Leah Flanagan is an Australian

singer-songwriter A singer-songwriter is a musician who writes, composes, and performs their own musical material, including lyrics and melodies. In the United States, the category is built on the folk- acoustic tradition with a guitar, although this role has ...

and

arts administrator Arts administration (alternatively arts management) is a field in the arts sector that facilitates programming within cultural organizations. Arts administrators are responsible for facilitating the day-to-day operations of the organization as we ...

from

Darwin, Northern Territory Darwin ( Larrakia: ') is the capital city of the Northern Territory, Australia. The city has nearly 53% of the Northern Territory's population, with 139,902 at the 2021 census. It is the smallest, wettest, and most northerly of the Australi ...

. based in

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

. She has released several albums and has toured Australia with her music and as a part of festival ensembles.

Early life and education

Flanagan identifies as

Indigenous Australian Indigenous Australians are people with familial heritage from, or recognised membership of, the various ethnic groups living within the territory of contemporary Australia prior to History of Australia (1788–1850), British colonisation. The ...

due to her Aboriginal (

Alyawarre The Alyawarre, also spelt Alyawarr and also known as the Iliaura, are an Aboriginal Australian people, or language group, from the Northern Territory. The Alyawarre are made up of roughly 1,200 associated peoples and actively engage in local tra ...

) heritage. She studied

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 ...

at the

Elder Conservatorium of Music The Elder Conservatorium of Music, also known as "The Con", is located in the centre of Adelaide, the capital of South Australia, and is named in honour of its benefactor, Sir Thomas Elder (1818–1897). Dating in its earliest form from 1883 ...

Adelaide Adelaide ( , ; ) is the list of Australian capital cities, capital and most populous city of South Australia, as well as the list of cities in Australia by population, fifth-most populous city in Australia. The name "Adelaide" may refer to ei ...

Music career

Flanagan has released several albums and has toured Australia with her music and as a part of festival ensembles.Rolling Stone Australia – Album Review: Archie Roach – Charcoal Lane (25th Anniversary Edition )
/ref>Buried Country – Home
/ref> She has collaborated with

Sinéad O'Connor Shuhada' Sadaqat (born Sinéad Marie Bernadette O'Connor; , ; 8 December 1966 – 26 July 2023) was an Irish singer, songwriter, record producer and activist. Her debut studio album, ''The Lion and the Cobra'', was released in 1987 and achieve ...

Meshell Ndegeocello Meshell Ndegeocello ( ; born Michelle Lynn Johnson on August 29, 1968) is an American singer-songwriter, poet, and bassist. She has gone by the name Meshell Suhaila Bashir-Shakur which is used as a writing credit on some of her mid-career work. ...

, poet Sam Wagan Watson,Exile Concert – Bio
/ref>

The Black Arm Band Black Arm Band is an Aboriginal Australian and Torres Strait Islander music theatre organisation. History The organisation was founded in late 2005 by Steven Richardson and has produced seven large-scale productions since its debut performance a ...

, Paul Kelly and

Ursula Yovich Ursula Yovich is an Aboriginal Australian actress and singer. She is known for numerous stage appearances, for co-writing and appearing in the rock musical '' Barbara and the Camp Dogs'' (2017), and several film and TV appearances. Early life ...

, and recorded a duet with Marlon Williams of

Archie Roach Archibald William Roach (8 January 1956 – 30 July 2022) was an Australian (Gunditjmara and Western Bundjalung people, Bundjalung) singer-songwriter and Aboriginal Australian, Aboriginal activist. Often referred to as "Uncle Archie", Roach wa ...

’s "I’ve Lied". From 2009 to 2011, Flanagan performed in the productions ''Murundak'', ''Hidden Republic,'' and ''Dirtsong'' with the touring company The Black Arm Band at many major festivals across Australia. Her performances in this period included one at the

2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics The 2010 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XXI Olympic Winter Games () and also known as Vancouver 2010 (), were an international winter multi-sport event held from February 12 to 28, 2010 in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, with ...

. In 2010 she appeared at the Melbourne International Arts Festival's production ''Seven Songs To Leave Behind'' with

John Cale John Davies Cale (born 9 March 1942) is a Welsh musician, composer, and record producer who was a founding member of the American rock band the Velvet Underground. Over his six-decade career, Cale has worked in various styles across rock, dr ...

Rickie Lee Jones Rickie Lee Jones (born November 8, 1954) is an American singer, musician, and songwriter. Over the course of a career that spans five decades and 15 studio albums, she has recorded in various musical styles including rock, R&B, pop, soul, an ...

, Snead O'Connor,

, and

Gurrumul Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu (22 January 1971 – 25 July 2017), commonly known as Gurrumul and also referred to since his death as Dr G. Yunupingu, was a Yolŋu Aboriginal Australian musician. A multi-instrumentalist, he played drums, keyboards ...

with Black Arm Band members Ursula Yovich, Dan Sultan, and

Shellie Morris Shellie Morris is an Indigenous Australian singer/songwriter who plays a mix of contemporary folk music and contemporary acoustic ballads. Biography and career Shellie Morris was raised in Sydney and began singing at an early age. She often per ...

.Nocookies , The Australian
/ref> Flanagan was invited by

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 be part of her Song Trails project for the 2009 and 2011

Queensland Music Festival The Queensland Music Festival (QMF) is a series of musical events staged in a number of locations in Queensland, Australia, usually around late July, every second year. It is financially supported by the Queensland Government through Arts Queens ...

s, which led to her collaborating with Australian artists Peter Farnan (

Boom Crash Opera Boom Crash Opera are an Australian pop rock band formed in late 1984. Initially based around the songwriting partnership of Richard Pleasance and Peter Farnan, the band was later joined by Dale Ryder (vocals), Peter 'Maz' Maslen (drums) and Greg ...

Robert Forster Robert Wallace Foster Jr. (July 13, 1941 – October 11, 2019), known professionally as Robert Forster, was an American actor. He made his screen debut as Private L.G. Williams in John Huston's '' Reflections in a Golden Eye'' (1967), followed ...

(

The Go-Betweens The Go-Betweens were an Australian indie rock band formed in Brisbane, Queensland, in 1977. The band was co-founded and led by singer-songwriters and guitarists Robert Forster (musician), Robert Forster and Grant McLennan, who were its only co ...

) and

Rebecca Barnard Rebecca Chirnside Barnard is an Australian singer, songwriter, Record producer, producer, and musician. She was the lead singer of the band Rebecca's Empire from 1993 to 2000 and has forged a solo career since her debut album, ''Fortified'', wa ...

(

Rebecca's Empire Rebecca's Empire (also written as the variant Rebeccas Empire) were an Australian indie pop-rock band formed in 1994. Their mainstay members were Rebecca Barnard on lead vocals and her then-domestic partner, Shane O'Mara on lead guitar. They ...

) to deliver a series of workshops and to perform concerts across regional

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 ...

.Making Song Trails in north Queensland – ABC North Qld – Australian Broadcasting Corporation
/ref> Flanagan composed a show entitled ''Midnight Muses'', based on the work of Brisbane poet

Samuel Wagan Watson Samuel Wagan Watson is a contemporary Indigenous Australian poet. Early life and education Samuel Wagan Watson was born in Brisbane and is of Aboriginal ( Munanjali and Birri Gubba), Irish, German, and Dutch descent. His father is novelist an ...

, for the

Adelaide Cabaret Festival The Adelaide Cabaret Festival is an annual arts festival featuring cabaret held in the South Australian capital of Adelaide. It has been held in June each year since 2001, with the exception of 2020 owing to the COVID-19 pandemic in Australia ...

in 2011.Leah Flanagan – Midnight Muses , ArtsHub Australia
/ref> It later appeared at the 2013

Sydney Festival Sydney Festival is a major arts festival in Australia's largest city, Sydney, that runs for three weeks every January since it was established in 1977. The festival program features over 100 events from local and international artists and inclu ...

. She was invited to perform as a featured soloist in the first Australian production of Leonard Bernstein's ''MASS'' at the 2012

Adelaide Festival The Adelaide Festival of Arts, also known as the Adelaide Festival, an arts festival, takes place in the South Australian capital of Adelaide in March each year. Started in 1960, it is a major celebration of the arts and a significant cultural ...

.Adelaide Festival // Mass
/ref> In late 2015 Flanagan was invited by

to record a duet of his song "I've Lied" with Marlon Williams for the 25th Anniversary release of '' Charcoal Lane''. ''

Rolling Stone Australia ''Rolling Stone Australia'' is the Australian edition of the United States' ''Rolling Stone'' magazine devoted to music, politics, and popular culture, published monthly. The Australian version of ''Rolling Stone'' was initially published in 197 ...

'' gave the anniversary album four-and-a-half stars. In 2017 she featured in ''1967: Music in the Key of Yes'' alongside

Dan Sultan Daniel Leo Sultan is an Australian alternative rock singer-songwriter and guitarist, actor and author. At the ARIA Music Awards of 2010 he won Best Male Artist and Best Blues & Roots Album for his second album, '' Get Out While You Can'' (N ...

Adalita Adalita Srsen (, born 25 February 1971), known mononymously as Adalita, is an Australian rock musician who is a founding member of the rock bands Magic Dirt and Bleak Squad, as well as a solo artist. She released her first solo album, ''Adalita ...

Thelma Plum Thelma Amelina Plumbe (born 21 December 1994), known professionally as Thelma Plum, is an Aboriginal Australian ( Gamilaraay) singer, songwriter, guitarist and musician from Delungra, New South Wales. Her debut album, '' Better in Blak'', was ...

, and

, as part of the

. The show celebrated the 50th anniversary of the

1967 Australian referendum The 1967 Australian referendum occurred on 27 May 1967 under the Holt government. It contained three topics asked about in two questions, regarding the passage of two bills to alter the Australian Constitution. The first question (''Constitutio ...

through song.

Arts administration

In December 2019 Flanagan was appointed as national manager of the

APRA AMCOS 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 ...

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island Music Office. In January 2020 Flanagan was appointed First Nations export producer at Sounds Australia. The role entails attending key international events such as

SXSW South by Southwest (SXSW) is an annual conglomeration of parallel film, interactive media, and music festivals and Convention (meeting), conferences organized jointly that take place in mid-March in Austin, Texas. It began in 1987 and has conti ...

The Great Escape Festival The Great Escape Festival is a four-day music festival held in Brighton and Hove, England every year in May. It is operated by MAMA Festivals and showcases new music from a variety of genres. The festival was founded in 2006 and hosts roughly ...

Folk Alliance International Folk Alliance International (previously the ''North American Folk Music and Dance Alliance'') is a non-profit organization that produces an annual conference that is the world's largest gathering of the folk music industry and community. Founde ...

, and

WOMEX WOMEX (short for Worldwide Music Expo) is an international world music support and development project based in Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany ...

, as well as establishing an international bursary program for Indigenous artists. Her first assignment in the role was attending the International Indigenous Music Summit in

New Orleans New Orleans (commonly known as NOLA or The Big Easy among other nicknames) is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city-parish located along the Mississippi River in the U.S. state of Louisiana. With a population of 383,997 at the 2020 ...

, United States.

Television appearances

Flanagan has appeared on the Australian TV music quiz shows '' Spicks & Specks'' and ''

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 ...

''; on the latter performing

Elvis Costello Declan Patrick MacManus (born 25 August 1954), known professionally as Elvis Costello, is an English singer, songwriter, record producer, author and television host. According to ''Rolling Stone'', Costello "reinvigorated the literate, lyrical ...

's ''

Shipbuilding Shipbuilding is the construction of ships and other Watercraft, floating vessels. In modern times, it normally takes place in a specialized facility known as a shipyard. Shipbuilders, also called shipwrights, follow a specialized occupation th ...

'' in a duet with composer

David Bridie David Ross Hope Bridie is an Australian contemporary musician and songwriter. He was a founding mainstay member of world music band Not Drowning, Waving which released six studio albums to critical acclaim. He also formed a chamber pop group, ...

.LEAH FLANAGAN ON SPICKS & SPECKS Pt 1 – YouTube
/ref> ''Faboriginal'' and ''

''. She has also appeared on the light comedy sports programme '' Marngrook Footy Show'', performing a version of

Stevie Wonder Stevland Hardaway Morris (; Judkins; born May 13, 1950), known professionally as Stevie Wonder, is an American and Ghanaian singer-songwriter, musician, and record producer. He is regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the 20th c ...

's ''

For Once in My Life "For Once in My Life" is a song written by Ron Miller and Orlando Murden for Motown Records' Stein & Van Stock publishing company, and first recorded in 1965. It was written and first recorded as a slow ballad, in 1965 by Connie Haines, but the ...

''.

Collaborations and projects

*Mission Songs Project *Buried Country *Black Arm Band *''1967: Music in the Key of Yes'' *Exiles *Seven Songs To Leave Behind *Midnight Muses *MASS *Liberty Songs *Songtrails

Discography

Studio albums

Extended plays

Awards and nominations

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 ...

(NIMA) recognise contributions to the

Northern Territory The Northern Territory (abbreviated as NT; known formally as the Northern Territory of Australia and informally as the Territory) is an states and territories of Australia, Australian internal territory in the central and central-northern regi ...

music industry. They commenced in 2004. ! , - ! scope="row" rowspan="1",

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 ...

, ''Colour by Number'' , Album of the Year , ,

Footnotes

References

External links

*
Black Arm Band bio
(archived March 2012) {{DEFAULTSORT:Flanagan, Leah Living people Australian women singer-songwriters Australian singer-songwriters Indigenous Australian musicians Year of birth missing (living people) People from Darwin, Northern Territory Musicians from the Northern Territory