BEHIND THE APRA AWARDS

Nine out of the 12 winners at the APRA awards in Melbourne were first-time winners – including Chris Cheney of The Living End, Kim Moyes of Presets, Gurrumul Yunupingu, Jessica Mauboy, Faker’s Nathan Hudson, and Old Man River. See the full list of winners at www.apra-amcos.com.au. The event is broadcast on MAX on Sunday Jul 5 at 8.30pm.

Not all the winners accepted in person. Kasey Chambers and Shane Nichols were playing in America, jazz man Joe Chindamo was that night doing a gig in Israel, Old Man River stayed close to home in Sydney as he’s awaiting the birth of his first child. Mauboy had the flu, so did Gurrumul although he listened to his win on the telephone from his sick bed in Darwin. However, Chris Cheney flew back from Europe while Nathan Hudson had dashed over after Faker opened for Pink’s show.

Among stand out performances were Potbelleez doing Don’t Hold Me Back, Lior with a string quartet on I’ll Forget You, Bliss’n’Eso’s The Sea Is Rising, Perth’s Abbie May & The Rockin’ Pneumonia created a buzz, as did Dan Sultan with a swing version of The End’s White Noise.

Sony chief Denis Handlin who got the Ted Albert Award for Outstanding Services to Australian Music, was introduced by John Farnham. Handlin recalled how he and his brother set up a radio station under the family house as kids, and built a career on loyalty and passion.

AC/DC’s 30-year old Highway To Hell was a surprise winner as Most Played Australian Work Overseas. Albert Music’s chief Tim Prescott pointed out that AC/DC has, in the past 12 months, sold 12 million units (half of Black Ice, and half of their back catalogue).

Hilltop Hoods’ State of the Art, which debuted on the ARIA charts at #1, was certified gold from advance orders. The album sold almost 30,000 in its first week. Their national tour, which kicks off on Jul 18 has already sold out shows in Sydney, Perth, Brisbane, Melbourne, and Adelaide.

Sony Music had its factory working through the weekend to get Michael Jackson product in the stores after 100,000 records were sold last Friday alone in Australia. Commercial radio played his songs 444 times that day. Last Friday, at dance clubs around Australia staff wore one glove each while DJs block-played his songs. In Melbourne, Simon & Garfunkel dedicated Bright Eyes to him, Pink dedicated her show with her dancers doing his moves and her guitarist attempting a moonwalk, while Gabriella Cilmi did snatches of Beat It at the Glastonbury Festival. Promoter AEG Live, which has footed US$20 million for the 50 London shows, now has to return $85 million in tickets. Word is there were tentative talks for him to tour here in 2011. A phenomenon of his time who sold 750 million records worldwide, and released 13 No. 1 singles (he did 6 million sales in Australia) everyone has their fave Jackson moments. To this columnist it was watching the moonwalk for the first time in 1983 and meeting him backstage a few years later. He spied my Jimi Hendrix T-shirt and pranced over to coo, "He’s a genius!" Takes one to know one.

Madonna raked US$110 million last year, says Forbes‘ Top-Earning Musicians list. Following were Celine Dion ($100m) and Beyoncé ($87m), Bruce Springsteen ($70m) and Kenny Chesney ($65m). At #6 was a three-way tie between Coldplay, AC/DC and Rascal Flatts ($60m), while The Eagles, Toby Keith and Bon Jovi earned $50 to $55 million.

Adam Freeland is hotly tipped for Big Day Out while Animal Collective will do gigs in December around their Meredith Festival set.

Fear Factory may have officially cancelled for "recording commitments", but there were rifts in the ranks about the use of the name.

Miranda Young and Jeff Jenkins’ book of Aussie’s on the road anecdotes, Underneath The Riffs, has been green-lighted by the publisher for a Vol 2, this time sourcing stories from across Australia.

Kylie Minogue will be in India in August, promoting the Bollywood movie Blue she had a cameo in.

Dating: Are Miley Cyrus and Nick Jonas back together again?

Hospitalised: UK singer and DJ Sonique, surgery for breast cancer.

Arrested: Joseph Brooks, Oscar winning songwriter (You Light Up My Life), 71, on charges of raping or sexually assaulting 11 women when they auditioned for a role at his home.

Arrested: North Dakota cop Justin Krohmer at a Kenny Chesney concert for throwing up on people, and his mum for assaulting a cop. They were the son and wife of the local police chief!

Jailed: a 41-year old who drove a vehicle during an Ohio highway gun battle that killed a member of rapper T.I.’s entourage, 17 years.

Died: Barry Beckett, 66, strokes from cancer. He co-founded the sessions group Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section, played keyboards on albums by Paul Simon, Bob Seger and Willie Nelson, and produced Bob Dylan’s Dylan, Slow Train Coming and Saved, and Dire Straits’ Communique.

Died: Ali Akbar Khan, legendary sarod player, kidney failure, 87.

Died: UK electronic music producer/DJ Andy Hughes of The Orb, 44, after a short illness.

Died: Robert Findlay, 55, former GM of Sydney-based Syntec International, five weeks after being diagnosed with lung cancer.

Flinders Peak Festival, at Ivory's Rock Conference Centre, Peak Crossing – south-west of Brisbane – Jul 5, is seeking young and emerging artists to take to the stage in 09. Contact Ben Salk – . Visit www.flinderspeakfestival.org.

Angela Anderson has joined the B105/ Triple M newsroom, moving from Gold Coast’s Hot Tomato where she was drive newsreader.

Also joining B105 as image producer is Matt Innes from Star 104.5 Central Coast.

Pete Laurie, 4BC/4BH Brisbane creative writer, starts as Creative Director at Sea FM Maroochydore on Jul 13.

Austereo Brisbane creative writer Matt Dawson moves over to the writing team at ARN Brisbane on Jul 23.

A total of 62 songs were entered in the ROCKon Song Awards, part of ROCKon Music Summit program at the Walter Reid Cultural Centre in Rockhampton Jul 10 – 12. The winner opens for GANGgajang at Pilbeam Theatre on Friday Jul 10, and have their song professionally recorded. Coordinator Michael Walker said the quality of entries was sensational, and exposed Central Coast talent to national execs. Judges include record producer Mark Opitz, Angels drummer Graham "Buzz" Bidstrup, ABC Music Programmer Bill Riner, Q Music Big Sound Program Director Stephen Green, and GANGgajang singer and General Manager of the Australasian Music Publishers Association, Mark Callaghan. See www.rockon.org.au.

APRA’s Songwriter Speaks series on the Gold Coast sees James O’Brien and Robin Waters of The Boat People join in on Jul 15 at The Loft (54a Thomas Drive) on Chevron Island. It’s at 6pm, free for APRA members. RSVP to or phone Emma or Chris on 07 3257 1007.

In a rare move, three female music promoters who support unique QLD acts — BJ Hemmling and house booker at the Shark Bar from Cherry Red Music, Brenda Vincent from Ice Management & Productions and Sally from Mustang Promotions — team up for a show at the Miami Shark Bar on Jul 11 to showcase interesting acts. Playing are High Noon Heat, No-Hype, Asa Broomhall and Nally-Jay.

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