Bangkok--Oct 29--MTV Thailand
"Do you remember when you were seven And the only thing that you wanted to do Was show your mum that you could play the piano?" It's just the beginning. It's something that Delta Goodrem says all the time. It's just the beginning. But what a beginning - Born To Try, the first single from Delta's debut album, took the Australian charts by storm, going to number one just after Delta's 18th birthday. It stayed in the Top 5 for more than three months, going triple platinum for sales of more than 210,000 copies.
Born To Try then went on to enter the UK charts at number three, spending 11 weeks in the Top 40, and it went to number one in New Zealand.
"I love how Born To Try connected with people," Delta says. "I've had all sorts of people come up to me, from four-year-olds to an 80-year-old woman who told me, 'I play this at home all the time.'"
Then came the second single, Lost Without You. A number one debut in Australia and three months in the Australian Top 10.
Innocent Eyes, Delta's stunning debut album, also entered the Australian charts at number one, knocking off Norah Jones. Not even a new Madonna album could displace Delta.
But Delta's right - it is just the beginning. With a voice that soars, she is a young pop discovery, brimming with youthful zest, energy and innocence as is evident on her sensational debut album Innocent Eyes. And it's an album full of surprises. As Delta sings in Running Away: "Running away from predictable, Miss Reliable, so methodical/Be individual, an original". This is no manufactured pop star straight off the pop production line.
Delta's worked with a stellar cast, including the True North production and songwriting team (Gary Barlow, Eliot Kennedy and Tim Woodcock), Ric Wake (the producer who has worked with Celine Dion, Jennifer Lopez and Mariah Carey), Matthew Gerrard (Mandy Moore, BB Mak), David Nicholas (INXS, Elton John, George), Vince Pizzinga (Midnight Oil, Danielle Spencer), The Rembrandts and Australia's Mark Holden.
But this is Delta's story. She's forging her own path, creating her own history. Much of Innocent Eyes sounds like pages ripped from her diary. She wrote or co-wrote nearly all the tracks. The album's striking opening line is, "Doing everything that I believe in".
"I wanted to make an album that reflected me at this time in my life," Delta explains. "Every song takes me to a place where I can remember what happened."
Since delivering Innocent Eyes, Delta's career has soared both locally and internationally. From the time of its release more than ten months ago, the album has spent 29 weeks in the top spot on the National ARIA charts, making it the second longest running album ever at #1 in Australian chart history, and is officially 14x Platinum with sales in excess of one million copies in Australia alone - incredible for a country where gold status is 35,000.
Five number one singles including "Born To Try", "Lost Without You", Innocent Eyes" , "Not Me Not I" and "Predictable" have ensured Delta's local record sales have topped the 1.7 million mark and given her the Australian record for becoming the first ever artist to have five Number One singles from a debut album. Each of the tracks have also topped the national airplay charts with her fourth and fifth singles, "Not Me Not I" and "Predictable" reaching the top after a record two weeks at radio.
No Australian woman - not even Kylie - has made such an impact with her debut release.
And it hasn't stopped there for Delta. Her extraordinary talents were recognised by the Australian Recording Industry at the 2003 ARIA Chart #1's Ceremony with the young performer taking home four gongs for her phenomenal chart success this year.
Shortly after her record ten nominations were announced for the 17th Annual ARIA Awards where she ultimately won seven of the eight categories she was nominated in along with the public voted Video Hits Award for Best Video and Channel V Oz Music Artist Of The Year, taking home nine honours in total. Despite her continuing battle with Hodgkins disease, Delta attended the ceremony, fulfilling a life long dream of going to the ARIAs.
The talented performer also picked up MTV's International Viewers Choice Award for her single "Born To Try" at the Annual Video Music Awards Ceremony held in New York, and earlier in the year won a Logie Award (the Australian equivalent of the Emmys) for Most Popular Female New Talent.
Internationally, Delta has also been embraced, with three top ten singles and multiple platinum album sales in the UK and New Zealand, where 'Innocent Eyes' charted at #2 and #7 respectively, and stayed in the UK top 20 for almost 6 months. The album continues to be released in more & more territories across Europe, with her worldwide album sales now exceeding 2.1 million.
With statistics like these there's no doubt, Innocent Eyes is an album that heralds the arrival of a major new talent. An artist who's doing things her way. Grounded, focused and ambitious. "In my own time," Delta sings on one of Innocent Eyes' many standout tracks, "it'll be mine."
"Do you remember when you were 15, and the kids at school called you a fool because you took the chance to dream?"
Delta Goodrem is no pop newcomer. She started in the entertainment business at the age of seven, acting in TV commercials and Australian television shows such as Hey Dad, A Country Practice and Police Rescue. Delta loved sports, particularly basketball and skiing, but music was her passion. And while other girls her age would probably spend their pay on Barbie Dolls, Delta saved her acting money to make a demo CD.
At the age of 12, Delta recorded her demo CD, with five songs she'd written. She also included her version of the Australian national anthem because she dreamed of one day singing at a game for her football team - the Sydney Swans. "Anyone's allowed to dream, I say," Delta says.
Delta sent the CD to the Swans and they sent it on to one of the club's biggest supporters - Australian manager Glenn Wheatley, the man who guided the Little River Band and John Farnham to mega success. Seeing a red and white envelope in his letterbox, Glenn ripped open the package to find Delta's songs.
Over the next two years, Glenn helped Delta develop her career, before Sony signed her at the age of 15.
Inspired by everything from Silverchair to Incubus to Jeff Buckley and "the Diva Girls" - Mariah and Celine; at first, Delta struggled to find her own direction. Then she discovered her mantra: Just have fun and sing from the heart.
"No point in talking what you should have been, and regretting the things that went on
Life's full of mistakes, destinies and fate. Remove the clouds, look at the bigger picture"
The title-track of Delta's debut album is her story. "I really wanted a song with a bit of a classical feel because I've been doing classical piano for 10 years," she explains. "And the song is about looking at the world with innocent eyes, that enthusiasm, which I never want to lose."
In 2002, Delta landed a role on the Australian television institution Neighbours, a show that started on air just a few months after Delta was born. Playing the shy singing schoolgirl Nina Tucker, Delta got to debut Born To Try on the show. Though she's always getting in trouble for singing on the set, Delta says, "Neighbours has been fantastic."
Now, the girl who plays piano barefoot is taking her music to the world, and the world is listening.
"I love performing. I do this so I can get up and sing for people. It's a big world and there's so much to work for.
"I do have a lot of goals. I want to take my music to people and tell my story, and one day be singing at the Grammys and the Brits and the ARIAs. Just world domination, I'm not asking for much." She laughs, before adding: "It's just the beginning." Delta smiles, those Innocent Eyes sparkling.
For more information, please contact:
Kultida Puranaputra (Omm)
Marketing Communications Executive
MTV Thailand
Office: 02-681-4646 # 450
Fax: 02-681-6143 End.