Candice Marie Giannarelli, better known as Candice Alley (born 23 June 1982) is an Australian singer-songwriter of Italian descent. She married Australian swimming captain

Grant Hackett Grant George Hackett OAM (born 9 May 1980) is an Australian swimmer, most famous for winning the men's 1500 metres freestyle race at both the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney and the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens. This achievement has led him t ...

on 14 April 2007 and the couple had twins, but they divorced in 2013.

Music career

Alley was born in

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

. At the age of sixteen, she wrote her debut single, "Falling", which only took her twenty minutes to write."Candice Alley – Biography"
. ''Candicealley.com.au''. Retrieved 30 June 2007. She started to shop her demos around the various independent labels in her home town of

and one of her tapes found its way onto the desk of

Universal Music Universal Music Group N.V. (often abbreviated as UMG and referred to as just Universal Music) is a Netherlands, Dutch–United States, American multinational Music industry, music corporation under Law of the Netherlands, Dutch law. UMG's cor ...

's former chairman, Peter Bond. He liked what he heard and flew down from

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

to catch Alley at a showcase. She was signed to the label at the age of eighteen. In February 2003, Alley went to write and record in London with songwriters and producers John Holiday, Trevor Steele and

Peter Vettese Peter may refer to: People * List of people named Peter, a list of people and fictional characters with the given name * Peter (given name) ** Saint Peter (died 60s), apostle of Jesus, leader of the early Christian Church * Peter (surname), a sur ...

. On 26 May 2003, she released her first single "Falling" which went on to peak at number five on the Australian ARIA Singles Chart and was nominated for an award at the 2003

ARIA Awards The Australian Recording Industry Association Music Awards (commonly known informally as ARIA Music Awards, ARIA Awards, or simply the ARIAs) is an annual series of awards nights celebrating the Australian music The music of Australia has ...

for "Breakthrough Artist – Single" but lost to "

Born to Try "Born to Try" is a song by Australian singer-songwriter Delta Goodrem, written by Goodrem and Audius Mtawarira and produced by Ric Wake for Goodrem's debut studio album, ''Innocent Eyes (Delta Goodrem album), Innocent Eyes'' (2003). The song was ...

" by Delta Goodrem."Candice Alley – Falling (single) (225124)"
''Australian-charts''. Retrieved 30 June 2007."2003: 17th Annual ARIA Awards"
. ''

''. Retrieved 30 June 2007. Her first studio album ''

Colorblind Color blindness or color vision deficiency (CVD) is the decreased ability to see color or differences in color. It can impair tasks such as selecting ripe fruit, choosing clothing, and reading traffic lights. Color blindness may make some aca ...

'' was released on 23 October 2003, and debuted in the

ARIA In music, an aria (Italian: ; plural: ''arie'' , or ''arias'' in common usage, diminutive form arietta , plural ariette, or in English simply air) is a self-contained piece for one voice, with or without instrumental or orchestral accompanime ...

Album Chart at position sixty-four."ARIA Report – 29 September 2003"
''

ARIA Charts The ARIA Charts are the main Australian music sales charts, issued weekly by the Australian Recording Industry Association. The charts are a record of the highest selling songs and albums in various genres in Australia. ARIA became the offici ...

''. Retrieved 30 June 2007. The second single "Dream the Day Away" did not follow the success of "Falling", only debuting at number forty-five."Candice Alley – Dream the day away (single) (269902)"
''Australian-charts''. Retrieved 30 June 2007. On 2 October 2003, Alley opened the seventeenth annual

performing the song "Falling". In 2004 she split with her record label

Universal Records Universal Music Group N.V. (often abbreviated as UMG and referred to as just Universal Music) is a Dutch–American multinational music corporation under Dutch law. UMG's corporate headquarters are located in Hilversum, Netherlands and its ...

because she was not happy with the lack of control she had.Adrian Potts "Candice Alley"
. '' Rave''. Retrieved 18 August 2007. In May 2005, Alley's manager organised a distribution contract with

MGM Distribution MGM Distribution (Metropolitan Groove Merchants) is the largest independent distributor of Australian music and music related merchandise and was established in April 1998 by Sebastian Chase. MGM Distribution was specifically set up as a dist ...

independent label International Quarterback and she went abroad to write for twenty months and worked with producer Michael Szumowski."Message's from Candice"
. ''Candice Alley forum''. Retrieved 18 October 2007. It was announced in late 2006 that Alley was releasing her new single, "Before You Go", on 13 January 2007. The song took a while to chart but with the combination of CD and digital downloads the song managed to become a top twenty hit peaking at number sixteen."Candice Alley – Before you go (single) (298879)"
''Australian-charts''. Retrieved 30 June 2007. Her husband,

, has a songwriting credit on the album and is the only other credited writer besides Alley. She also performed live at the David Jones fashion show, the

AFL AFL may refer to: Sports * American Football League (AFL), a name shared by several separate and unrelated professional American football leagues: ** American Football League (1926) (a.k.a. "AFL I"), first rival of the National Football Leagu ...

2007 season launch and supported

Chris Isaak Christopher Joseph Isaak (born June 26, 1956) is an American singer, songwriter, guitarist and occasional actor. He is widely known for his breakthrough hit and signature song "Wicked Game", as well as other songs such as "Blue Hotel", "Baby D ...

on his ''The Best Of'' tour in Melbourne. Through Candice's success on her second album a United States Dance label Pro Motion approached her to do a remix of the 2003 debut single "Falling", which charted on the U.S. ''Billboard'' Hot Dance Club Play and went on to peak at number thirty-eight.

Television

From 2015 to 2016, Alley had a recurring guest role on Australian television series ''

Neighbours ''Neighbours'' is an Australian television soap opera, which has aired since 18 March 1985. It was created by television executive Reg Watson. The Seven Network commissioned the show following the success of Watson's earlier soap '' Sons an ...

'' as

Cecilia Saint '' Neighbours'' is an Australian television soap opera. It was first broadcast on 18 March 1985 and currently airs on digital channel Eleven. The following is a list of characters that appeared in the soap in 2015, by order of first appearance. ...

Personal life

Alley met Australian swimmer

when she was invited to sing at the "Swimmer of the Year" dinner in 2004."New Idea – Wedding Special"
. ''

New Idea ''New Idea'' is a long-running Australian weekly magazine aimed at women that is published by Are Media. History The magazine was first published in 1902 by Fitchett Bros. The founder was Thomas Shaw Fitchett. It was subtitled A Women's Home Jou ...

''. Retrieved 21 October 2007. They married in

Albert Park, Melbourne Albert Park is an inner suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, south of Melbourne's Central Business District. The suburb is named after Albert Park, a large lakeside urban park located within the City of Port Phillip local government ar ...

on 14 April 2007. On 16 March 2009, Hackett's manager Chris White confirmed Alley and Hackett were expecting twins. In September 2009, Alley gave birth to the twins – a boy named Jagger Emilio and a girl named Charlize Alley."Grant Hackett and Candice Alley expecting twins"
''

Herald Sun The ''Herald Sun'' is a conservative daily tabloid newspaper based in Melbourne, Australia, published by The Herald and Weekly Times, a subsidiary of News Corp Australia, itself a subsidiary of the Murdoch owned News Corp. The ''Herald S ...

''. Retrieved 19 March 2009. On 29 October 2011, police were called to attend a dispute at Alley and Hackett's Melbourne apartment, which was reportedly found in disarray. The couple did not publicly elaborate on the events of the evening, however Hackett admitted to being "overwhelmingly embarrassed" by his behaviour, with Alley claiming in the following weeks that she and her husband were "immensely in love", "overwhelmingly happy" and that their relationship was "100% amazing" in spite of the incident. On 3 May 2012, Alley and Hackett announced they were separating; they divorced in August 2013.

Discography

Studio albums

Singles

Awards and nominations

ARIA Music Awards

The

ARIA Music Awards The Australian Recording Industry Association Music Awards (commonly known informally as ARIA Music Awards, ARIA Awards, or simply the ARIAs) is an annual series of awards nights celebrating the Australian music industry, put on by the Austr ...

is an annual awards ceremony that recognises excellence, innovation, and achievement across all genres of

Australian music The music of Australia has an extensive history made of music societies. Indigenous Australian music forms a significant part of the unique heritage of a 40,000- to 60,000-year history which produced the iconic didgeridoo. Contemporary fusions of ...

. , - ! 2003 , "Falling" , Breakthrough Artist – Single ,

APRA Awards

The APRA Awards are held in Australia and New Zealand by the Australasian Performing Right Association to recognise songwriting skills, sales and airplay performance by its members annually. , - ! 2004 , "Falling" , Most Performed Australian Single ,

References

External links

*
Candice Alley's MySpace page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Alley, Candice 1982 births Australian women singer-songwriters Australian singer-songwriters Australian people of Italian descent Living people Singers from Melbourne 21st-century Australian singers 21st-century Australian women singers