Sia Kate Isabelle Furler, better known as Sia is an Australian singer-songwriter, record producer and music video director. She started her career as a singer in the local Adelaide acid jazz band “Crisp” in the mid-1990’s. Sia said as a child she imitated the performing style off Aretha Franklin, Stevie Wonder and Sting and counts these artists as her early influences. She collaborated with “Crisp” and contributed vocals to their to EPs: “Word and the Deal” (1996) and “Delirium” (1997) but when the band disbanded, she released her debut studio album entitled “Only See” on Flavoured Records in Australia. The album sold 1,200 copies so she moved to London, England, and provided lead vocals for the British duo “Zero 7”.

in 2000, Sia signed a recording contract with Sony Music’s sub-label, Dance Pool and released her first single “Taken for Granted”, which peaked at No. 10 on the UK Singles Chart. In 2001 she released her second solo album, “Healing Is Difficult”, which blends retro jazz and soul music and she discusses lyrically how she dealt with the death of her first love. Upset with how the promotion was handled for the album, Sia fired her manager, left Sony Music and signed with Go Beat!, a subsidiary of Universal Music Group (UMG). Between 2005-2009, Sia won many awards in her native country of Australia and worked with Christina Aguilera for Aguilera’s then upcoming sixth studio album and even co-wrote “Bound to You” for the soundtrack of the American film “Burlesque”, which starred Aguilera and American singing icon Cher. The song was nominated for ‘Best Original Song’ at the 68th Golden Globe Awards.

In summer 2010 Sia released her fifth studio album, “We are Born” which was one of her most successful albums. Due to the growing success of “We are Born”, Sia became uncomfortable with the fame that was now following her. She refused to do promos for her tours, began to wear a mask on stage and became increasingly more dependent on drugs and alcohol. Her new manager at the time advised her to write songs for other artists so she retired as a recording artist and began a career as a songwriter. She penned the song “Titanium” for American singer Alicia Keys, but it was later sent to David Guetta, who included Sia’s original demo vocals on the song and released it as a single in 2011. “Titanium” peaked within the top ten of record charts in the US, Australia and many European regions. In July 2014 she released her sixth studio album, “1000 Forms of Fear” . The album debuted at No1 in the US billboard 200 with first-week sales of 52,000 copies. By October the album was certified gold by the RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) denoting 500,000 equivalent-album units sold in the US. It was also certified silver by the British Phonographic Industry, had reached No.1 in Australia and Europe and by early 2016, had sold 1 million copies worldwide.

Article by Candice Eastman.