Jessica Mauboy
Jessica Hilda Mauboy is an Australian singer and actress. Born and raised in Darwin, Northern Territory, she rose to fame in 2006 on the fourth season of Australian Idol, where she was runner-up and subsequently signed a recording contract with Sony Music Australia. After releasing a live album of her Idol performances and briefly being a member of the girl group Young Divas in 2007, Mauboy released her debut studio album, Been Waiting, the following year. It included her first number-one single, "Burn", and became the second highest-selling Australian album of 2009, certified double platinum by the Australian Recording Industry Association.
Her second studio album, Get 'Em Girls, showcased a harder-edged R&B sound, and produced four platinum singles. Her third studio album, Beautiful, a mixture of dance-oriented tracks, R&B and pop, included the top-ten hits "Pop a Bottle ", "Never Be the Same" and "Can I Get a Moment?".
Aside from her music career, Mauboy has ventured into acting, with starring roles in the films Bran Nue Dae, and The Sapphires, which earned her the AACTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role. She returned to acting in 2016 in the lead role in the television drama series The Secret Daughter for two seasons. It was her first major TV role and was written especially for her. She released two soundtrack albums from the show, the first of which made her the first Indigenous artist with a number-one album on the ARIA Albums Chart. Her fourth studio album, Hilda, debuted at number one.
Mauboy is one of Australia's most successful female artists. She has achieved six top-ten albums and 16 top-twenty singles. She has won two ARIA Music Awards from 25 nominations, and was ranked sixteenth on the Herald Suns list of the "100 Greatest Australian Singers of All Time". She has collaborated with international artists such as Flo Rida, Snoop Dogg, Ludacris, Jay Sean, Pitbull and Jason Derulo. She has also toured with Beyoncé and Chris Brown, and performed at many notable events, including the Australian visits for Oprah Winfrey, Ellen DeGeneres, and US President Barack Obama. She was a guest performer at the second semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest in 2014. She competed for Australia at the 2018 Eurovision Song Contest and reached 20th place. From 2021 to 2023, she was featured as a coach on The Voice Australia.
In 2025, Mauboy was inducted into the National Indigenous Music Awards Hall of Fame.
Early life and education
Jessica Hilda Mauboy was born on 4 August 1989 and raised in Darwin, Northern Territory. Her father, Ferdy, is an Indonesian-born electrician from West Timor. Her mother, Therese, is an Aboriginal Australian woman of the Kuku Yalanji people, whose traditional lands are the rainforest regions of Far North Queensland. Mauboy has three older sisters, Sandra, Jenny and Catherine; and a younger sister, Sophia. She discovered later in life that her first cousin once removed on her mother's side is Olympic gold medalist Cathy Freeman. From an early age, she was involved in the local church choir with her grandmother Harriett. Her home was described as the "noisiest house on the block", with her mother often singing, her father playing guitar and the rest of the family displaying their passion for music.She attended Wulagi Primary School and Sanderson High School in Darwin. She dropped out of school in year 11 to pursue her passion for music.
At age fourteen, Mauboy's talents were exposed through the Telstra Road to Tamworth competition at the 2004 Tamworth Country Music Festival in Tamworth, New South Wales. As the first winner of the competition, she travelled to Sydney to perform and scored a recording deal with Sony Music Australia. She released a country-inspired rendition of the Cyndi Lauper hit "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun". A video of the song was produced and released, but the song was unsuccessful and Mauboy returned to Darwin.
Music career
2006: ''Australian Idol''
In 2006, Mauboy auditioned for the fourth season of Australian Idol in Alice Springs, Northern Territory, singing Whitney Houston's "I Have Nothing". Her audition impressed all three judges, and she progressed to the semi-finals, then to the top twelve. The media cited her previous Sony contract as grounds for dismissal, but since it had expired, the producers refused to remove her from the show. In the final eleven week, following her rendition of Kelly Clarkson's "Walk Away", judge Kyle Sandilands commented on Mauboy's weight, and said that if she wanted to succeed in the music industry, she should "lose the jelly belly". Mauboy appeared stunned by the comment. In an interview with Who magazine's Alicia Neil, two years after the comment, Mauboy said, "I kind of took it as a joke... I look back on it as a positive thing–it made me a stronger person."In the final ten-week, Mauboy received the first touchdown of the season from judge Mark Holden for her rendition of Christina Aguilera's hit "Beautiful". During the final nine-week, she had a sore throat that resulted in a mediocre rendition of Phil Collins' "Another Day in Paradise" and near-elimination, landing her in the bottom three. She never landed in the bottom three again, and ended up progressing to the final show with Damien Leith. At the grand finale on 27 November at the Sydney Opera House, Mauboy was voted runner-up to Leith. In December 2006, she signed a recording contract with Sony Music Australia, two weeks after Idol ended.
2007–2009: ''The Journey'', Young Divas and ''Been Waiting''
Mauboy released her debut live album The Journey on 24 February 2007, which contained two discs. Disc one contained re-recorded covers of the selected songs Mauboy performed as part of the top twelve on Australian Idol, while disc two included a DVD of her performances on the series. The Journey debuted at number four on the ARIA Albums Chart and was certified gold by the Australian Recording Industry Association for shipments of 35,000 units. In September 2007, Mauboy joined as the new member of the girl group Young Divas, replacing one of the group's original members, Ricki-Lee Coulter, who had left in June to resume her solo career. Their second studio album New Attitude was released on 24 November 2007, and debuted at number 10 and was certified gold. The album was preceded by the lead single "Turn Me Loose", which peaked at number 15 on the ARIA Singles Chart. In March 2008, Mauboy signed on to the Australian Government In2Oz program, designed to promote closer ties with Indonesia. As a part of the program, she travelled to Indonesia for a three-day trip performing around the country, including an appearance on Indonesian Idol. It was during this time that Mauboy had begun to work on her first solo studio album. In August 2008, Mauboy announced that after a year with the Young Divas, she had decided to quit to concentrate on her solo career. Founding member Paulini had also decided to depart, leaving Kate DeAraugo and Emily Williams as the only remaining members. However, both DeAraugo and Williams resumed their solo careers, and the group officially disbanded.Mauboy's debut studio album Been Waiting was released on 22 November 2008; it peaked at number 11 and was certified double platinum for shipments of 140,000 units. Mauboy co-wrote eleven of the album's songs, which were produced by Audius Mtawarira, Israel Cruz, Jonas Jeberg, Cutfather, Adam Reily, Fingaz and Kwamé. The album received positive reviews from critics. Davey Boy of Sputnikmusic gave the album three out of five stars and wrote that it was an "impressive debut which suggests that there could indeed be quality music to look forward to in the future, as she matures and gains experience". The lead single "Running Back", featuring American rapper Flo Rida, peaked at number three and was certified double platinum. The second single, "Burn", became Mauboy's first number-one single, and was certified platinum. It also reached number 92 on the Japan Hot 100 and became Mauboy's first single to chart internationally. The album's third single and title track peaked at number 12 and was certified gold. The following singles, "Because" and "Up/Down", peaked at numbers nine and 11, respectively, and both were certified gold.
In February 2009, Mauboy signed with UK record label Ministry of Sound. Been Waiting was released in Japan on 22 April 2009, and reached number 138 on the Japanese Albums Chart. At the 2009 Deadly Awards, Mauboy won three awards in the categories of Female Artist of the Year, Album of the Year for Been Waiting, and Single Release of the Year for "Burn". Along with Flo Rida, Mauboy served as a support act for Beyoncé on the Australian leg of her I Am... World Tour in September 2009. At the 2009 ARIA Music Awards, Mauboy earned seven nominations for Been Waiting and its singles; she was nominated for Highest Selling Album, Best Pop Release, Breakthrough Artist Album, Best Female Artist, Breakthrough Artist Single for "Running Back", and Highest Selling Single for "Running Back" and "Burn". Eventually, Mauboy won Highest Selling Single for "Running Back".
2010–2012: ''Get 'Em Girls'' and ''The Sapphires'' soundtrack
In January 2010, Mauboy signed to Universal Music for an exclusive worldwide long-term publishing agreement. In May 2010, Mauboy collaborated with four other international artists representing their continents—Sean Kingston representing America, Jody Williams representing Africa, Tabitha Nauser, Steve Appleton, with Mauboy representing Oceania—on the theme song for the 2010 Summer Youth Olympics titled "Everyone". Mauboy, Williams, Nauser and Appleton performed "Everyone" at the opening of the Youth Olympics held in Singapore on 14 August 2010. Kingston was unable to attend the performance, due to a passport mix-up. Mauboy released her second studio album Get 'Em Girls on 5 November 2010; it debuted at number six and was certified gold. She had travelled to the United States in February of that year to work on the album in Los Angeles, New York City, and Atlanta with American songwriters and producers, most of whom she had not worked with previously. Mauboy co-wrote eight of the album's songs. Get 'Em Girls received mixed reviews from critics. Majhid Heath of ABC Online Indigenous gave the album two-and-a-half out of five stars, writing that it's a "non-cohesive mess of similar sounding, auto-tuned ravaged pop/R&B that diminishes the talent of this brilliant young songstress".The album's title track, featuring American rapper Snoop Dogg, peaked at number 19. Mauboy performed "Get 'Em Girls" at the 2010 Nickelodeon Australian Kids' Choice Awards, where she co-hosted the award ceremony with Liam Hemsworth and Jerry Trainor, and won the award for Fave Aussie Muso. The following singles, "Saturday Night" featuring American rapper Ludacris and "What Happened to Us" featuring English singer Jay Sean, peaked at numbers seven and 14, respectively. The former single was certified double platinum while the latter was only certified platinum. At the 2010 Australian of the Year Awards, Mauboy received her first nomination for Young Australian of the Year. On 10 December 2010, she performed in front of an audience of 92,000 at the Federation Square in Melbourne, ahead of Oprah Winfrey's visit to the place. Mauboy's performance was shown in the first of the four Australian specials of The Oprah Winfrey Show on 18 January 2011. In April 2011, she served as a support act for Chris Brown's Australian leg of his F.A.M.E. Tour.
Get 'Em Girls was re-released as a deluxe edition on 12 August 2011, which included the singles "Inescapable" and "Galaxy" featuring Stan Walker. The former single peaked at number four and was certified double platinum, while the latter peaked at number 13 and was certified platinum. "Galaxy" also reached number 36 on the New Zealand Singles Chart and became Mauboy's first single to chart in that country. On 17 November 2011, Mauboy performed for the Australian troops at RAAF Base Darwin, ahead of US President Barack Obama's visit to the place. In January 2012, Mauboy and Walker embarked on their Galaxy Tour across Australia, which served as her first headlining tour. Mauboy recorded 15 songs for The Sapphires' soundtrack album, which was released on 27 July 2012. The album debuted at number one and was certified platinum. Mauboy released "Gotcha" as the album's lead single, which peaked at number 43 and was certified gold. At the 2012 ARIA Music Awards, she was nominated for Best Female Artist, Best Pop Release for "Gotcha", and Song of the Year for "Galaxy".