JODI PHILLIS

Jodi Christine Phillis was born 11 April 1965 in Melbourne. Phillis spent her childhood in California and moved back to Sydney to begin school. She quit school at 15, then spent eight years working as a graphic artist with surfwear company Mambo Graphics until she formed the band The Clouds, where she met fellow frontwoman and bassist Trish Young. The Clouds formed in December 1989 and released four studio albums between 1990 and 1996, all of which peaked within the ARIA top 50. While still in The Clouds, Phillis explored a more mellow, acoustic direction with her debut solo album 'Lounge o' Sound', released in 1996.

In 2001, she released 'In Dreams I Live'. The track "Waiting, Wanting, Holding" was featured in the ABC's series Love Is a Four-Letter Word.The album was nominated for two awards at the ARIA Music Awards of 2002. Her third solo album, 'For Lovers, Artists and Dreamers', was released in 2004. In 2013, Phillis attended the Australian Film Television and Radio School (AFTRS), to study composition and graduated with a Certificate in Screen Music. Jodi's screen credits include the feature film Convict, and numerous TV commercials and television shows.

In 2017, Phillis spearheaded the composer's project, Seven Stories, in collaboration with Ensemble Offspring and six other prominent female composers, Amanda Brown, Caitlin Yeo, Sally Whitwell, Bree van Reyk, Kyls Burtland and Jane Sheldon with text by Hilary Bell. Seven Stories premiered during Sydney's Vivid Festival. In 2018, Phillis released her 'Becoming' album. Produced by Tim Oxley and penned by Jodi, it was an album that covered topics such as grief, loss, love and menopause. The album was rated at #5 in Your Music Radar's Top 20 Best Australian Albums of 2018, with Brian Parker opining, "An album that serves as a chronicle of one person's experience of change, yet ultimately becomes therapeutic for her listener – giving hope that life and love is worth it, and with change comes positivity. A beautiful album that marks Phillis as one of Australia’s vital singer-songwriters." In 2005, Phillis reunited with former Clouds band-mate Trish Young, under the moniker The Girls from the Clouds. Their EP 'Lalalala' was released in early 2006. After 18 months, however, Phillis and Young once again went their separate ways.

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