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Delta Lea Goodrem (born 9 November 1984) is a multi-ARIA Award winning Australian singer-songwriter, pianist and Logie Award winning actress. Signed to Sony at the age of 15, Goodrem rose to prominence in 2002, starring in the popular Australian soap Neighbours as Nina Tucker, and this assisted her in establishing an international music career. Her musical output usually falls under the pop and ballad genres and heavily features the piano, which she usually plays in her bare feet while performing live. Her music is usually heavily influenced by classical or Adult Contemporary music, and sometimes by others such as dance and rock. Australian singer, actress Delta Goodrem got her start on the popular soap opera Neighbours, and parlayed her fame from the show into a singing career. Her first album, the million-plus-selling Innocent Eyes, arrived in 2003 and featured songs co-written by pop songwriters such as Cathy Dennis. At that time, Goodrem was splitting her time between Neighbours and her pop career, but her diagnosis of Hodgkin's lymphoma forced her to slow down and re-evaluate her life. The direction for what was to become her next batch of songs came from Goodrem's physical and mental therapy. Recruiting a team of collaborators that included Dennis, Gary Barlow, and songwriter/producer Guy Chambers, who had also worked with pop stars including Robbie Williams, Goodrem used her experiences good and bad, to create Mistaken Identity, which was released in the U.S. in summer 2005. To date, Goodrem has achieved eight number one ARIA singles and multiple UK Top 10 singles. Her debut album, 2003's Innocent Eyes, made her one of Australia's highest selling female recording artists, spending 29 weeks at #1, selling over a million copies in Australia and another 1.5 million internationally. Its successor, 2004's Mistaken Identity, whilst unable to match the commercial success of its predecessor; entered the ARIA charts at #1 and gained multi-platinum status. To date, she has sold 3.5 million albums worldwide. In 2005, Goodrem embarked on The Visualise Tour, her debut concert tour of Australia. Goodrem released her third studio album, self-titled Delta, on October 20, 2007 to yet another number-one debut. In 2003, at the age of 18, amidst her blooming career, Goodrem was diagnosed with Hodgkin's Lymphoma, a form of cancer. She has since made a full recovery and now spends much of her time promoting cancer charities. Delta Lea Goodrem was born on 9 November 1984 in Sydney, New South Wales to parents Denis and Lea Goodrem. She has a younger brother named Trent Goodrem. Goodrem, who showed a strong interest in music and performing from a very young age, attended The Hills Grammar School, though due to its curriculum placing strong emphasis on sport (Goodrem taking part in netball, running and swimming), music was primarily kept separate. At the age of seven, she appeared in an American commercial for the Galoob toy company, starring alongside fellow Australian Bec Cartwright and began playing piano at ten years of age while taking up singing, dancing and acting lessons. She appeared in numerous commercials for companies such as Optus and Nesquik, and had several minor roles in episodes of successful Australian television shows including Hey Dad...!, A Country Practice and Police Rescue. At the age of thirteen Goodrem recorded a five song demo CD, financed through her television work. It was sent to the Sydney Swans Football Club (of which Goodrem is a supporter) and they passed it onto Glenn Wheatley, the manager behind successful Australian artists, Little River Band and John Farnham. Interested in Goodrem's potential as a recording artist, Wheatley signed Goodrem an artist development deal with independent label, Empire Records. Between June 1999 to September 2000, she worked with producers Paul Higgins and Trevor Carter on thirteen tracks for an album called Delta, which saw "an ambitious 15-year-old keen to emulate the pop sound of the Spice Girls, Britney Spears and Mandy Moore." The album has yet to surface, Goodrem preventing its release years later via civil action in 2004. At the age of 15, Goodrem signed a record deal with Sony and began work on an album of pop-dance songs including the unsuccessful debut single "I Don't Care", which peaked at number sixty-four on the ARIA singles chart in November 2001. The album and proposed second single "A Year Ago Today" were pushed aside as a result, allowing Goodrem and Sony to re-evaluate her future musical direction. In 2002, Goodrem took up the role as shy school girl and aspiring singer Nina Tucker in the popular soap Neighbours, which helped re-launch Goodrem's music career. The piano-based ballad "Born to Try" co-written by Audius Mtawarira premiered on the show and became her first ARIA number one and UK Top 3. Goodrem's role on the show scored her a Logie for "Most Popular New Talent" at the 2003 Logie Awards and two other nominations at the 2004 Logie Awards (including a Gold Logie nomination). In January 2003, "Lost Without You" again topped the ARIA singles chart and reached number four in the UK, increasing Goodrem's popularity. Her largely self-penned debut album Innocent Eyes was released in March and debuted at number-one on the ARIA album charts, breaking Australian records previously held by John Farnham's Whispering Jack (1986) by staying at number-one for 25 consecutive weeks, while tying with Neil Diamond's Hot August Night (1972) as the second longest charting number-one album with a total of 29 weeks at top spot. It was the highest selling album in Australia of 2003 and sold over a million copies in Australia alone, 2.5 million worldwide. The album also charted highly in the UK, peaking at #2. "Not Me, Not I", released following the announcement Goodrem had been diagnosed with cancer, became her fourth consecutive ARIA number-one single, overtaking the previous effort of three number-one's from Kylie Minogue's debut Kylie album. Goodrem ceased work on Neighbours and her music to begin treatment and in early October, announced she would not renew her contract with Glenn Wheatley, mother Lea Goodrem replacing him as her manager. Later that month, Goodrem won seven ARIA Awards, including "Best Female Artist", surpassing Natalie Imbruglia's previous record of six awards in 1999. Too unwell to perform at the ceremony, singer Darren Hayes performed a rendition of "Lost Without You" as a tribute, bringing an overwhelmed Goodrem to tears. Her first full-length DVD Delta became the highest selling music DVD by an Australian artist in Australia ever, with a certification of 12x platinum, while Australian-only release "Predictable" became her fifth consecutive number one ARIA single in December. Delta made a recording that she didn't want to be released publicly and had to battle with her old record company to prevent them from releasing it. After announcing in late December 2003 that she was in remission, Goodrem began work on her second album. In September 2004, she became the face of soft drink giant Pepsi in Australia, appearing on the product, billboards, TV advertisements and performing an exclusive show for competition winners. In October, first single "Out of the Blue", co-written and produced by Guy Chambers, debuted at number-one in Australia and number nine in the UK. October saw Goodrem launch her own lingerie line titled "Delta by Annabella". Goodrem's second album Mistaken Identity, notable for its darker themes inspired by the hardships of her previous twelve months, was released in early November and debuted at number-one in Australia, Top 10 in New Zealand, but peaked at a disappointing number twenty-five in the UK. "Almost Here", a duet with Irish singer Brian McFadden, reached number three in the UK, became her seventh ARIA number one, and her first number one in Ireland. Singles released only in Australia - "Mistaken Identity", "A Little Too Late" and "Be Strong" - were moderately successful. In March 2005, she starred in her first film role of Hating Alison Ashley, a film based on the popular children's novel, Goodrem acting the title character. The film performed poorly at the box office and was not a critical success, some critics citing Goodrem's performance as too robotic and detached. April saw Goodrem relocate in New York to launch her career in the United States with a re-worked version of "Lost Without You". She appeared in the last two episodes of short-lived American series North Shore in a bid to gain greater exposure around the US. "Lost Without You" proved to be modestly successful, peaking at number eighteen on the Billboard Adult Contemporary chart, but Goodrem was reportedly dissatisfied with its performance. Plans to release a hybrid of her first two albums were later terminated and Goodrem looks to have put America on hold. In July, Goodrem embarked on her first headline concert tour of Australia, The Visualise Tour. Ticket prices (ninety-nine Australian dollars each) came under criticism for being higher than most international acts touring Australia at the time and this initially led to slow sales. By the time the concerts were due to take place, many venues sold out after tickets were reduced to $60. Once the tour concluded, over 80,000 tickets had been bought in total making The Visualise Tour one of Australia's highest selling local tours. The Visualise Tour: Live in Concert was released in November and became Goodrem's second #1 DVD. On 15 March, 2006, Goodrem performed a new song, "Together We Are One", at the Commonwealth Games Opening Ceremony in front of 80,000 spectators and up to 1.5 billion television viewers worldwide. The song, written specifically for the event with Chambers and McFadden, was released in Australia, peaking at number two, and was performed by the Top 5 contestants on American Idol. In June, Goodrem signed to Modest! Entertainment for her world-wide management. October saw Goodrem promoting in Japan with the release of an updated version of Innocent Eyes and the Japan-only single "Flawed", which reached number one on the Japanese download chart. The album peaked at number eight on the Japanese international chart (excluding Japanese artists) and number nineteen on the official Japanese album chart (including Japanese artists). In November, Goodrem appeared with Westlife on UK talent series The X Factor to perform a duet titled "All Out of Love", which appeared on the boyband's ninth LP, The Love Album. She was in Melbourne on Christmas Eve to headline the annual Carols by Candlelight. On August 10, 2007 Goodrem was in Los Angeles to film the music video for "In This Life", the first single which is also the opening theme for the anime Deltora Quest, based on the novels by fellow Australian Emily Rodda. The video premiered on August 31 on Sunrise. "In This Life" was released as the first single from her new album on September 15. It debuted at number one on the Australian Singles Chart, becoming Goodrem's eighth number one single in Australia. Her latest album, self titled Delta, was released in Australia on October 20, 2007. Goodrem has described the material as "...a lot lighter" compared to her previous album Mistaken Identity. In January she stated, "As people become more aware of your life, they can pinpoint what songs are about. On this album, I've tried to remove a lot of that and just write great pop songs, songs that are from my heart but there's no baggage with them". The album debuted on number one on the ARIA albums chart, marking her third number one album in her home country, and received platinum certification for shipments of 70,000 records, though sales were much lower; only 23,000 copies were sold during the first week. In December the album received a 2x platinum award for shipments of 140,000 copies. The album was certified 3x Platinum in February. The second single of the album was "Believe Again", released in December. The video for the song was one of the most expensive ones made in the Australian music history. It was the most added song on the radio of week 46. The song debuted at #2 in Australian Singles Chart. The third single, "You Will Only Break My Heart", is set to be released at the end of March. According to Goodrem, she is going to explore new places around the world in 2008, including Brazil. Goodrem wrote the Middle Eastern influenced song "Eyes On Me", recorded by Celine Dion for her album Taking Chances. It was originally intended to be included on Goodrem's album but didn't make the cut. "Eyes On Me" was released as the second single in the UK from Taking Chances in early January 2008. In late 2008, Goodrem will be touring. She will also be recording a duet with Olivia Newton-John to help raise money for Olivia's Cancer Hospital in Melbourne. The duet has been confirmed by the Australian magazine, New Idea, to be called "Gotta Be Right Here With You". Additionally, on March 27, Delta will be performing a one night only show at The Seymour Centre in Sydney, quoting that she "wants to share a night of music with her loyal fans and forum friends". In February 2008 different sources reported that Goodrem was dropped by her record company in the US, Sony BMG. However, this was later denied by her partner McFadden, who claimed in an interview that she just switched record labels. She is now a part of Mercury Records. He also stated that she was at that moment in L.A. to shoot a new video and make the cover for the US version of the album Delta. Her first single in the US, 'In This Life' is now available for digital download. In March, she entered the Australian Recording Industry's record books after becoming the first artist to win 12 Number One Chart Awards. On 8 July 2003, at the age of 18, Goodrem was diagnosed with Hodgkin's Lymphoma, a form of cancer which attacks the body's immune system. As a result, she was forced to put all working commitments on hold while undertaking treatment for the disease. In an exclusive interview with the Australian Women's Weekly, Goodrem revealed that her body had been giving warning signs since 2002. Symptoms included a head to toe rash, fatigue, weight loss, night sweats and the appearance of a lump on her neck. "I was doing sit-ups when I felt something pop in my neck. I reached down and I felt a small lump at the base of my throat. It wasn't sore, it wasn't visible, but I could feel it." As part of her treatment, Goodrem undertook chemotherapy, which resulted in the loss of her hair, and radiation therapy. News of her diagnosis made newspaper and television headlines and an outpouring of support was shown by fans and the general public alike, Goodrem thanking them during The Visualise Tour for all the letters and well wishes she received. Much of Goodrem's 2004 album Mistaken Identity - in particular "Extraordinary Day" - is inspired by her battle. Reflecting on that period of her life, Goodrem says, “ It's weird to see pictures of that time. In some ways the fact that I was so sick was so out there, and yet I kept it really private. No-one saw me on the days I was really sick...I was 18 when I was diagnosed and I had a number one album and single in the country. And in the UK, I was number two. It was such a bipolar year.” In 2007, Goodrem's mother, Lea, revealed that she has been diagnosed with breast cancer. On October 27 she told News Limited that she had been diagnosed 8 weeks earlier. During her work on Neighbours, Goodrem dated fellow cast member Blair McDonough and it is widely speculated that the song "Not Me, Not I" was written about their breakup. In 2004, Goodrem began a nine month relationship with Australian tennis player Mark Philippoussis. Her "comeback" single "Out of the Blue" was written about his support during her cancer battle. The couple ended in controversy when newspapers reported Philippoussis had been unfaithful. Reports indicated Philippoussis had been linked with socialite Paris Hilton before breaking it off with Goodrem, though this was denied by Philippoussis, it was confirmed by Goodrem. In 2004, Goodrem began dating former Westlife singer Brian McFadden, with whom she collaborated on the single "Almost Here", and this caused immense tabloid scrutiny in the UK. It was suggested the pair had embarked on their relationship before McFadden and then-wife Kerry Katona had separated. In May 2006, newspapers claimed that Goodrem's mother had advised her to end her relationship with McFadden in order to concentrate on furthering her career. In the album sleeve of Delta, Goodrem is candid about her mother as well as boyfriend Brian McFadden. "I'm sorry we hurt each other, this chapter was hard to write," she wrote, referring to Lea. "Be strong in this next chapter, there's so many memories to make, laughs and smiles to have." Goodrem also thanked McFadden: "You made me believe again in life, love, music, and to be the best person and therefore the best artist I can be. "Every dream I have, we're standing side by side, we laugh, we sing, we cry." On November 30th 2007, Delta and Brian announced they were engaged. It is revealed in the Christmas Eve issue of OK Magazine Australia that Brian pre-planned the proposal for months. He wrote a book recounting their moments from when they first met until the final page when he asked Delta "Remember the day when I proposed to you in Bali?", and Brian did propose to her in a delayed trip to Bali because of Lea's problem with breast cancer. The announcement was made because Brian revealed that his fans thought Delta rejected the proposal. Delta accepted the proposal and the couple are reportedly planned to marry in Sydney in late 2009. Goodrem regularly visits sick children in hospital and uses her own experience with cancer to help raise awareness for other young people affected by the disease. A percentage of each ticket for The Visualise Tour went towards the "Delta Goodrem Leukaemia & Lymphoma Research Trust Fund", established by Goodrem in support of cancer research. In May 2005, Goodrem helped launch "Teen Info on Cancer", a UK website aimed at supporting young teenage sufferers. In November 2005, Goodrem became an ambassador for Research Australia's "Thank You Day", which honours the country's health and medical researchers and received a Thank You Day Celebrity Advocacy Award "in recognition of her efforts in raising funds and awareness for Australian medical research and charities." Goodrem is set to be the face of Alternative Hair, the UK hairdressing industry's top fundraising event, in aid of cancer charity Leukaemia Research. Goodrem is also member of RADD (Recording Artists, Actors And Athletes Against Drunk Driving), a group of celebrities raising awareness of the risks of drunk driving. |
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