Biography

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You can also download a copy of Roz’s biography as a pdf Roz-Pappalardo-bio-April2021.pdf

Biography

 

If there is one thing certain about music careers, it’s that they rarely evolve in a straight line – there are always creative detours and diversions. The best artists know just to roll with it. To open their minds and try something new. And there are few finer examples of that in Australian music today than Roz Pappalardo.

For the best part of two decades, Roz has been shaking things up, challenging perceptions and very much forging her own direction through the music landscape. Though she’s best known as half of the much-loved duo, women in docs – which gave her the space to hone her songwriting smarts and showcase her powerful voice – Roz has since explored terrain as diverse as rock, country, folk and even musical theatre, releasing more than 10 records in the process.

Now based in Cairns, the one constant through Roz’s career has been a drive to do her own thing and consequences be damned. Nowhere is that more apparent than on her striking new solo album, Won’t Be Quiet, due out Friday 14 May 2021 after four lead up singles spanning rock, alternative and country genres.

Writing, recording and leading the production of Won’t Be Quiet was a deeply personal process driven by a simple desire to hold nothing back. Describing it honest doesn’t even come close; it’s brave, exposed, beautiful and perfectly imperfect – in other words, the record that she’s always dreamed of.

Before embarking on the journey of making Won’t Be Quiet, much of Roz’s attention was turned to the stage, and community storytelling projects through song as she developed and toured her own one woman productions Rosa – a generational story of immigration – and the hilariously heartbreaking taboo story of fertility and IVF, Banging on the Door.

Roz’s commitment to arts in her community has also been evident in her production work on Beginnings, a major music theatre work about the town of Cairns; Woven, an all-woman First Nations musical theatre work based on the female experience; and The Soldier’s Wife – a major ongoing songwriting project that supports military families. COVID-19 also saw Roz pivot to create and launch a live-stream show called The Kitchen Sessions, a weekly variety show designed to spotlight regional arts and arts businesses which activated a team of regional technicians and artists across many genres.

It has been exciting work for Roz that not only takes her out of her comfort zone, but reinforces her deep commitment to the power of music and the arts to create change.

As she returns to venues to perform her new solo record, Roz’s legion of loyal fans will find an artist full of the gutsy passion she is known for – but with a sense of confidence and a willingness to lay it all bare.

Contacts

Artist Liaison: Leonie Yeoman
E: lyeoman@bigpond.net.au
P: 0438 749 999

Reviews

 

“The Wayward Gentlemen provide the perfect setting for Pappalardo’s voice and songwriting to shine…”

Courier Mail, Noel Mengel, Sept 2009, 4 stars.

“… the quality never falters,”

Rave Magazine, Matt Thrower, Sept 2009, 3 and 1/2 stars.

“An album with crisp unforced vocals, and a professional finish…”

The Naked Dwarf, August 2009.

“… it’s clear her [Roz’s] songwriting is still the star of the show …”

Time Off, Daniel Wynne, Jan 2010, 4/5 stars.