Thursday, February 1, 2018

NORMA O'HARA MURPHY



Norma O'Hara Murphy was born and raised in the Murray Valley region of country Victoria; where her mother's family, of Irish decent, were pioneers of the area. Her two great passions in life, aside from family, have always been her horses and her music. Norma won her first Golden Guitar in 1986, in the Heritage Award category, with "How The Firequeen Crossed The Swamp"; and today she is still the only female to have ever won this category.

Further Golden Guitars followed for Female Vocalist of the Year, with "Sarah's Memory" in 1991 and "Tamworth The Song" in 1993. ''Sarah's Memory'' holds an interesting tale, in that it is one of the few songs Norma has recorded that she didn't write herself. The lyrics were presented to her while she was judging a songwriting contest, and she was so impressed with them that upon the conclusion of the contest she had the organisers arrange for her to meet the writer. To Norma's amazement the young lady who penned those powerful words was only 16 years of age. Norma composed the music to go with the lyrics, the song was recorded, and it won a Golden Guitar.

In 1995 Norma moved to Larrikin Records and recorded her eighth album, 'Sweet Rain'; and in 1999 she produced and released her ninth album, 'Live In Bundaberg', through her own label Gumleaf Music. The beginning of this millennium saw Norma revising her lifestyle and opting for a less hectic pace of life, where she could concentrate more fully on her passion for writing. This produced another two Golden Guitars for her Bush Ballads "Paddy William" in 2001, and "An Old Cattle Dog" in 2003; both sung by Slim Dusty. Norma took a few years off moving to Bony Mountain QLD and after a long absence returned with an album of originals 'Whiskey Gully Road' in 2011. Her next album 'Celtic Collection Vol 1' was first released in 2012 and saw Norma a finalist in the Australian Celtic Awards in Glen Innes. The following (Vol 2) released in 2013, won Norma the most prestigious Award- Australian Celtic Artist of the year in 2014.



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