Delta Goodrem
Delta Lea Goodrem AM is an Australian singer, songwriter and television personality based in Sydney. Goodrem signed a recording contract with Sony Music at the age of 15. Her debut studio album, Innocent Eyes, topped the ARIA Albums Chart for 29 non-consecutive weeks. It is one of the highest-selling Australian albums and is the second-best-selling Australian album of all time with over four million copies sold.
Goodrem's second studio album, Mistaken Identity, was recorded while she was undergoing treatment for cancer. It became her second number-one album. In 2007, Goodrem released Delta, her third number-one album, which saw another number-one single, "In This Life". Her fourth studio album, Child of the Universe, produced the single "Sitting on Top of the World". In 2016, her fifth studio album, Wings of the Wild, became her fourth number-one album on the ARIA Albums Chart, while giving her another number-one single, "Wings". Goodrem's most recent and fifth number-one studio album, Bridge over Troubled Dreams was released May 2021.
From 2012 to 2020, Goodrem was a coach for eight seasons on The Voice Australia and during her one-season hiatus in 2014, served as a coach on The Voice Kids. Since 2020, she has hosted the annual Christmas special Christmas with Delta on the Nine Network. Goodrem has a total of nine number-one singles and 17 top-ten hits on the ARIA Singles Chart. She has sold over eight million albums globally and overall has won three World Music Awards, 12 ARIA Music Awards, an MTV Video Music Award and several other awards.
Life and career
1984–2000: Early life and discovery
Delta Lea Goodrem was born in Sydney on 9 November 1984, to Lea and Denis Goodrem. She has a younger brother, Trent. Goodrem appeared in an American advertisement aged seven for the former toy company Galoob, alongside fellow Australian Bec Hewitt, and began playing piano at the same age while taking up singing, dancing and acting lessons. She appeared in adverts for companies such as Optus and Nesquik, and had several minor roles in episodes of Australian television shows including Hey Dad..!, A Country Practice, and Police Rescue.While residing in Glenhaven, she attended the Hills Grammar School in neighbouring Kenthurst, from kindergarten until Year 11. At the age of thirteen, Goodrem recorded a five-song demo CD, financed through her television work. It was sent to the Australian rules football club Sydney Swans and they passed it onto talent manager Glenn Wheatley. Wheatley signed Goodrem to an artist development deal with independent record label, Empire Records.
Between June 1999 and September 2000, Goodrem worked with producers Paul Higgins and Trevor Carter on thirteen tracks for an album to be called Delta. A later report on these sessions described Goodrem as "an ambitious 15-year-old keen to emulate the pop sound of the Spice Girls, Britney Spears and Mandy Moore." Most of the tracks were written by Carter, although Goodrem co-wrote two and self-wrote the song "Love". Goodrem did a photoshoot for the album, and recorded a home-made style music video for the song "Say" which has since leaked onto the internet. Higgins took the album to Village Roadshow, which offered to market and distribute the album, but the deal was blocked by Goodrem's parents. The album has yet to surface, though it became the subject of a lawsuit in 2004.
2001–2003: Career launch and ''Innocent Eyes''
At the age of 15, Goodrem signed a recording contract with Sony Music and began work on an album of pop–dance songs including the unsuccessful debut single, "I Don't Care", which peaked at number sixty four on the ARIA Singles Chart in November 2001. The album and proposed second single "A Year Ago Today" were pushed aside as a result, allowing Goodrem and Sony to re-evaluate her future musical direction. In 2002, Goodrem took up the role as shy schoolgirl and aspiring singer Nina Tucker in the popular television soap opera Neighbours, which helped re-launch Goodrem's music career. The piano-based ballad "Born to Try", co-written by Audius Mtawarira, premiered on the show and reached number one on the ARIA Singles Chart and the New Zealand singles chart, and number three in the UK. "Born to Try" was certified triple Platinum in Australia for sales of over 210,000 copies. Goodrem's role on the show scored her a Logie for "Most Popular New Talent" at the Logie Awards of 2003. In January 2003, "Lost Without You" topped the ARIA Singles Chart and reached number four in New Zealand and the UK. it was certified double platinum for sales over 140,000 copies in Australia.Goodrem's largely self-penned debut studio album, Innocent Eyes, was released on 24 March 2003 in Australia and debuted at number one on the ARIA Album Charts, breaking Australian records previously held by John Farnham's Whispering Jack by staying at number one for 29 consecutive weeks, while tying with Neil Diamond's Hot August Night as the second-longest charting number one album with a total of 29 weeks at top spot. It was the highest-selling album in Australia of 2003 and sold 1.2 million copies in Australia, and over 4 million worldwide. The album also charted highly in the UK, peaking at number two. The album's third single "Innocent Eyes" again reached number one on the ARIA Singles Chart and number nine in the UK. It was certified Platinum in Australia for sales over 70,000 copies.
In July, Goodrem was diagnosed with Hodgkin lymphoma, a form of cancer. This forced her to take a break from her career to undergo treatment, however singles from Innoncent Eyes continued. The album's fourth single, "Not Me, Not I", became her fourth consecutive number one single in Australia, overtaking the previous effort of three number-ones from Kylie Minogue's debut studio album, Kylie. It was certified Platinum for sales over 70,000 copies. In early August, Goodrem announced she would not renew her contract with Glenn Wheatley. Her mother, Lea Goodrem, replaced him as her manager. Later that month, Goodrem won seven ARIA Music Awards, including "Best Female Artist", surpassing Natalie Imbruglia's previous record of six awards in 1999. As she was too unwell to perform at the ceremony herself, singer Darren Hayes performed a rendition of "Lost Without You" as a tribute, bringing an overwhelmed Goodrem to tears. Her first full-length DVD Delta became the highest-selling music DVD by an Australian artist in Australia ever, with a certification of 11× platinum. The Australian-only release "Predictable" became her fifth consecutive number one on the ARIA Singles Chart in December and was certified double Platinum for sales of over 140,000 copies.
2004–2006: ''Mistaken Identity''
After announcing in late December 2003 that she was in remission, Goodrem began work on her second studio album. Goodrem received two nominations at the Logie Awards of 2004 including a Gold Logie nomination for "Most Popular Personality on Australian Television".In March 2004, while Goodrem was still undergoing cancer treatment, Paul Higgins and Trevor Carter announced plans to release the album they had recorded with the then 15-year-old Goodrem in 1999 and 2000. They shopped the album around and ignited a bidding war amongst record companies. After the success of Innocent Eyes, industry experts expected that bidding for the album could attract figures anywhere between $1.5 million and $15 million. When Goodrem and her family disapproved of the album's release, a lawsuit was filed. Goodrem's lawyers claimed the album was made up of unfinished demo recordings which were not fit for commercial release. After much coverage in the media, the case was settled in mediation. In exchange for not releasing the album, Higgins and Carter received an unspecified payout.
In September 2004, she became the face of soft drink company Pepsi in Australia, appearing on the product, billboards, TV advertisements and performing an exclusive show for competition winners. In October Goodrem launched her own lingerie line titled "Delta by Annabella".
Goodrem's second studio album, Mistaken Identity, was released in Australia on 8 November 2004 and debuted at number one on the ARIA Albums chart. It was certified five times platinum for sales of 350,000 copies. The album spent 46 weeks in the top fifty. It also reached number seven in New Zealand, and peaked at number 25 in the UK. The album's lead single, "Out of the Blue", which was co-written and produced by Guy Chambers, was released prior to the album on 8 October 2004. "Out of the Blue" debuted at number one on the ARIA Singles Chart and number nine in the UK. This was Goodrem's sixth straight number-one single in Australia. It was certified platinum in Australia.
The second single, "Mistaken Identity", released as a single only in Australia, debuted at number seven and was certified Gold. "Almost Here", a duet with Irish singer and then boyfriend Brian McFadden of Westlife, was released as the third single and reached number three in the UK and became her seventh ARIA number one, along with her first number one in Ireland. It was certified platinum in Australia. "A Little Too Late" was released only in Australia and peaked at number 13. "Be Strong" was released as the album's fifth and final single in Australia as a digital download on 17 October 2005. At the time of release, digital downloads were not included as part of the main singles chart, therefore it was ineligible to chart. Much of the album, in particular "Extraordinary Day", was inspired by her battle with cancer. Reflecting on that period of her life, Goodrem said "It's weird to see pictures of that time. In some ways the fact that I was so sick was so out there, and yet I kept it really private. No-one saw me on the days I was really sick. I was 18 when I was diagnosed and I had a number one album and single in the country. And in the UK, I was number two. It was such a bipolar year".
In March 2005, Goodrem starred in her first film role in Hating Alison Ashley, a film based on the 1984 children's novel by Robin Klein, with Goodrem acting the title character. The film performed poorly at the box office and was not a critical success, with some critics citing Goodrem's performance as too robotic and detached. April 2005 saw Goodrem relocate to New York to launch her career in the United States with a reworked version of "Lost Without You". She appeared in the last two episodes of the short-lived American series North Shore in a bid to gain greater exposure. "Lost Without You" peaked at number eighteen on the Billboard Adult Contemporary chart.
In July, Goodrem embarked on her first headline concert tour of Australia, The Visualise Tour, performing to 80,000 people across ten shows. The Visualise Tour: Live in Concert was released in November and became Goodrem's second number one DVD.
On 15 March 2006, Goodrem performed a new song, "Together We Are One", at the Commonwealth Games opening ceremony in front of 80,000 spectators and up to 1.5 billion television viewers worldwide. The song, written specifically for the event, was released in Australia, where it peaked at number two on the ARIA Singles Chart. In June 2006, Goodrem signed to Modest! Entertainment for her worldwide management. In October 2006, Goodrem promoted in Japan with the release of an updated version of Innocent Eyes and the Japan-only single "Flawed", which reached number one on the Japanese download chart. The album peaked at number eight on the Japanese international chart and number nineteen on the official Japanese album chart. In November, Goodrem appeared with Westlife on the British reality television music competition series The X Factor to perform a duet titled "All Out of Love", which appeared on the boy band's seventh studio album, The Love Album. She was in Melbourne on Christmas Eve to headline the annual Carols by Candlelight.