National NAIDOC Award Winners
Kerrianne Cox - Artist of the Year
The winner of the 2005 NAIDOC Artist of the Year is Kerrianne Cox, an internationally renowned independent Aboriginal performing artist.
She is best known for her signature song Beagle Bay Dreaming, a song that brought her beloved home and country into the hearts and minds of people all over the world.
In 1996, at just 22 she won the Next Big Thing Competition, followed in 1997 with the Western Australian Music Industry Award for Best Indigenous Artist and in 2000 NAIDOC’s Female Artist of the Year.
In 2001 she received the Deadly Vibe Female Artist award and in 2003 the Australian Live Music Awards Songlines Indigenous Award.
She was awarded in 2003, the Centenary Medal by the Australian Government for service to her country.
She has an impressive string of performance credits including:
- Message Stick Sorry Day Concert at Sydney Opera House
- Womadelaide 2003
- Bran Nue Dae, Broome Caberet production
- Sydney Survival Concert ‘97
- Perth Artrage ‘98
- Corroborree 2000
- Sydney Mardi Gras 2002
- Western Australia International Music Conference 2003
From 2000 to 2003 she toured the United States, Canada and South Africa.
Kerrianne Cox is more than an artist, she regularly conducts song writing workshops which heal, inspire and uplift. She is a catalyst for change and a fine leader. In 2004 she was elected leader of the Beagle Bay Community.
She has released two CD’s and a third about ‘going back to country’ is to be released this year.