Angie Hart
Encyclopedia
Angie Hart is an Australian pop singer
best known for her role as lead vocalist in the band Frente!
.
Hart was a founding member of Frente! in 1989. She is renowned for her delicate songcraft, lyrics, and her breathy vocals.
, South Australia
, she has an older sister, Rebecca, also a musician. Her parents were Christians from a missionary
background. The family moved to Tasmania
while Hart was still a baby where they lived in a Christian
commune
until she was 10 years old. They then moved to Melbourne
to join another commune where they remained until Hart was 15 when, with the separation of her parents, the family left the church altogether.
It was this family disruption which led Hart to the Punters Club
, a live music venue on Brunswick Street
in Fitzroy
, one of Melbourne's eclectic and bohemian
inner suburbs. She frequented the venue to play pool and drink, though she was still under the legal drinking age
. It often fell to bartender Simon Austin
to eject her from the premises. Hart's older sister was also bartending at the Punters Club in 1989 and when Austin, a guitarist and songwriter, mentioned he was starting a band and looking for a singer, Becky Hart suggested her little sister Angie. Austin and Hart began writing songs together almost immediately, and with the already-recruited bass player Tim O'Connor and drummer Mark Picton, Frente!
was born.
and ranked highly in the Hottest 100 for 1991, a listener's poll. This led to Frente! being signed to Mushroom Records
' White label. With great pressure on Austin and Hart to produce a hit, the tension led to an argument between the pair, which in turn resulted in the song "Ordinary Angels". This was the first track on their May 1992 EP Clunk and it launched them into mainstream success in the Australian music scene, with the song reaching number 3 in the ARIA Charts
.
With the success of "Ordinary Angels", Frente! was given the opportunity to make their debut album and Prince
's producer Michael Koppelman
was drafted in for the project. The resulting Marvin the Album
was released on 23 November 1992, with the single "Accidentally Kelly Street" quickly rising to number 3 in the ARIA Charts
where it remained for much of the Australian summer. An environment of saturation media, with the song being aired very frequently on television and radio in Australia, led to Frente! experiencing a public backlash similar to that experienced by Jodi Phillis
's band Clouds
.
In 1993 Hart gained brief fame and notoriety by posing near nude for Juice, a now-defunct Australian music magazine http://imperium.lenin.ru/CEBEP/arc/4/lightmusic/angie5.jpg. Following an appearance on Home and Away
in 1993, Hart, with the rest of Frente!, went overseas to pursue success in Europe and America, turning their backs on the hostilities offered by their own country.
Frente! achieved unexpected US chart success with Austin's pared-down cover version
of New Order
's "Bizarre Love Triangle
". Originally intended as a B-side, the overwhelming interest in the song led to it being the first single from the 1994 US release of Marvin the Album.
Mark Picton was sacked from the band in 1993 and Tim O'Connor left in 1995 due to the pressures of touring. They were replaced by Alastair Barden and Bill McDonald respectively. McDonald left Rebecca's Empire
to join Frente!.
In between the first and second Frente! albums, Hart lent her vocal to a single by an Australian studio outfit, Pop! featuring Angie Hart
. The song was titled "Tingly
" (#92) and was released in late 1995.
After three years of touring, Frente! were led back to the studio in 1995 by Mushroom to produce their second album. The extended touring had largely extinguished Hart and Austin's desire for songwriting, and they arrived in Spain with only a handful of songs for producer Cameron McVey
, husband of Hart's idol, the iconic Swedish pop singer Neneh Cherry
. At the time, Hart stated that being on tour constantly had left them with no lives to write about. This is evidenced in Hart's lyrics of the 1994 songs "Lonely" and "Explode". McVey immediately broke up the Hart/Austin songwriting partnership, leaving Austin in the studio while he worked with Hart to write a number of the songs featured on the final product, Shape, which was released in July 1996.
In June 1996, Frente! embarked on their world tour to promote Shape, beginning in Australia. By January 1997 when they appeared at the Melbourne Big Day Out
, the band members gave in to their exhaustion and went their separate ways. Hart left Australia for the US almost immediately, and lived there for the next eight years.
, whom she met August 1996 when Frente! was supporting Alanis Morissette
in Canada. Tobias was Morrissette's touring guitarist. Hart and Tobias married on 22 March 1997 in Austin, Texas
and settled in Los Angeles where Hart collaborated with local musicians and made jewellery while Tobias took various jobs as a touring guitarist for Vanessa Carlton
and Michelle Branch
among others as well as music direction and production work. As Splendid, the couple released their debut album, Have You Got A Name For It, on 11 October 1999 in Australia. Due to the collapse of their US record company, Mammoth Records
, immediately prior to the album's US release date, Have You Got A Name For It was never released outside of Australia. Hart and Tobias separated in September 2004 and have since divorced. Splendid's second album was largely completed prior to Hart and Tobias separating, and a 2006 release was expected, although it was put on hiatus while Hart worked on her solo album Grounded Bird in 2007. In December 2004 they released a six-track EP, States Of Awake, in Australia and through several independent distributors worldwide.
. As part of Splendid, Hart twice appeared on the show, performing Splendid's songs "Charge" and "You and Me". Splendid's song "Tomorrow We'll Wake" was also aired on Buffy as background music to a scene featuring characters Xander and Anya. She also sang backing vocals on Tara's song, "Under Your Spell" in the musical episode "Once More With Feeling", of which Tobias was co-music director.
Hart also appeared in Joss Whedon's short-lived Firefly
, playing the part of Lucy in "Heart of Gold". This part required Hart to perform "Amazing Grace
" a cappella
.
Hart has since expressed ambivalence towards Frente!'s fans, on the basis of the audiences at the band's 2005 Australian reunion tour, calling them "scary" and "ungrounded" in a 2006 interview with FasterLouder.http://www.fasterlouder.com.au/features/5080/
. In December 2005 Hart relocated to Melbourne where she is focusing on the further development of her pop career. Her debut solo album Grounded Bird was released through ABC Music in September 2007; some of the songs on this album were co-written with Ben Lee
.
Her second album Eat My Shadow was released on 23 October 2009.
Hart appeared on RocKwiz
on 2 October 2010.
Pop Singer
"Pop Singer" is the début single from London-based glam rockers Rachel Stamp. It was released in February, 1996 through WEA. The single was released as a 2 track CD Single and limited edition pink 7" vinyl of 1000 copies...
best known for her role as lead vocalist in the band Frente!
Frente!
Frente! are an Australian alternative rock group, formed in 1991. The original lineup featured singer Angie Hart, founder and guitarist Simon Austin, bassist Tim O'Connor , and drummer Mark Picton...
.
Hart was a founding member of Frente! in 1989. She is renowned for her delicate songcraft, lyrics, and her breathy vocals.
Early life
Born Angela Ruth Hart in AdelaideAdelaide
Adelaide is the capital city of South Australia and the fifth-largest city in Australia. Adelaide has an estimated population of more than 1.2 million...
, South Australia
South Australia
South Australia is a state of Australia in the southern central part of the country. It covers some of the most arid parts of the continent; with a total land area of , it is the fourth largest of Australia's six states and two territories.South Australia shares borders with all of the mainland...
, she has an older sister, Rebecca, also a musician. Her parents were Christians from a missionary
Missionary
A missionary is a member of a religious group sent into an area to do evangelism or ministries of service, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care and economic development. The word "mission" originates from 1598 when the Jesuits sent members abroad, derived from the Latin...
background. The family moved to Tasmania
Tasmania
Tasmania is an Australian island and state. It is south of the continent, separated by Bass Strait. The state includes the island of Tasmania—the 26th largest island in the world—and the surrounding islands. The state has a population of 507,626 , of whom almost half reside in the greater Hobart...
while Hart was still a baby where they lived in a Christian
Christian
A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...
commune
Commune (intentional community)
A commune is an intentional community of people living together, sharing common interests, property, possessions, resources, and, in some communes, work and income. In addition to the communal economy, consensus decision-making, non-hierarchical structures and ecological living have become...
until she was 10 years old. They then moved to Melbourne
Melbourne
Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...
to join another commune where they remained until Hart was 15 when, with the separation of her parents, the family left the church altogether.
It was this family disruption which led Hart to the Punters Club
Punters Club
The Punters Club was a pub and live music venue located on Brunswick Street, Fitzroy, in inner Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.It developed a reputation as one of the city's premier live music venues, drawing comparisons to the likes of New York's CBGB...
, a live music venue on Brunswick Street
Brunswick Street
Brunswick Street can refer to three different locations in Australia:*Brunswick Street, Brisbane, a major thoroughfare in Brisbane, famous for the Brunswick Street Mall....
in Fitzroy
Fitzroy, Victoria
Fitzroy is an inner city suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 2 km north-east from Melbourne's central business district. Its Local Government Area is the City of Yarra. Its borders are Alexandra Parade , Victoria Parade , Smith Street and Nicholson Street. Fitzroy is Melbourne's...
, one of Melbourne's eclectic and bohemian
Bohemian
A Bohemian is a resident of the former Kingdom of Bohemia, either in a narrow sense as the region of Bohemia proper or in a wider meaning as the whole country, now known as the Czech Republic. The word "Bohemian" was used to denote the Czech people as well as the Czech language before the word...
inner suburbs. She frequented the venue to play pool and drink, though she was still under the legal drinking age
Legal drinking age
Laws about the legal drinking age cover a wide range of issues and behaviours, addressing when and where alcohol can be consumed. The minimum age alcohol can be legally consumed can be different to the age when it can be purchased. These laws vary among different countries and many laws have...
. It often fell to bartender Simon Austin
Simon Austin
Simon Sean Nicholas David Austin is an Australian guitarist, songwriter, producer and sound engineer. Austin was a founding member of Frente! in Melbourne in 1989 with Angie Hart on vocals, Tim O'Connor on bass guitar and Mark Picton on drums...
to eject her from the premises. Hart's older sister was also bartending at the Punters Club in 1989 and when Austin, a guitarist and songwriter, mentioned he was starting a band and looking for a singer, Becky Hart suggested her little sister Angie. Austin and Hart began writing songs together almost immediately, and with the already-recruited bass player Tim O'Connor and drummer Mark Picton, Frente!
Frente!
Frente! are an Australian alternative rock group, formed in 1991. The original lineup featured singer Angie Hart, founder and guitarist Simon Austin, bassist Tim O'Connor , and drummer Mark Picton...
was born.
Frente!
Austin and Hart embarked on a romance, the subsequent disintegration of which caused considerable tension within the band, especially as the end of their relationship came just as Frente! was achieving success. The band's 1991 self-funded EP, Whirled, spawned this success with the song "Labour of Love". The song achieved national airplay on Australia's youth radio station Triple JTriple J
triple j is a nationally networked Australian radio station intended to appeal to listeners between the ages of 18 and 30. The government-funded station is a division of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation...
and ranked highly in the Hottest 100 for 1991, a listener's poll. This led to Frente! being signed to Mushroom Records
Mushroom Records
Mushroom Records is an Australian recoJrd company formed by Michael Gudinski and Ray Evans in Melbourne in 1972. After its sale in 1998, it merged into Festival Mushroom Records. From 2005 to 2009, it is one of the record labels operated by Warner Bros...
' White label. With great pressure on Austin and Hart to produce a hit, the tension led to an argument between the pair, which in turn resulted in the song "Ordinary Angels". This was the first track on their May 1992 EP Clunk and it launched them into mainstream success in the Australian music scene, with the song reaching number 3 in the ARIA Charts
ARIA Charts
The ARIA charts are the main Australian music sales charts, issued weekly by the Australian Recording Industry Association. The charts are a record of the highest selling singles and albums in various genres in Australia. ARIA commenced compiling its own charts in-house from the week ending 26 June...
.
With the success of "Ordinary Angels", Frente! was given the opportunity to make their debut album and Prince
Prince (musician)
Prince Rogers Nelson , often known simply as Prince, is an American singer, songwriter, musician, and actor. Prince has produced ten platinum albums and thirty Top 40 singles during his career. Prince founded his own recording studio and label; writing, self-producing and playing most, or all, of...
's producer Michael Koppelman
Michael Koppelman
Michael Koppelman is an American record producer and recording engineer. He worked with the artist Prince from 1989 to 1992 on his albums Graffiti Bridge, Diamonds and Pearls and Love Symbol....
was drafted in for the project. The resulting Marvin the Album
Marvin the Album
Marvin the Album is the Australian alternative rock group Frente!'s debut album, released 26 April 1994. Recorded in 1992 at Platinum Studios, Melbourne Australia...
was released on 23 November 1992, with the single "Accidentally Kelly Street" quickly rising to number 3 in the ARIA Charts
ARIA Charts
The ARIA charts are the main Australian music sales charts, issued weekly by the Australian Recording Industry Association. The charts are a record of the highest selling singles and albums in various genres in Australia. ARIA commenced compiling its own charts in-house from the week ending 26 June...
where it remained for much of the Australian summer. An environment of saturation media, with the song being aired very frequently on television and radio in Australia, led to Frente! experiencing a public backlash similar to that experienced by Jodi Phillis
Jodi Phillis
Jodi Christine Phillis is an Australian singer-songwriter-guitarist. She spent her childhood in California, United States, and moved back to Sydney, Australia to begin school. She quit school at 15, then spent 8 years working with surfwear company Mambo Graphics until she took up the role as...
's band Clouds
Clouds (Australian band)
The Clouds are an indie rock band from Sydney, Australia formed in December 1989. The core of the group consisted of frontwomen Jodi Phillis and Patricia "Trish" Young . The line-up of The Clouds has changed several times with different drummers and lead guitarists...
.
In 1993 Hart gained brief fame and notoriety by posing near nude for Juice, a now-defunct Australian music magazine http://imperium.lenin.ru/CEBEP/arc/4/lightmusic/angie5.jpg. Following an appearance on Home and Away
Home and Away
Home and Away is an Australian soap opera that has been produced in Sydney since July 1987 and is airing on the Seven Network since 17 January 1988. It is the second-longest-running drama and most popular soap opera on Australian television...
in 1993, Hart, with the rest of Frente!, went overseas to pursue success in Europe and America, turning their backs on the hostilities offered by their own country.
Frente! achieved unexpected US chart success with Austin's pared-down cover version
Cover version
In popular music, a cover version or cover song, or simply cover, is a new performance or recording of a contemporary or previously recorded, commercially released song or popular song...
of New Order
New Order
New Order are an English rock band formed in 1980 by Bernard Sumner , Peter Hook and Stephen Morris...
's "Bizarre Love Triangle
Bizarre Love Triangle
"Bizarre Love Triangle" is a single released in 1986 by the English rock band New Order. A version is included on their album Brotherhood....
". Originally intended as a B-side, the overwhelming interest in the song led to it being the first single from the 1994 US release of Marvin the Album.
Mark Picton was sacked from the band in 1993 and Tim O'Connor left in 1995 due to the pressures of touring. They were replaced by Alastair Barden and Bill McDonald respectively. McDonald left Rebecca's Empire
Rebecca's Empire
Rebecca's Empire were an indie pop-rock band from Melbourne, Australia. They released two full-length albums and two EPs in a six-year career lasting from 1994 to 2000.-History:...
to join Frente!.
In between the first and second Frente! albums, Hart lent her vocal to a single by an Australian studio outfit, Pop! featuring Angie Hart
Pop! featuring Angie Hart
Pop! was an Australian band of the 1990s. It was a side project of Melbourne band About Six Feet. Together with Frente's Angie Hart they recorded the song Tingly, which was released as a single in 1995, and reached the Triple J Hottest 100 of the same year...
. The song was titled "Tingly
Tingly
"Tingly" was a song recorded by Pop! featuring Angie Hart. It was written by Tony Stott and John Richards, as a side project from their band About Six Feet, and recorded in an hour on Good Friday 1995. The vocals were performed by Angie Hart, who was then in the highly successful band Frente...
" (#92) and was released in late 1995.
After three years of touring, Frente! were led back to the studio in 1995 by Mushroom to produce their second album. The extended touring had largely extinguished Hart and Austin's desire for songwriting, and they arrived in Spain with only a handful of songs for producer Cameron McVey
Cameron McVey
Cameron Andrew McVey is a British music producer, best known for his work with Neneh Cherry, Massive Attack, Portishead, All Saints, and Sugababes.-Family:...
, husband of Hart's idol, the iconic Swedish pop singer Neneh Cherry
Neneh Cherry
Neneh Mariann Cherry is a Swedish singer-songwriter, rapper, and occasional DJ and broadcaster...
. At the time, Hart stated that being on tour constantly had left them with no lives to write about. This is evidenced in Hart's lyrics of the 1994 songs "Lonely" and "Explode". McVey immediately broke up the Hart/Austin songwriting partnership, leaving Austin in the studio while he worked with Hart to write a number of the songs featured on the final product, Shape, which was released in July 1996.
In June 1996, Frente! embarked on their world tour to promote Shape, beginning in Australia. By January 1997 when they appeared at the Melbourne Big Day Out
Big Day Out
The Big Day Out is an annual music festival held in several cities in Australia and New Zealand in late January. It started in Sydney in 1992, spread to Adelaide, Melbourne and Perth by 1993, with the Gold Coast and Auckland joining in 1994...
, the band members gave in to their exhaustion and went their separate ways. Hart left Australia for the US almost immediately, and lived there for the next eight years.
Splendid
From 1998 to 2004, Hart performed as part of the pop duo Splendid with her then-husband, Jesse TobiasJesse Tobias
Jesse Tobias is a Texan guitarist of Mexican origin. He first gained notoriety during a brief tenure with the Red Hot Chili Peppers in 1993, although he was replaced by Dave Navarro within a month after joining the band. Before he joined the Chili Peppers, he briefly played with the L.A. based...
, whom she met August 1996 when Frente! was supporting Alanis Morissette
Alanis Morissette
Alanis Nadine Morissette is a Canadian-American singer-songwriter, guitarist, record producer, and actress. She has won 16 Juno Awards and seven Grammy Awards, was nominated for two Golden Globe Awards and also shortlisted for an Academy Award nomination...
in Canada. Tobias was Morrissette's touring guitarist. Hart and Tobias married on 22 March 1997 in Austin, Texas
Austin, Texas
Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of :Texas and the seat of Travis County. Located in Central Texas on the eastern edge of the American Southwest, it is the fourth-largest city in Texas and the 14th most populous city in the United States. It was the third-fastest-growing large city in...
and settled in Los Angeles where Hart collaborated with local musicians and made jewellery while Tobias took various jobs as a touring guitarist for Vanessa Carlton
Vanessa Carlton
Vanessa Lee Carlton is an American singer-songwriter and musician. Upon completion of her education at the School of American Ballet, Carlton chose to pursue singing instead, performing in New York bars and clubs while attending university. Three months after recording a demo with producer Peter...
and Michelle Branch
Michelle Branch
Michelle Jacquet DeSevren Branch is an American singer-songwriter, guitarist and actress. During the early 2000s, she released two top-selling albums, The Spirit Room and Hotel Paper, and was subsequently nominated for the Grammy Award for Best New Artist in 2003...
among others as well as music direction and production work. As Splendid, the couple released their debut album, Have You Got A Name For It, on 11 October 1999 in Australia. Due to the collapse of their US record company, Mammoth Records
Mammoth Records
Founded by Jay Faires in 1989 in Carrboro, North Carolina, Mammoth Records was one of the premiere independent record labels of the 1990s. Its roster featured such diverse talent as Antenna, Blake Babies, Chainsaw Kittens, Dash Rip Rock, Dillon Fence, Far Too Jones, Frente!, Fun-Da-Mental, Fu...
, immediately prior to the album's US release date, Have You Got A Name For It was never released outside of Australia. Hart and Tobias separated in September 2004 and have since divorced. Splendid's second album was largely completed prior to Hart and Tobias separating, and a 2006 release was expected, although it was put on hiatus while Hart worked on her solo album Grounded Bird in 2007. In December 2004 they released a six-track EP, States Of Awake, in Australia and through several independent distributors worldwide.
Collaborations with Joss Whedon
In 2002, Hart recorded and performed the song "Blue" for the episode "Conversations with Dead People" of the television show Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The song was co-written by Hart with the show's creator, Joss WhedonJoss Whedon
Joseph Hill "Joss" Whedon is an American screenwriter, executive producer, director, comic book writer, occasional composer and actor, founder of Mutant Enemy Productions and co-creator of Bellwether Pictures...
. As part of Splendid, Hart twice appeared on the show, performing Splendid's songs "Charge" and "You and Me". Splendid's song "Tomorrow We'll Wake" was also aired on Buffy as background music to a scene featuring characters Xander and Anya. She also sang backing vocals on Tara's song, "Under Your Spell" in the musical episode "Once More With Feeling", of which Tobias was co-music director.
Hart also appeared in Joss Whedon's short-lived Firefly
Firefly (TV series)
Firefly is an American space western television series created by writer and director Joss Whedon, under his Mutant Enemy Productions label. Whedon served as executive producer, along with Tim Minear....
, playing the part of Lucy in "Heart of Gold". This part required Hart to perform "Amazing Grace
Amazing Grace
"Amazing Grace" is a Christian hymn with words written by the English poet and clergyman John Newton , published in 1779. With a message that forgiveness and redemption are possible regardless of the sins people commit and that the soul can be delivered from despair through the mercy of God,...
" a cappella
A cappella
A cappella music is specifically solo or group singing without instrumental sound, or a piece intended to be performed in this way. It is the opposite of cantata, which is accompanied singing. A cappella was originally intended to differentiate between Renaissance polyphony and Baroque concertato...
.
Frente! reunion
In March 2004, Hart and Austin played two Frente! shows as an acoustic duo in Los Angeles and New York. The shows were welcomed by fans and were consequently repeated in September 2004. Hart and Austin met again in Melbourne in December 2004 to release a three-track EP, Try To Think Less. Frente!'s line-up was completed by Bill McDonald and drummer Peter Luscombe for a highly successful Australian reunion tour throughout January 2005. Though the band is once again on hiatus, Hart and Austin had plans to begin writing for a new Frente! album in 2006.Hart has since expressed ambivalence towards Frente!'s fans, on the basis of the audiences at the band's 2005 Australian reunion tour, calling them "scary" and "ungrounded" in a 2006 interview with FasterLouder.http://www.fasterlouder.com.au/features/5080/
Current projects
Hart is currently a member of the band Holidays on Ice, a project by Dean Manning, formerly of Leonardo's BrideLeonardo's Bride
Leonardo's Bride was an Australian pop band that formed in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia in 1989. It consisted of singer Abby Dobson , Dean Manning , Jon Howell and Patrick Wong...
. In December 2005 Hart relocated to Melbourne where she is focusing on the further development of her pop career. Her debut solo album Grounded Bird was released through ABC Music in September 2007; some of the songs on this album were co-written with Ben Lee
Ben Lee
Benjamin Michael "Ben" Lee is an ARIA Award winning musician and actor. Lee began his career as a musician at the age of 14 with the Sydney band Noise Addict, but focused on his solo career when the band broke up in 1995. He appeared as the protagonist in the Australian film The Rage in Placid Lake...
.
Her second album Eat My Shadow was released on 23 October 2009.
Hart appeared on RocKwiz
RocKwiz
RocKwiz is an Australian television quiz show series, focused on rock music, and broadcast on SBS One. It premiered in 2005.-Summary:The forty minute program airs on Saturday at 9:20 pm, and is hosted by Julia Zemiro. It is shot in The Gershwin Room at St Kilda's Esplanade Hotel, commonly...
on 2 October 2010.