Diana Anaid
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DIANA ANAID - Australian Singer/Songwriter
EARLY YEARS
Diana Anaid (real name Gosper) was born to her Father Noel and Mother Helen in the hills of Newcastle, NSW Australia, and is a little sister to siblings Tao and Charles (now called Heya). After her mother died when she was an infant, her father could not cope. He went off the rails and was in and out of jails for most of Diana’s youth, resulting in Diana and her brothers spending much of their formative years in foster homes and children’s jails. When Diana was four her father re-married and fathered Louie, but then promptly divorced and lost contact with Louie and his mother.
It was at the age of five that Diana first knew that she wanted to be a singer. She started writing songs at nine and was learning the guitar by twelve, with her brother Heya teaching her basic initial chords. In year 10 Diana did work experience at the local recording studio and had some of the best local musicians help her record her song The Voice, later doing a film clip for the song with the help of the same musicians. This was just a taste of what was later to follow.
By the time Diana was in her mid-teens she was accompanying herself at parties, markets and wherever she could get a chance to play, including supporting Gyan at the Nimbin Bush Theatre and performing at the 1996 Byron Bay Blues Festival (after which her boyfriends step father told her to give up trying to be a performer because she ‘didn’t go off’, inspiring ‘that’ song).
When Diana was 15 she saw photos of her deceased mother for the first time. In 1995, at 16, she gave birth to her son Stone. At 17 she was told of her abusive childhood, her father outing himself as a child sex offender.
Performing at a friend’s birthday party in late 1996, Diana was offered $8000 by a stranger from Greenpeace to record her first CD. Diana borrowed an extra two thousand from another friend and recorded her self-produced debut CD at Rockinghorse Recording Studio in Byron Bay, all songs written by her except one co-write, ‘Make It Begin’ with Stones father, with photos by her friend Hannah Pearl, graphics by Lismore friend Alex Clarke and back-up by young local musicians Diana had been working with, Rueben Barkley (Bass), Clancy Robinson (drums) and Mark Spencer (Sax). Recorded by Keith ‘The Moth’ Williams. For the release of her debut, Diana started her record company ‘Raucous Records’.
1997
Diana mastered the CD at Sony in Sydney, got 500 CD’s made and immediately sent a few copies to Triple J (not for the Unearthed competition) and Richard Kingsmill, the then Australian Music Show DJ, gave the track ‘I Go Off’ (track #1 on debut album) a spin, which resulted in an immediate call in from listeners of over 100 a day, setting a record at the time and resulting in him playing it a lot! This resulted it taking off around the country on Triple J.
Diana was shocked when she was threatened with legal proceedings by the rhythm section on the initial recording, as well as her northern NSW manager from 1996, the recording studio where the debut was recorded and the engineer who recorded the CD. Diana had her first taste of the industry after legal advice suggested she cut all ties with all involved.
Triple J ‘got sick of requests from listeners for details on how to buy ‘I Go Off’ and gave Diana’s home number out on the air. Diana sold most of the 500 pressing of her debut CD by phone orders out of her home in the northern NSW hills of Nimbin.
Diana signed with Origin publishing and recording company, an indie label from Sydney, formed by Philip Mortlock and Philip Walker, as a result of the airplay. With her publishing advance paid back the investor from Greenpeace, and her friend who lent her the extra two thousand, and paid her legal fees which were accumulated from signing the record deal.
Origin released ‘I Go Off’ in July 1997 as the lead single from the debut CD. It sold 14,000 units, and went Top40 on the charts and top10 in the Indie charts, where it hovered around the Top10 for several weeks.
Diana signed management with ex-Angels drummer Buzz Bidstrup and with his help they re-record (with producers credit now being split between Diana and Buzz) portions of the debut at Jimmy Barnes’s Mittagong studio, sharing production credits with him, as well as doing an impromptu photo shoot with Philip Mortlock for the albums new cover. Diana took a Chameleon type approach, wanting every CD/single release to have a different hairstyle/look. Extra recording was done in Sydney at Megaphon and White House studios by Guy Dickerson, Buzz and John Bee, with re-mixes also done by David Nicholas. Musicians on the record: Rueben Barkley (Bass), Clancy Robinson (drums) and Mark Spencer (tenor and baritone Sax), Geoff Rosenberg (bass), Buzz (drums, shaker, percussion), Scott Tinkler (trumpet), Tony Gorman (Saxophone and baritone clarinet), Blair Greenberg (djembe, Tabla), Elias Ellis (congas),Martin Hayley (electric and slide guitar), Ron Fransois (bass), Chris Abrahams (piano), Lloyd Swanton (double bass), Tegan Northwood (loops), Wayne Goodwin (violins), Adrian Wallis (cello), Andrew Wilkie (vibraphone), Serge Caglione (bass)
Diana did film a clip for ‘I Go Off’ in Sydney (clip#1).
Diana performed nationally with Vans Warped as the first ever solo acoustic female act, undertook her own sold-out national showcase tour, supported Paul Kelly at Woodford Folk Festival, was support to US act Cake. Diana released her second single ‘See Through’ (plus film clip #2) to coincide with a national tour as special support of INXS, which was due to start the day after Michael Hutchance died.
Diana recorded with, and was touring with, a Maton guitar, which she violently strummed until it was nearly unplayable. She was known for breaking two strings at once, bleeding on the guitar for playing it so ferociously and bashing it out of tune. When reps from Maton were invited to the Melbourne showcase, they were impressed by the individuality of the music and offered Diana an endorsement, including making her new guitars which could withstand her style (stronger, thicker wood, heavier strings, higher action, custom-made).
The re-recorded and newly packaged debut was released in September 1997 and sold 10,000 after the campaign was halted due to vocal surgery in late 1997, after which Diana had two months rest.
Who Magazine described Diana’s self-titled debut album in 1997 as “the arrival of a major talent.”
Feature stories included Witness Ch7 TV, ABC's Recovery TV, Good News Week , Ground Zero Ch10, Today Show, Kerry Anne, Sunrise, Channel V and MAX, and was also featured in Sunday Papers, Rolling Stone, Who, Dolly, and many other publications and street press articles.
‘I Go Off’ was featured on several compilation CD’s including Hot Hits 1998 and was also featured in the Triple J Hottest 100. Diana received two ARIA nominations for Best Debut and Best Female and performed at the televised ARIA awards.
1998
Diana showcased at the SXSW music convention in Austin Texas as well as performing showcases in New York and LA, before returning to Australia to release the interim single ‘Oh No’ (including film clip#3). The song was produced by Australian producer Daniel Denholm (Frente) and secured Diana a third ARIA nomination, this time for Best Independent release.
Diana moved to Sydney to be close to the studios she was working in (Paradise, Sony, Big Jesus Burger) and her record company and management.
After working with a few different producers (most notably Jonathan Burnside) Diana then spent several months co-producing the new CD with engineer Nick Hartley and programmer/guitarist Ashley Manning (most recently of the Sydney heavy metal band Tourettes) and co-writing with Ashley the songs Perfect Family, Socially Defunct, The Short Song and Blues Singer.
The new album was primarily recorded and mixed in Ashley’s home studio The Green Dragon in Kirrabilly in North Sydney (‘Little Fux’ and ‘Don’t Believe in Love’ were produced and recorded by Daniel Denholm) and mastered at 301 by Don Bartley. Musicians who contributed to the recording were Greg Talby (drums), Rick Talby (bass), Ashley Manning (electric guitar and backing vox), Nick Hartley (programming), Phil Hall (bass), Barton Price (drums) Warwick Factor (bass), Jack Housden (electric guitar), Daniel Denholm (programming and extra instrumentation). Producers on the record are Diana, Ashley Manning, Nick Hartley and Daniel Denholm.
Diana formed a band and started a relationship with her guitarist (Nathan Correy) which they kept secret until their engagement in 2007 (no longer engaged).
Diana had musical differences with Buzz and they amicably parted ways.
Diana supported The Whitlams at Woodford Folk festival to a 14,000 capacity.
1999
Diana does artwork for CD #2 with Sydney based company Louisville, drawing a sketch of herself and the albums co-producer Ashley for the cover, and choosing the very un-commercial title of ‘I Don’t Think I’m Pregnant’.
Origin released the Drum Media ‘Album Of The Week’, ‘I Don't Think I'm Pregnant’ in August 1999. It was ‘Album Of The Week’ on Triple J, with Diana and band performing the entire album ‘Live At the Wireless’. The CD was reviewed as “one of the best rock albums of the decade.” Danny Murphy/Revolver Magazine, slamming any critics who may have put Diana in the ‘one-hit-wonder’ pile.
Lead single ‘Perfect Family’ (and clip#4) was released and headline tours were undertaken, plus special supports with The Whitlams, Killing Heidi, Spiderbait, and international act The Eels. Diana was invited for performances on Hey Hey It's Saturday, CH V, MTV, House Of Hits, Pepsi Chart, O'Laughlan Show, Good News Week, Today Show, and had articles/interviews in Rolling Stone, Who, Juice, and all major and regional papers, street press, with lots more TV and countless radio stations. ‘Perfect Family’ also featured on the annual TripleJ Hottest 100 compilation CD and on Ch10’s Party Of Five television promo’s.
Origin released the second single from I Don’t Think I’m Pregnant, ‘Don’t Believe In Love’ (clip#5), which was Diana’s first single to receive national commercial airplay with Austereo and other commercial stations, and went on to reach Top10 in the Independent singles charts.
Diana received two more ARIA nominations for Best Independent Release and Best Female Artist. Origin released single, ‘Love Song For A Girl’, ( clip#6) featuring Diana’s best friend Ariescia (who the song was written for!) ‘I Don’t Think I’m Pregnant’ cost more than double the debut CD to make and sold approximately the same amount, about 10,000 units.
Diana’s third album was produced in Australia at Sing Sing studios in Melbourne by Kalju Tonuma (Mavis's, Deadstar, 28 Days) and was discovered before release by USA producer/record label owner Paul Palmer (No Doubt-Tragic Kingdom), who cited the co-writing and electric guitar playing by Nathan Correy, as significant reasons for the interest (co-written songs were ‘Blaring Out’, ‘Dumb Opinion’ and the title track ‘Beautiful Obscene’, with some acoustic guitar and all electric guitar by Nathan Correy except for a few small parts by Kalju Tonuma).
Diana re-located to buy a house in the hills of Nimbin before flying to the USA to re-record the new CD in LA studios CanAm and EMG with Paul Palmer and co-producer Tedd Hutt (MXPX, Flogging Molly). She signed to Paul’s small indie label Five Crowns and signed a management deal with Geoffrey Schuhkraft (Little River band, The Nelsons) and Scott Nicholson, (Sunk Loto). ‘Beautiful Obscene’ was also produced by Aussie Kalju Tonuma and had extra recording by Tom Panunzio. Musicians on the album were co-writer and permanent electric guitarist Nathan Correy, Florien Reinhert (drums), Ted Hutt (bass), Stephanie Fife (strings), additional guitar by Kal Tonuma and Ted Hut (slide guitar) and of course, acoustic guitar and vocals by Diana.
After the new CD, ‘Beautiful Obscene’, was mastered by Bernie Grundman and mixed by Niel Avron (Evanessence), with artwork by Diana’s usual artist in Australia, Louise from Louisville. Photo’s were by Diana’s preferred Aussie photographer Jom. It was released in 2004 to critical acclaim, both in the USA and Australia.
‘Blaring Out’ was the lead out single in Australia (film clip#7) and received good airplay/press coverage.
Alice Radio in SanFran (a HOTAC format) heard Last Thing and added it to their playlist. Last Thing was released in the USA as a single and in Australia as single #2 (film clip #8).
40 different US states added ‘Last Thing’ to their play list, including Denver, New Orleans, San Fran, Florida, Arizona, Kentucky and many others. ‘Last Thing's’ popularity saw Diana tour the USA, mainly playing HotAC (adult contemporary with a target audience of women - who were reacting with the song all over the USA!), radio station boardrooms and functions and radio promoted festivals/concerts. Her label and management set up some prestigious showcases, and support performances at the Viper Room, House Of Blues, The Knitting Factory and showcases at Borders, Virgin megastore San Fran and various live TV and radio appearances all over the USA. She was there for 2004 and 2005, based in the LA house she was sharing with her manager’s other acts, including the fighter Paul Briggs.
‘Beautiful Obscene’ became the I-Tunes Top 10 Best Pop Music CD of 2004, and its single ‘Last Thing’ was I-Tunes #7 Best Pop single 2004, as well as being Diana's first US top 30 hit and the most downloaded ‘single of the week’ on iTunes, with 125,000 downloads in a single week in 2004 and had a listening audience of over 40 million.
‘Last Thing’ also reached #1 on AOL Radio Chart and Top 10 on the US Net Music Countdown, as well as Diana being the winner of Yahoo Launch.com’s ‘Who’s Next’ competition with 40,000 listener votes. ‘Last Thing’ also caught the attention of TV execs who used it in the Wonderfalls TV promo’s.
Diana featured in R&R Magazine HotAC artist spotlight, and also featured in Village Voice NY, Frets Mag USA, Yen Mag UK, Rolling Stone Australia, KTLA Breakfast TV show in LA, KRON TV San Fran, as well as hundreds of other morning TV shows, publications and media in the USA and the Australian press like Sunrise, Kerry Anne, Channel V, MTV, Triple J, Triple M, Nova, major papers/street press.
“‘....great radio songs with memorable hooks. Aside from ‘Last Thing’, other strong tracks are the lyrically clever ‘Dumb Opinion’, which swells with emotion...the first time I heard it, I was sold!” JULIE KERTES OF R&R MAG, USA
“Cooler than Ani from the beginning: her voice louder, guts redder. Diana Anaid might be the cover girl for self-made, heartwarming, gut-vomiting indie chicks.” EMMA PEARSE, VILLAGE VOICE USA
Diana received endorsements from Line6 guitars and Musashi sports vitamins.
Diana and her band return to Australia and have performances at Big Day Out, Falls Festival, and headline tours of Australia, with a view to return to the States to release the international second single ‘Dumb Opinion’, which already had airplay in Arizona, Denver and New Orleans.
After an apparent lack of funding to continue the promotion of ‘Beautiful Obscene’, and with the record selling under ten thousand units regardless of extensive airplay, Diana is unceremoniously dropped from her US label and from management.
2007
With the changes in the recording industry and the end of an era with Origin, Diana formed her own indie record label Forola (Raucous Records was given up when she signed to Origin in ’97), to release her own music and also took over management.
In 2007 Diana released an anticipated and critically acclaimed live and acoustic CD, mainly for the fans of her live acoustic solo shows, who have followed her as a solo artist, and to celebrate 10 years in the industry and three acclaimed CD's. The live CD "Live At The Bush Theatre", recorded in a small country town of Diana's childhood, is a collection of her past radio hits and includes top 10 songs, ‘I Go Off’, ‘Perfect Family’ and ‘Last Thing’, and was totally Australian made with the CD's producer being the local studio sound man, and lights/visuals and live sound by local artists.
Diana debuted her new band with a summer tour across Australia and performed on TV with appearances on Kerry Anne, the Susie Elelman Show and State Focus. Diana works again with Kalju Tonuma and produces ‘In Your Words’ and ‘Cheatin On Me’ ( clip#9 by Bernard Ryan of Cyber City Films), which she releases in 2007 along with the iTunes exclusive Josh Abraham's re-mix, which was featured on the JimmyZ 2007 summer compilation CD.
‘Cheatin On Me’ had articles in all major and regional press/street papers and national newspapers and got airplay on national and regional radio. The ‘Cheatin On Me’ clip debuts on Video Hits and Rage and is nominated for a Sunscreen video award.
Diana receives endorsements with D’Addarrio strings, Rode microphones, PreSonus, Event and MusicLink.
Diana successfully applies for the Export Development Grant and is a finalist in the International Songwriter Of The Year Awards.
After staying in Nimbin nursing her father through to his death from cancer and seeing her son through his school certificate (now going through year 12!), Diana is invited to showcase at The International Folk Alliance in Memphis (Feb 2008). Her performance in Memphis saw her invited to perform gigs in L.A during March and April of 08, at prestigious venues The Knitting Factory, Hotel Cafe and The Mint.
While in the US Diana formed a new band with guitarist Nathan and three LA friends, a totally different style from her usual. The band are called Rockmonster. They have 5 songs written and recorded up into demo’s.
In 2009 Diana recorded in Albert's studio in Sydney with her guitarist and drummer/engineer Dean Belcastro, co-producing with them the new self titled CD, which was released in April 2010. Dean joins the band as Diana’s drummer, along with her bass player Craig Latham.
The first single ‘Cynical On Waking’ (and film clip#10) is released in September 2009. The album is reviewed and described as her ‘best record yet’, Christie Eliezer, Pollstar mag.
Diana embarks on a national tour to support the single in late 2009.
The raw sounds of the new CD saw Diana invited back again to the International Folk Alliance in Memphis, for showcases in February 2010 and for more gigs for her fans in Californian clubs.
While in LA Diana finishes the Rockmonster demo’s, now having 11 songs ready in demo form.
In the pipeline for the not so distant future, is a retrospective CD collection of her fans favourite tunes, from her back-catalogue, a video/dvd collection with rare interviews and live performances, plus selected clips from her career, a TAB book, an autobiography (Diana has been writing the story of her roller coaster youth and music career) and a collaboration CD release with her bother Heya.
Diana is Vegan. Diana Anaid and Band headlined The "Sydney Cruelty Free Festival"
Discography
1997 Original Self Titled CD (500 copies only)
1997 I Go Off (single)
1997 Self Titled Album
1997 See Through (single)
1998 Leaving The Country (single)
1998 Oh No (single)
1999 I Don't Think I'm Pregnant (Album)
1999 Perfect Family (single)
2000 Don't Believe In Love (single)
2001 Love Song For A Girl (single)
2004 Beautiful Obscene (Album)
2004 Last Thing (single)
2006 Live At The Bush Theatre (Album)
2007 Cheatin On Me (single)
2009 Cynical On Waking (single)
2010 Diana Anaid (album)
References
External links