Sean Carey, who was, in turn, replaced by Matt Smit ...
).
AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...
's Ned Raggett gave it three-and-a-half stars and declaimed, " tdoesn't surprise so much as reinvigorate, with erworking of sometimes familiar tropes turning into one strong song after another. Caught somewhere between cleanly energetic rock, piano-led moments, and ersometimes swirled vocals, the result is a remarkably enjoyable melange." ''Rave Magazine''s Josh Donellan observed, "It's still built on catchy pop hooks and melodies and will undoubtedly find itself at home on a few commercial radio stations, but the songs on this album also reveal a darker side to her songwriting." ''Nightflight'' peaked at No. 2 – equal highest chart position with ''Curiouser'' – and provided three singles, " I'll Change Your Mind" (April 2012), "Sarah" (February 2013) and " Ride This Feeling" (July 2013). However, none of the singles reached the top 50. At the
ARIA Music Awards of 2012 The 26th Annual Australian Recording Industry Association Music Awards (generally known as ARIA Music Awards or simply The ARIAs) were a series of award ceremonies which included the 2012 ARIA Artisan Awards, ARIA Hall of Fame Awards, ARIA Fin ...
she was nominated for two more public-voted categories: Best Video for "I'll Change Your Mind" (co-directed by Miller-Heidke and Darcy Prendergast) and Best Australian Live Act for her tours in support of the album and related singles. "Ride this Feeling" was selected as the promotional theme for the "Visit Brisbane" TV ad campaign in 2013 by Brisbane Marketing as part of the Brisbane City Council's Economic Development Board.


2013–2019: ''O Vertigo!'' and ''Muriel's Wedding''

Miller-Heidke sang the screen-role of Amber in the world premiere of Michel van der Aa's opera ''Sunken Garden'' for the ENO in April 2013. In September Miller-Heidke left Sony Records, which she described as a "corporate juggernaut". She started work on her fourth Australian studio album, '' O Vertigo!'' (14 March 2014), and sought
crowd-funding Crowdfunding is the practice of funding a project or venture by raising money from a large number of people, typically via the internet. Crowdfunding is a form of crowdsourcing and alternative finance, to fund projects "without standard financia ...
via
PledgeMusic PledgeMusic was an online direct-to-fan music platform, launched in August 2009. It was started to facilitate musicians looking to pre-sell, market, and distribute projects, such as recordings and concerts. It bore similarities to other artist pa ...
to record it independently, as well as donations for the protection of the
Great Barrier Reef The Great Barrier Reef is the world's largest coral reef system, composed of over 2,900 individual reefs and 900 islands stretching for over over an area of approximately . The reef is located in the Coral Sea, off the coast of Queensland, ...
. She broke the record on Pledge for the fastest target achievement: in three days the album was paid for and donations for the reef continued. ''O Vertigo!'' was produced by John Castle for
Cooking Vinyl Australia Civilians is an independent record label based in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 2013 by co-managing directors Leigh Grupetta and Stu Harvey in partnership with Martin Goldschmidt, Civilians was originally known as Cooking Vinyl Australia. A ...
and reached No. 4 on the ARIA Albums Chart. It was also nominated for the
ARIA Award for Best Adult Contemporary Album The ARIA Music Award for Best Adult Contemporary Album, is an award presented at the annual ARIA Music Awards, which recognises "the many achievements of Aussie artists across all music genres", since 1987. It is handed out by the Australian Rec ...
in
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 ...
. Miller-Heidke was co-commissioned by
Lyndon Terracini Lyndon William Terracini (born 1950), is an Australian operatic baritone and from 2009 to October 2022 artistic director of Opera Australia. Early life Terracini was born in 1949, the oldest of four children born to Shirley and Vita Terracini, ...
of
Opera Australia Opera Australia is the principal opera company in Australia. Based in Sydney, New South Wales, its performance season at the Sydney Opera House accompanied by the Opera Australia Orchestra runs for approximately eight months of the year, with t ...
in late 2014 to write an opera, '' The Rabbits'', based on John Marsden's children's novel of that name, to be performed in 2015. ''The Rabbits'' was premiered at the
Perth Festival Perth Festival, named Perth International Arts Festival (PIAF) between 2000 and 2017, and sometimes referred to as the Festival of Perth, is Australia's longest-running cultural festival, held annually in Western Australia. The program features ...
in February 2015, to critical acclaim. At the Helpmann Awards of 2015 she won two more categories for ''The Rabbits'': Best New Australian Work (shared with co-writers Lally Katz and Iain Grandage) and Best Original Score (shared with co-composer Grandage). She took on the role of "female protagonist" in van der Aa's interactive
song cycle A song cycle () is a group, or cycle (music), cycle, of individually complete Art song, songs designed to be performed in sequence, as a unit.Susan Youens, ''Grove online'' The songs are either for solo voice or an ensemble, or rarely a combinat ...
film, ''The Book of Sand'' (June 2015), based on the short story of the same name from 1975, by Argentine writer
Jorge Luis Borges Jorge Francisco Isidoro Luis Borges Acevedo ( ; ; 24 August 1899 – 14 June 1986) was an Argentine short-story writer, essayist, poet and translator regarded as a key figure in Spanish literature, Spanish-language and international literatur ...
. In November 2015, she issued a non-album single, " I'm Growing a Beard Downstairs for Christmas", featuring comedy rock group, the Beards. The charity single was used to raise funds for
bowel cancer Colorectal cancer (CRC), also known as bowel cancer, colon cancer, or rectal cancer, is the development of cancer from the colon or rectum (parts of the large intestine). Signs and symptoms may include blood in the stool, a change in bowel ...
research. She also debuted as a TV actress in the
Australian Broadcasting Corporation The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) is Australia’s principal public service broadcaster. It is funded primarily by grants from the federal government and is administered by a government-appointed board of directors. The ABC is ...
(ABC) comedy opera miniseries, '' The Divorce'' (December) in the role of Caroline. She also sings on the related soundtrack album, ''The Divorce: Original Cast Recording''. At the 2016 ARIA Music Awards she was nominated for Best Original Soundtrack, Cast or Show Album with ''The Rabbits: Original Live Cast Recording'' (April 2016) and Best Comedy Release for "I'm Growing a Beard Downstairs for Christmas" (shared with the Beards). In August 2017 a live album, '' Live at the Sydney Opera House'', was issued by Kate Miller-Heidke and the
Sydney Symphony Orchestra The Sydney Symphony Orchestra (SSO) is an Australian symphony orchestra based in Sydney. With roots going back to 1908, the orchestra was made a permanent professional orchestra on the formation of the Australian Broadcasting Commission in 1932. ...
. She received two more ARIA nominations in
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 ...
: Best Classical Album for the album and Engineer of the Year for Bob Scott's work. Miller-Heidke and Nuttall co-wrote new music and lyrics for the musical theatre version of ''
Muriel's Wedding ''Muriel's Wedding'' is a 1994 comedy-drama film written and directed by P.J. Hogan. The film, which stars Toni Collette, Bill Hunter and Rachel Griffiths, focuses on the socially awkward Muriel whose ambition is to have a glamorous wedding ...
'', which was directed by Simon Phillips and adapted from the 1994 comedy-drama film of the same name – both written by P. J. Hogan. It premiered at the Roslyn Packer Theatre Walsh Bay, Sydney by the
Sydney Theatre Company Sydney Theatre Company (STC) is an Australian theatre company based in Sydney, New South Wales. The company performs in the Wharf Theatre at Dawes Point in The Rocks area of Sydney as well as the Roslyn Packer Theatre (formerly Sydney Theatre ...
and ran from 6 November 2017 to 28 January 2018. A documentary, ''Making Muriel'', including interviews with Miller-Heidke and Nuttall, was broadcast by ABC TV in late November 2017. At the Helpmann Awards of 2018 she won Best Original Score (shared with Nuttall) and was nominated for Best New Work (shared with Nuttall and Hogan) for work on ''Muriel's Wedding''. During 2019 the musical toured to Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane. Miller-Heidke and Nuttall also co-wrote the music for Phillips' 2018 production of ''
Twelfth Night ''Twelfth Night, or What You Will'' is a romantic comedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written around 1601–1602 as a Twelfth Night entertainment for the close of the Christmas season. The play centres on the twins Viola an ...
'' for the
Melbourne Theatre Company The Melbourne Theatre Company is a theatre company based in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Founded in 1953 as the Union Theatre Repertory Company at the Union Theatre at the University of Melbourne, it is the oldest professional theatre com ...
where they were performed by
Colin Hay Colin James Hay (born 29 June 1953) is a Scottish-Australian musician. He came to prominence as the lead vocalist and the sole continuous member of the band Men at Work, and later as a solo artist. Hay is a member of the band Ringo Starr & His ...
. At the
ARIA Music Awards of 2018 The 32nd Annual Australian Recording Industry Association Music Awards (generally known as ARIA Music Awards or simply The ARIAs) are a series of award ceremonies which include the 2018 ARIA Artisan Awards, ARIA Hall of Fame Awards, ARIA Fine ...
Miller-Heidke sang alongside
Missy Higgins Melissa Morrison "Missy" Higgins (born 19 August 1983) is an Australian singer-songwriter and musician. Her most popular singles include "Scar", " Steer", and " Where I Stood". Her Australian number-one albums are '' The Sound of White'' (2004 ...
and Amy Sheppard on their rendition of " Ain't No Little Girl" in honour of that year's
ARIA Hall of Fame Since 1988 the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) has inducted artists into its annual ARIA Hall of Fame. While most have been recognised at the annual ARIA Music Awards, in 2005 ARIA sought to create a separate standalone ceremo ...
inductee,
Kasey Chambers Kasey Chambers (born 4 June 1976) is an Australian country music, Australian country singer-songwriter and musician born in Mount Gambier, South Australia, Mount Gambier to musicians Diane and Bill Chambers (musician), Bill Chambers. Her older ...
.


2019–present: Eurovision Song Contest and ''Child in Reverse''

In early 2019 Miller-Heidke was one of ten candidates to represent Australia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2019 with "
Zero Gravity Weightlessness is the complete or near-complete absence of the sensation of weight, i.e., zero apparent weight. It is also termed zero g-force, or zero-g (named after the g-force) or, incorrectly, zero gravity. Weight is a measurement of the fo ...
" at
Eurovision – Australia Decides ''Eurovision – Australia Decides'' was an annual song competition organised by Australian public broadcaster Special Broadcasting Service (SBS) and production partner Blink TV. It determined for the Eurovision Song Contest between 2019 and ...
. The track was co-written by Miller-Heidke, Nuttall and
Julian Hamilton Julian Thomas Hamilton (born September 1976) is an Australian singer-songwriter and keyboardist, who, with bandmate Kim Moyes, formed the electronica duo, The Presets in 2003. They have issued four studio albums, '' Beams'' (September 2005), ' ...
and was short-listed for the APRA Song of the Year of 2020. She won the Australian candidacy in February for the
Eurovision Song Contest 2019 The Eurovision Song Contest 2019 was the 64th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Tel Aviv, Israel, following the country's victory at the with the song "Toy" by Netta. Organised by the European Broadcasting Union ...
in Tel Aviv, Israel. She was joined onstage by Israeli backing singers. "Zero Gravity" won the first semi-final, before placing ninth in the grand final in May with 284 points. Miller-Heidke received the Marcel Bezençon award in the Artistic category, given to the best artist as voted on by the commentators of the contest. In October 2020 Miller-Heidke released her fifth studio album, '' Child in Reverse'', which peaked at No. 9. It was recorded and produced in Melbourne by Evan Klar for
EMI Records EMI Records (formerly EMI Records Ltd.) is a British multinational record label owned by Universal Music Group. It was originally founded as a British flagship label by the music company EMI in 1972, and launched in January 1973 as the succes ...
. ''The Music AU''s Guido Farnell, observed, "eleven nuggets of finely crafted pop tunes that are soft, dreamy and impossibly silky smooth whilst moving to compulsive grooves". Staff writers for ''scenstr.com.au'', noticed that the tracks were "sculpted into 3 and 4-minute shots of love and fear, memory and empathy, rage and redemption". In the same year she participated in '' The Masked Singer Australia'' as the "Queen" and was the runner-up on the second season of the show. Miller-Heidke appeared in episode 2 of the 2021 ABC TV comedy show '' Preppers'' as herself and a fantasy character, the Penrith panther, singing her song, "I Am My Own Panther Now". She and Nuttall collaborated again in 2021 with the
Melbourne Theatre Company The Melbourne Theatre Company is a theatre company based in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Founded in 1953 as the Union Theatre Repertory Company at the Union Theatre at the University of Melbourne, it is the oldest professional theatre com ...
and Simon Phillips, writing music for their production of Shakespeare's ''
As You Like It ''As You Like It'' is a pastoral Shakespearean comedy, comedy by William Shakespeare believed to have been written in 1599 and first published in the First Folio in 1623. The play's first performance is uncertain, though a performance at Wil ...
''. The couple composed in collaboration with Connor D'Netto the
monodrama A monodrama is a theatrical or operatic piece played by a single actor or singer, usually portraying one character. In opera In opera, a monodrama was originally a melodrama with one role such as Jean-Jacques Rousseau's '' Pygmalion'', which w ...
''The Call'' for
Opera Queensland Opera Queensland is an opera company based in Brisbane, Queensland. The company was founded with funding from the Queensland State Government in 1981 under the name ''Lyric Opera of Queensland'' after the Queensland Opera Company was closed in ...
and
Brisbane Festival Brisbane Festival is one of Australia's leading international arts festivals, and is held each September in Brisbane, Australia. Its presence dominates the city for three weeks in September and its line-up of classical and contemporary music, t ...
2022, featuring soprano Ali McGregor. Miller-Heidke and Nuttall composed the music for the 2022 television series '' Darby and Joan''. They wrote the musical comedy '' Bananaland'', directed by Phillips, for the 2023 Brisbane Festival. Miller-Heidke sang the
national anthem A national anthem is a patriotic musical composition symbolizing and evoking eulogies of the history and traditions of a country or nation. The majority of national anthems are marches or hymns in style. American, Central Asian, and European ...
before the 2023 AFL Grand Final and appeared in the half-time show. In February 2024,
Seven Network Seven Network (stylised 7Network, and commonly known as Channel Seven or simply Seven) is an Australian commercial free-to-air Television broadcasting in Australia, television network. It is owned by Seven West Media, Seven West Media Limited, ...
announced that Miller-Heidke would be joining the thirteenth season of the singing competition show ''
The Voice Australia ''The Voice'' is an Australian singing competition television series. It premiered on the Nine Network on 14 April 2012, before moving to the Seven Network in 2021. Based on the original Dutch singing competition '' The Voice of Holland'', a ...
'' as a coach, replacing
Jessica Mauboy Jessica Hilda Mauboy (; born 4 August 1989) is an Australian singer. Born and raised in Darwin, Northern Territory, she rose to fame in 2006 on the Australian Idol (season 4), fourth season of ''Australian Idol'', where she was runner-up and s ...
. The season premiered in August 2024, and she features alongside returning coach
Guy Sebastian Guy Theodore Sebastian (born 26 October 1981) is an Australian singer who rose to fame after winning the Australian Idol (season 1), first season of ''Australian Idol'', in 2003. Born in Malaysia and raised in Adelaide, Australia, Sebastian h ...
and fellow new coaches
Adam Lambert Adam Mitchel Lambert (born January 29, 1982) is an American singer, songwriter and actor. He is known for his dynamic vocal performances that combine his theatrical training with modern and classic genres. Lambert rose to fame in 2009 after ...
and
LeAnn Rimes Margaret LeAnn Rimes Cibrian (born August 28, 1982) is an American singer, songwriter and actress. She originally rose to success as a country music artist at the age of 13 and has since crossed over into pop, contemporary Christian, and o ...
. She will return as a coach in 2025 with
Melanie C Melanie Jayne Chisholm (born 12 January 1974), commonly known as Melanie C or Mel C, is an English singer and songwriter. She rose to fame in the mid-1990s as a member of the pop group the Spice Girls, in which she was nicknamed Sporty Spice. W ...
,
Ronan Keating Ronan Patrick John Keating (born 3 March 1977) is an Irish singer, songwriter, actor and presenter. He debuted in 1993 alongside Keith Duffy, Michael Graham, Shane Lynch, and Stephen Gately, as the co-lead singer (with Gately) of Irish pop g ...
, and
Richard Marx Richard Noel Marx (born September 16, 1963) is an American singer-songwriter. He has sold over 30 million albums worldwide. Marx's first number one success as a songwriter came in 1984 with " What About Me?", which was recorded by Kenny Rogers ...
. Miller-Heidke performed along tenor Rosario La Spina and soprano Rachelle Durkin at
Opera Queensland Opera Queensland is an opera company based in Brisbane, Queensland. The company was founded with funding from the Queensland State Government in 1981 under the name ''Lyric Opera of Queensland'' after the Queensland Opera Company was closed in ...
's 2024 Festival of Outback Opera in Winton, singing
Vivaldi Antonio Lucio Vivaldi (4 March 1678 – 28 July 1741) was an Italian composer, virtuoso violinist, impresario of Baroque music and Roman Catholic priest. Regarded as one of the greatest Baroque composers, Vivaldi's influence during his lif ...
's
motet In Western classical music, a motet is mainly a vocal musical composition, of highly diverse form and style, from high medieval music to the present. The motet was one of the preeminent polyphonic forms of Renaissance music. According to the Eng ...
', arias from her opera '' The Rabbits'', and her "Zero Gravity".


Band

On stage and in the studio Miller-Heidke was backed by members of Brisbane-based rock band
Transport Transport (in British English) or transportation (in American English) is the intentional Motion, movement of humans, animals, and cargo, goods from one location to another. Mode of transport, Modes of transport include aviation, air, land tr ...
from 2003: Nuttall on lead guitar and backing vocals, Scott Saunders on bass guitar and Steve Pope on drums. Her backing band initially also included multi-instrumentalist and singer, Emma Dean, who left in 2006 to pursue a solo career. Dean was replaced by Sallie Campbell on keyboard and vocals. Early in 2008 Campbell left to focus on her own band, Speed of Purple, and Nicole Brophy joined on guitar and vocals. From April to June 2007 while Transport were working in the US and UK, Miller-Heidke's touring band was Campbell joined by Mark Angel on guitar, Ben McCarthy on bass guitar and backing vocals and Joachim Alfheim on drums. Both Angel and Alfheim went on to play for Kristy London & the Other Halves. McCarthy stayed with Miller-Heidke until 2008. On the 2010 US tour she was supported by Nuttall only. The 2011 line-up was Nuttall, Brophy, Pope joined by Nathan Moore on bass guitar and backing vocals. Brophy and Moore both left in the following year and were replaced by Madeleine Page and James O'Brien, respectively. Her 2012 tour of the US and Canada for the North American release of ''Nightflight'' included only Dan Parsons and Madeleine Paige. Dates in support of Ben Folds included only Nuttall.


Personal life

Miller-Heidke, as a member of a group, took part in an unplugged band competition at
Toowong Toowong ( ) is a riverside Suburbs and localities (Australia), suburb in the City of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. In the , Toowong had a population of 12,556 people with a median weekly household income of $1,927. Geography Toowong is ...
's Regatta Hotel, which lost against a fellow Brisbane-based group. She started dating the other group's lead singer and guitarist,
Keir Nuttall Keir Francis Nuttall (born 1974) is a Brisbane-based guitarist-singer-songwriter. He is a founding mainstay member of the rock trio, Transport, which formed in 2001. He married Australian singer-songwriter and actor, Kate Miller-Heidke, in 20 ...
, in the early 2000s while both attended Queensland Conservatorium of Music. Nuttall and his group,
Transport Transport (in British English) or transportation (in American English) is the intentional Motion, movement of humans, animals, and cargo, goods from one location to another. Mode of transport, Modes of transport include aviation, air, land tr ...
, became part of her backing band by 2003. Nuttall has also collaborated in songwriting, side projects and as a record producer. The couple married in November 2007, and in 2016 they had their first child.


Discography

Albums * '' Little Eve'' (2007) * '' Curiouser'' (2008) * '' Nightflight'' (2012) * '' O Vertigo!'' (2014) * '' Child in Reverse'' (2020)


Filmography


Film


Television


Stage credits


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. , - ,
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 ...
, ''Live at the Sydney Opera House'' , Best Independent Classical Album , , -


APRA Music Awards

The APRA Awards are held in Australia and New Zealand 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 ...
to recognise songwriting skills, sales and airplay performance by its members annually. ! , - ,
2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...
, "Can't Shake It" (with Keir Nuttall) , Rowspan="4" , Song of the Year , , , - , rowspan="2",
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 ...
, "The Last Day on Earth" (with Keir Nuttall) , , , - , "Caught in the Crowd" (with Keir Nuttall) , , , - ,
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 ...
, "
Zero Gravity Weightlessness is the complete or near-complete absence of the sensation of weight, i.e., zero apparent weight. It is also termed zero g-force, or zero-g (named after the g-force) or, incorrectly, zero gravity. Weight is a measurement of the fo ...
" (Kate Miller-Heidke, Julian Hamilton, Keir Nuttal) , , , - ,
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 ...
, "The Worst Block in Town" (with Keir Nuttall) , Best Music for an Advertisement , , , - ,
2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...
, "I Am My Own Panther Now" (from Preppers) (with Keir Nuttall) , Best Original Song Composed for the Screen , , , - ,
2023 Catastrophic natural disasters in 2023 included the Lists of 21st-century earthquakes, 5th-deadliest earthquake of the 21st century 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquakes, striking Turkey and Syria, leaving up to 62,000 people dead; Cyclone Freddy ...
, "The Call" (Connor D'Netto omposer Miller-Heidke and Nuttall ibrettists , Art Music Awards Work of the Year: Dramatic , ,


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 ...
.ARIA Awards: Kate Miller-Heidke
Miller-Heidke has been nominated 18 times. , - , rowspan="5",
2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...
, rowspan="3", ''Little Eve'' , Best Female Artist , , - , Best Pop Release , , - , Breakthrough Artist – Album , , - , Magoo for ''Little Eve'' ,
Producer of the Year The Grammy Award for Producer of the Year, Non-Classical is an honor presented to record producers for quality non-classical music at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards. Honors in ...
, , - , "Words" , Breakthrough Artist – Single , , - , rowspan="4",
2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...
, "The Last Day on Earth" , Single of the Year , , - , Mark Alston for "The Last Day on Earth" , Best Video , , - , rowspan="2", ''Curiouser'' , Best Female Artist , , - , Best Pop Release , , - ,
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 ...
, "The Last Day on Earth" , Most Popular Australian Single , , - , rowspan="2",
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 ...
, ''Nightflight'' tour , Best Australian Live Act , , - , Miller-Heidke, Darcy Prendergast for " I'll Change Your Mind" , Best Video , , - ,
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 ...
, ''O Vertigo!'' , Best Adult Contemporary Album , , - , rowspan="2",
2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...
, ''The Rabbits'' , Best Original Soundtrack, Cast or Show Album , , - , " I'm Growing a Beard Downstairs for Christmas" , Best Comedy Release , , - , 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 ...
, '' Live at the Sydney Opera House'' , Best Classical Album , , - , Bob Scott for ''Live at the Sydney Opera House'' , Rowspan="2" , Engineer 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 ...
, Tony Espie for ''Child in Reverse'' , , -


EG Awards/Music Victoria Awards

The
Music Victoria Awards The Music Victoria Awards (previously known as The Age EG Awards and The Age Music Victoria Awards) are an annual awards night celebrating music from the Australian state of Victoria. They commenced in 2006 and are awarded in Melbourne Music W ...
(previously known as The Age EG Awards and The Age Music Victoria Awards) are an annual awards night celebrating Victorian music. , - ,
2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...
, herself , Best Female Artist , , - ,
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 ...
, Kate Miller-Heidke , Best Female , , -


Helpmann Awards

The Helpmann Awards are accolades for live entertainment and performing arts in
Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...
, presented by industry group Live Performance Australia. Established in 2001, the annual awards recognise achievements in the disciplines of
musical theatre Musical theatre is a form of theatre, theatrical performance that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance. The story and emotional content of a musical – humor, pathos, love, anger – are communicated through words, music, ...
,
contemporary music Contemporary music is whatever music is produced at the current time. Specifically, it could refer to: Genres or audiences * Adult contemporary music * British contemporary R&B * Christian adult contemporary * Christian contemporary hit radio * Con ...
,
comedy Comedy is a genre of dramatic works intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, film, stand-up comedy, television, radio, books, or any other entertainment medium. Origins Comedy originated in ancient Greec ...
,
opera Opera is a form of History of theatre#European theatre, Western theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by Singing, singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically ...
,
classical music Classical music generally refers to the art music of the Western world, considered to be #Relationship to other music traditions, distinct from Western folk music or popular music traditions. It is sometimes distinguished as Western classical mu ...
,
theatre Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors to present experiences of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a Stage (theatre), stage. The performe ...
,
dance Dance is an The arts, art form, consisting of sequences of body movements with aesthetic and often Symbol, symbolic value, either improvised or purposefully selected. Dance can be categorized and described by its choreography, by its repertoir ...
and
physical theatre Physical theatre is a genre of theatrical performance that encompasses storytelling primarily through physical movement. Although several performance theatre disciplines are often described as "physical theatre", the genre's characteristic aspe ...
. , - , 2005 , , Women in Voice 14 , , Best Performance in an Australian Contemporary Concert , , , - , rowspan="2", 2015 , , rowspan="2", ''The Rabbits'', , Best New Australian Work (with Lally Katz and Iain Grandage) , , , - , Best Original Score (with Iain Grandage) , , , - , 2016 , , MOFO 2016 Kate Miller-Heidke and the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra with visuals by Amy Gebhardt , , Best Australian Contemporary Concert , , , - , rowspan="2", 2018 , , rowspan="2", ''
Muriel's Wedding ''Muriel's Wedding'' is a 1994 comedy-drama film written and directed by P.J. Hogan. The film, which stars Toni Collette, Bill Hunter and Rachel Griffiths, focuses on the socially awkward Muriel whose ambition is to have a glamorous wedding ...
'' , , Best Original Score (with
Keir Nuttall Keir Francis Nuttall (born 1974) is a Brisbane-based guitarist-singer-songwriter. He is a founding mainstay member of the rock trio, Transport, which formed in 2001. He married Australian singer-songwriter and actor, Kate Miller-Heidke, in 20 ...
) , , , - , Best New Australian Work (with Nuttall and P. J. Hogan) , , , - , 2019 , , ''Twelfth Night'' (with Keir Nuttall) , , Best Original Score, , , -


J Award

The
J Awards The J Awards are an annual series of Australian music awards, established by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's youth-focused radio station Triple J, and which also extend to sister stations, Triple J Unearthed and Double J. The awar ...
are an annual series of Australian music awards that were established by the
Australian Broadcasting Corporation The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) is Australia’s principal public service broadcaster. It is funded primarily by grants from the federal government and is administered by a government-appointed board of directors. The ABC is ...
's youth-focused radio station
Triple J Triple J is an Australian government-funded national radio station founded in 1975 as a division of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC). It aims to appeal to young listeners of alternative music, and plays far more Australian conten ...
. They commenced in 2005. , - ,
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 ...
, herself , Double J Artist of the Year ,


Queensland Music 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) , - ,
2006 2006 was designated as the International Year of Deserts and Desertification. Events January * January 1– 4 – Russia temporarily cuts shipment of natural gas to Ukraine during a price dispute. * January 12 – A stampede during t ...
, "Apartment" , Pop Song of the Year , , - , scope="row" 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 ...
, Rowspan="3" , herself , Export Achievement Award , , - , Rowspan="2" , The Courier-Mail People's Choice Award Most Popular Female , , - ,
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 ...
, , -


Other awards


References


External links

* *
Profile
at musichall.uk.com * {{DEFAULTSORT:Miller-Heidke, Kate 1981 births 21st-century Australian women opera singers Australian comedy musicians Australian women singer-songwriters Australian musical theatre composers Australian operatic sopranos Helpmann Award winners Eurovision Song Contest entrants Living people Musicians from Brisbane Place of birth missing (living people) Queensland Conservatorium Griffith University alumni Queensland University of Technology alumni 21st-century Australian singer-songwriters