Elana Stone is an Australian singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and bandleader. Her debut solo album, ''In the Garden of Wild Things'', was released in 2005 on the Jazzgroove label. Its follow-up, ''Your Anniversary'', was released in 2009, and her third ''Kintsugi'' was released independently in 2015. She is also a member of the

ARIA award 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 ...

–winning folk quartet

All Our Exes Live in Texas All Our Exes Live in Texas is an Australian folk group, consisting of Hannah Crofts (vocals & ukulele), Georgia Mooney (vocals & mandolin), Elana Stone (vocals & accordion) and Katie Wighton (vocals & guitar). The four artists combined at an ''O ...

, in which she provides vocals and accordion. Outside of her solo career and her work with All Our Exes Live in Texas, Stone has worked with

The Tango Saloon The Tango Saloon is an Australian experimental tango band from Sydney, Australia. Their self-titled debut, a "tango-flavored album with a twist of spaghetti western", was released in 2006 by Ipecac Recordings, the American record label run by Mi ...

, has toured with

The Cat Empire The Cat Empire are an Australian jazz/funk band, formed in Melbourne, Victoria, in 1999. For most of the band's duration, the core members were Felix Riebl (lead vocals, percussion), Harry James Angus (trumpet, vocals), Will Hull-Brown (drums), ...

, Bluejuice,

Jackson Jackson Jackson Jackson is a hip hop group from Melbourne, Australia consisting of Harry James Angus (vocals/trumpet; The Cat Empire, The Conglomerate) and Jan Skubiszewski (producer, phrase, and composer; APRA Award winner Two Hands, The Rage in Pla ...

and

Tripod A tripod is a portable three-legged frame or stand, used as a platform for supporting the weight and maintaining the stability of some other object. The three-legged (triangular stance) design provides good stability against gravitational loads ...

. She is currently a backing vocalist and keyboardist in the touring bands for both

Missy Higgins Melissa Morrison Higgins (born 19 August 1983), known professionally as Missy Higgins, is an Australian singer-songwriter and musician. Her Australian number-one albums are ''The Sound of White'' (2004), ''On a Clear Night'' (2007) and ''The Ol ...

and the

John Butler Trio The John Butler Trio are an Australian roots/rock band led by guitarist and vocalist John Butler, an APRA and ARIA-award-winning musician. They formed in Fremantle in 1998 with Jason McGann on drums, Gavin Shoesmith on bass and John Butler on vo ...

Early life and education

Elana Stone is the elder daughter of Harry Stone, an architect, and Judy Stone, a palliative care nurse. She grew up in Sydney with her older brother, singer and actor Jake Stone (formerly of

Bluejuice Bluejuice was an Australian band based in Sydney, active between 2000 and 2014. The group's final line-up consisted of lead vocalist Jake Stone, backing vocalist Stavros Yiannoukas, bassist Jamie Cibej and drummer James Hauptmann. The band rele ...

) and her younger sister, actress

Yael Stone Jael or Yael ( he, יָעֵל ''Yāʿēl'') is the name of the heroine who delivered Israel from the army of King Jabin of Canaan in the Book of Judges of the Hebrew Bible. After Barak demurred at the behest of the prophetess Deborah, God turned ...

. She undertook piano lessons while attending Balmain Public School. Stone studied music at

Newtown High School of the Performing Arts The Newtown High School of the Performing Arts is a government-funded co-educational comprehensive and specialist secondary day school in the suburb of Newtown in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It is among a small number of performing a ...

, the

Sydney Conservatorium of Music The Sydney Conservatorium of Music (formerly the New South Wales State Conservatorium of Music and known by the moniker "The Con") is a heritage-listed music school in Macquarie Street, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It is one of the old ...

and completed a Bachelor of Music at the

Australian National University The Australian National University (ANU) is a public research university located in Canberra, the capital of Australia. Its main campus in Acton encompasses seven teaching and research colleges, in addition to several national academies and ...

School of Music A music school is an educational institution specialized in the study, training, and research of music. Such an institution can also be known as a school of music, music academy, music faculty, college of music, music department (of a larger ins ...

in Canberra.

Career

While at university Stone met several musicians who worked with her later. She formed the Elana Stone Quartet (sometimes expanded to Elana Stone Quintet) as a jazz ensemble. In 2004 she was named Best Jazz Artist at the Musicoz Awards. She won a National Jazz Award at the 2005 Wangaratta Jazz Festival. Her debut album, ''In the Garden of Wild Things'', was released via Jazzgroove Records, which John Shand of ''

The Sydney Morning Herald ''The Sydney Morning Herald'' (''SMH'') is a daily compact newspaper published in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, and owned by Nine. Founded in 1831 as the ''Sydney Herald'', the ''Herald'' is the oldest continuously published newspaper ...

'' described her singing as "sensational – imaginative, deft, accurate, tonally beautiful." For the album, the Elana Stone Band line-up was Brett Hirst on bass guitar, Evan Mannell on drums, James Muller on guitar and Sean Wayland on piano, Rhodes and organ. Assisting in the studio were Jeremy Borthwick and John Hibbard on trombone, Simon Ferenci on trumpet, Aaron Flower on guitar, James Hauptmann on atmospheric sounds, Zoe Hauptmann on bass guitar, Steve Marin on congas and a choir from Newtown High School of the Performing Arts. By 2008, the Elana Stone Band comprised Stone on lead vocals and keyboards, Flower on guitar, Hauptmann on bass guitar and backing vocals and Mannell on drums. "Me and Zoe went to jazz school in Canberra and Ev and Baz went to jazz school in Sydney," explained Stone in an interview. In August 2008, Stone was invited by

Deborah Conway Deborah Ann Conway (born 8 August 1959) is an Australian rock singer-songwriter and guitarist, and had a career as a model and actress. She was a founding member of the 1980s rock band Do-Ré-Mi with their top 5 hit "Man Overboard". Conw ...

to take part in the Broad Festival project, which toured major Australian cities including performing at the Sydney Opera House. With Stone and Conway were Laura Jean,

Liz Stringer Liz Stringer is an Australian singer-songwriter, based in Melbourne, Victoria. As of April 2021, Stringer has released six studio albums, a live album and two extended plays. Since 2013 she has released with Mia Dyson and Jen Cloher music under ...

and

Dianna Corcoran Dianna Elizabeth Corcoran (born 20 June 1979 in Parkes, New South Wales) is an Australian country music singer-songwriter. Among numerous awards, she is a three-time Golden Guitar winner History Corcoran's initial interest in country music inv ...

– they performed their own and each other's songs. In 2010, Stone performed at the

Melbourne International Comedy Festival The Melbourne International Comedy Festival (MICF) is the largest stand-alone comedy festival and the second-largest international comedy festival in the world. Established in 1987, it takes place annually in Melbourne over four weeks, typicall ...

and at

Edinburgh Fringe Festival The Edinburgh Festival Fringe (also referred to as The Fringe, Edinburgh Fringe, or Edinburgh Fringe Festival) is the world's largest arts and media festival, which in 2019 spanned 25 days and featured more than 59,600 performances of 3,841 dif ...

with Tripod in the show ''Tripod vs the Dragon''. Along with

Brian Campeau Brian Campeau (born 1980) is a Canadian musician, based in Melbourne, Australia. Early life Brian Campeau is originally from Ottawa, Canada. He graduated from Guelph University in 1999. He moved to Sydney, Australia in 2002. He now lives in Mel ...

, Stone also featured on

Passenger A passenger (also abbreviated as pax) is a person who travels in a vehicle, but does not bear any responsibility for the tasks required for that vehicle to arrive at its destination or otherwise operate the vehicle, and is not a steward. The ...

's 2010 album ''Flight of the Crow'', singing harmonies on the song "Month of Sundays." In 2011, Stone and Campeau formed the indie pop duo The Rescue Ships. The group released two singles, "On the Air" in 2011 and "City Life" in 2012, before breaking up in 2013. In 2012 she joined Hermitude on Triple J radio's ''

Like a Version ''Like a Version'' is a weekly segment on Australian youth radio station Triple J. It involves Australian and international artists playing two songs live in the Triple J studio, one of their own songs (an "original") and then a cover version, h ...

'', providing the vocals for their cover of Major Lazer's "Get Free". In 2014, Stone formed the folk group All Our Exes Live in Texas alongside fellow singer-songwriters Hannah Crofts, Georgia Mooney and Katie Wighton. The group has gone on to tour nationally, and win the

ARIA Award for Best Blues and Roots Album The ARIA Music Award for Best Blues and Roots Album, is an award presented at the annual ARIA Music Awards, which recognises "the many achievements of Aussie artists across all music genres", since 1987. It is handed out by the Australian Recor ...

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a ser ...

. In April 2015 Stone issued her third studio album, ''Kintsugi'', which provided three singles: "Emotions" (originally performed by

Mariah Carey Mariah Carey (; born March 27, 1969) is an American singer, songwriter, actress, and record producer. Referred to as the " Songbird Supreme", she is noted for her five-octave vocal range, melismatic singing style and signature use of the whi ...

), "Panic Attack" and "Steely Dan". Jonny Nail of ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first kno ...

'' (Australia) reviewed the latter single, which "lands somewhere between haunting, psychedelic-pop escapism and a gritted-teeth, stomping show of determination. "It’s a break up song, but it's defiant," Stone explains, adding that 'it's not heartbroken'."

Discography

Studio albums

Soundtrack albums

References

External links

Elana Stone website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Stone, Elana Australian jazz bandleaders Musicians from Sydney Australian National University alumni People educated at Newtown High School of the Performing Arts Sydney Conservatorium of Music alumni Living people 21st-century Australian singers 21st-century Australian women singers Year of birth missing (living people)