“I THINK I’m standing up here because I’m just myself and I think that is all any of us ever need to be,” Mount Gambier born singer/songwriter Kasey Chambers said after she was inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame on Wednesday night.
“I started out as a little girl singing country songs around the campfire on the Nullarbor Plain and I’m so proud to become a strong woman in the music industry.”
Industry legend Paul Kelly recited a poem he wrote to honour Chambers, inspiring a standing ovation from the audience as the teary inductee accepted her award.
“I never thought I would ever be standing up here getting something like this,” she said.
Chambers was raised in the South East – born at Mount Gambier, spending her early years in Southend and educated at Millicent – and rocketed to international stardom following two hit solo albums, The Captain (1999) and Barricades and Brickwalls (2001) – which featured perhaps her best-known song, Not Pretty Enough.
She paid tribute to her family, including father Bill Chambers and older brother Nash, who have helped produce her 12 studio albums.
“I think the two main things I have learnt about the best way to survive in the music business is to always be true to yourself and to find your tribe,” she said.
“I have the most amazing tribe, including my mum and dad, who are the two best role models anyone could ever ask for.
“Mum is the most inspiring woman I know – she taught me you can be strong and kind at the same time.
“The best advice my dad ever gave me was ‘just don’t be a d…head’.
“I know it does not sound very profound … but you do not have to drag other people down to get to the top.
“To my big brother Nash – you pick me up whenever I fall down and you have always walked beside me, (this award) really is as much yours as it is mine.”
Bill Chambers said he was the “proudest dad in the world” to see his daughter recognised for her contribution to the industry.
“She has come a long way from the Nullarbor,” he said.
In a tribute video, Bernard Fanning described Chambers as “one of the best songwriters of her generation”.
The ARIA Hall of Fame recognises performers, producers and songwriters who have influenced music culture in Australia.
Chambers joins the likes of Nick Cave, Cold Chisel, INXS and John Farnham in the hall of fame.
