Clelia Adams

Thanks for stopping by and getting to know me a little better. I am an Italian born Australian country singer (hey, it does happen!). My family came to Australia in the post war migration from Europe and I grew up in Orange, in the Central West of NSW. I started my career as a music journalist/girl Friday for Go-Set magazine (Australia’s first pop music magazine) in the late 60’s, then into Product and Marketing for WEA Records, before heading to London & Canada in the 70’s, working in the music industry overseas.

On returning to Australia in the mid 70’s, I moved to Tamworth (Australia’s Country Music Capital), drawn by the country music scene there and quickly became entrenched in the music scene. It was in Tamworth that I started my music career as a singer with my girl trio SKARLETT with Cate McCarthy and Jacqui Glynn, (photo in gallery) and also worked with the groundbreaking New England Rangers (Lawrie Minson, Pixie Jenkins, Tom Galbraith, Garry Adams, Glen Walters), the first country rock outfit in a rock and roll town. It was the early days of Country Music, and the place was open armed to everyone. I stayed 25 years, had two beautiful children Daniel and Jessie, and a professional career as a session singer in all the studios of Tamworth, on literally hundreds of country music albums.

I am grateful for those years of Tamworth’s acceptance of me as an artist and their total support of my career, no matter what style of music I explored, which were many. Session singer, Rock Chick, Wedding Singer, Jazz singer....you name it, I did it all and I loved it all.

“FINE COMPANY”, my first solo CD, recorded in 1996, entwined all the styles of music I love to sing, country, blues, R & B and jazz. To my delight, the album received rave reviews.

In 2000, I made my sea change, left Tamworth to live on the far north coast of NSW, to Mullumbimby in the Byron Bay shire.

This saw the beginnings of an International country music career profile with my first solo album "Bring It On" in 2001. Europe responded immediately to my music and I became the darling of the European and UK charts with each successive album. Heartbeat Highway in 2004, Wildflowers in 2008, and my "full circle" River Valley Dreaming in 2011 with bonus CD The Archives, spanning 3 decades of my recording history. Each album produced six Top 5 hits both in Australia.

CAREER HIGHLIGHTS:

Backing vocalist for live radio shows "Country Muster" and live TV show "It Must Be Country", and the Tamworth Country Music Awards Band in the 70's & 80's.

Female Vocalist and Duo of the Year for l985 album "Angel Band" at the inaugural Australasian Country Gospel Awards held in Tamworth.

Performing at the opening concert at the Tamworth Country Music Festival in 1997 to a crowd of 18,000.

• Backing vocalist on hundreds of country music albums recorded in the many Tamworth studios, from 1975 to 2000
   
• Recording "Bring It On" in 2001,"Heartbeat Highway" in 2004 and "Wildflowers" in 2008.
   
• 2006 TIARA winner of the Gentleman Geoff Brown Memorial Award for "Heartbeat Highway"
   
• Nominated Best Female Vocalist and Artist of the Year in the first round of the European Country Music Awards 2006.
   
• Nominated Female Vocalist of the Year, 2006 NSW Gold Medallion Awards
   
• 2008 Inductee to the Australian Country Music LBS WALL OF HONOUR for making an important contribution to the Professional Recording Industry.
   
• "Wildflowers" takes out the Contemporary Country Song category and Country Song of The Year at the Northern Territory Country Song Writing Awards in May 2008.
   
• Female Vocalist of the Year and Songwriter of the year for "Wildflowers" at the 2008 NSW Gold Medallion Awards in Tamworth. -2009 TIARA nomination for "My Mothers Wedding Band".
   
• An unprecedented four nominations in the 2008/2009 European ECMA Country Music Awards put Clelia in the International spotlight in 2009. Clelia was nominated for Artist of the Year, Female Vocalist of the Year, and Newcomer Artist of the year, whilst "Wildflowers" was nominated for Song of the Year.
   
• 2010 Inducted into the Hands of Fame in Tamworth on January 23, 2010
   
• 4 finalist nominations in the 2010 European Country Music Awards, with "Wildflowers" taking out 2010 Production of the Year, a great honour for producer Stuart French and the whole production team behind the album.
   
• Rainbird Yodel from new album River Valley Dreaming received a finalist nomination in the 2012 Victorian & National CM Awards, a finalist at the 2012 TIARAS held in Tasmania, and finalist in 2011 NSW Gold Medallion Awards.
   
• Inducted into Tasmania's Axeman's Wall of Fame in Latrobe, April 2012 alongside fellow artists Jean Stafford, Phil Emmanuel and Wayne Horsburgh.
   
• "River Valley Express" reaches the # 1 position on the ECMA (www.europeancma.com) chart for 2 weeks in January 2013
   
• "Hometown Boogie" (60th birthday party anthem) reaches #5 on the ECMA chart and #18 on the Mildura Hot FM chart (March 2014)
   
• "Play the Song" reaches # 3 on the Australian Country Tracks Chart and stays for 20 weeks.
   
• Clelia is announced a finalist in the Capital News Independent Female Vocalist of the Year at the 2015 Southern Stars Awards for Play The Song.
   
• "The Captain and the Gypsy" holds the # 1 position on the Country Tracks chart for 6 weeks (Dec 2015/Jan 2016)
   
• Clelia announced a finalist in the Female Vocalist of  the Year at the 2016 NSW Gold Medallion Awards for The Captain and the Gypsy.
   
• Finalist for the Capital News 2016 Independent Female Vocalist of the Year at the Southern Stars Awards for The Captain and the Gypsy, October 2016.
   
• My Baby's Love (Jessie's Song) takes the #1 position on the Top 40  International Country Music Chart from the Netherlands. September 2016.
   
• The Captain and the Gypsy reaches # 9 on the official Australian Country Tracks Chart for the year 2016.   
• 2017 Find My Love (from the Archives of River Valley Dreaming) hit #1 on the Top 40 International Country Music Singles Chart.
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• 2020 Awarded NSW Female Vocalist of the Year for 2019 at the Gold Medallion Awards   in Tamworth.

My Influences

Emmylou Harris, Gram Parsons, Joni Mitchell, James Taylor, Sarah Vaughan, Dinah Washington, John Prine, Patsy Cline, Jonathan Edwards, Hank Williams Sr, Kevin Bennett, Dusty Springfield, The Beatles, Bob Marley,  Rodney Crowell, Paul Kelly, Vince Jones, The Pretenters, Neil Young, The Mavericks, Raul Malo,  Doris Day, Bob Dylan, kd lang, Billie Holiday, Everly Bros. Keith Urban, Annie Lennox, Blondie, Louis Armstrong, Daniel Adams Gillian Welch, Louvin Bros., Ella Fitzgerald, Connie Francis, George Harrison, Jerry Rafferty, The Dillards, Feral Swing Katz, Eva Cassidy, Tom Petty, Michael McDonald, Kieran Kane, Kevin Welch, Kim Cheshire, Gillian Welsh, Iris deMent, Chet Atkins,The Travelling Wilburys, Frank Sinatra, Jessie Hammond, Kasey Chambers and Shane Nicholson, Kitty Wells, John Fogerty, Robert Palmer,  Suzie Bogus,Ted Tilbrook, Vince Gill, The Steele Bros (Kirk & Gary), Lefty Frizzell, Camille and Stuart French, Bill Chambers, Laura Downing, the Gibson Brothers, Rhonda Vincent, Sandra Humphries, Doc Walker, Troy Cassar-Daly, Levon Helm, Audrey Auld, Gary Brown, Guy Clark, Suzannah Espie, Nadine Budge, Marty Robbins, Marlon Williams, Glen Hannah, Felicity Urqhart, Josh Cunningham, Shanley Del, Kasey Musgraves, Lukas Nelson, The Highwomen, The O'Kanes, Jamie O'Hara, Tedeschi Trucks Band, Sonny French, The Secret Sisters, Cowboy Jack Clement, Blueberry Smoke, Ed Bruce, Lee Ann Womack, Cheryl Crow, B. J. Thomas, Daryl Hall, Brandi Carlise, Boz Scaggs, Texas Tornados, Tami Neilson, Sierra Ferrell, Billy Strings....to be continued...