iOTA (born 7 May 1968 as Sean Hape in Pinjarra) is a New Zealand-Australian singer-songwriter and actor. As a musician he has issued six studio albums and was nominated for Best Independent Release for ''The Hip Bone Connection'' (1999) at the

ARIA Music Awards of 2000 The 14th Australian Recording Industry Association Music Awards (generally known as the ARIA Music Awards or simply The ARIAS) was held on 24 October 2000 at the Sydney Entertainment Centre. Presenters distributed 28 awards with the big win ...

. He has won four

Helpmann Award The Helpmann Awards are accolades for live entertainment and performing arts in Australia, presented by industry group Live Live Performance Australia (LPA) since 2001. The annual awards recognise achievements in the disciplines of musical th ...

s: Best Male Actor in a Musical in

2007 File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple's first iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakistani Prime Minister of Pakistan, Pr ...

for Hedwig in '' Hedwig and the Angry Inch'' (2006 Australian cast) and Best Cabaret Performer, Best New Australian Work and Best Original Score for his work in ''Smoke and Mirrors'' in

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

Personal life

iOTA has stated that his parents met in

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

;Valerie Lawson, 2007, '"Wear more make-up"', ''Sydney Morning Herald'' (October 6)
(Access date: 5 April 2013.) his father is

Māori Māori or Maori can refer to: Relating to the Māori people * Māori people of New Zealand, or members of that group * Māori language, the language of the Māori people of New Zealand * Māori culture * Cook Islanders, the Māori people of the C ...

and his mother English.Annika Priest, 2008, "Frocker even more a shocker", ''Melbourne Leader'' (9 September)
(access 2 April 2013). He grew up in

Pinjarra, Western Australia Pinjarra is a town in the Peel region of Western Australia along the South Western Highway, from the state capital, Perth and south-east of the coastal city of Mandurah. Its local government area is the Shire of Murray. At the 2016 census, P ...

, where his father worked at an alumina

refinery A refinery is a production facility composed of a group of chemical engineering unit processes and unit operations refining certain materials or converting raw material into products of value. Types of refineries Different types of refineries ...

.Andrew Taylor, 2007, "Given An Inch, Debutant Takes A Yard"
''

Sun Herald The ''Sun Herald'' is a U.S. newspaper based in Biloxi, Mississippi, that serves readers along the Mississippi Gulf Coast. The paper's current executive editor and general manager is Blake Kaplan and its headquarters is in the city of Gulfport ...

'' (28 January). Archived by: aluminiumfences.com.au. (Access date: 5 April 2013.) At high school, iOTA took drama and music as electives, so he could "slack off for two hours"; he formed his first band, which was short-lived, at the age of 16. iOTA moved out of home at age 17, into a

caravan Caravan or caravans may refer to: Transport and travel *Caravan (travellers), a group of travellers journeying together **Caravanserai, a place where a caravan could stop *Camel train, a convoy using camels as pack animals *Convoy, a group of veh ...

and lived for several years on the

dole Dole may refer to: Places * Dole, Ceredigion, Wales * Dole, Idrija, Slovenia * Dole, Jura, France ** Arrondissement of Dole * Dole (Kladanj), a village at the entity line of Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina-Republika Srpska * Dole, Ljubušk ...

, while playing with a

hard rock Hard rock or heavy rock is a loosely defined subgenre of rock music typified by aggressive vocals and distorted electric guitars. Hard rock began in the mid-1960s with the garage, psychedelic and blues rock movements. Some of the earliest hard ...

band called Loose Goose. He worked as a mechanic's apprentice before his career as an entertainer took off. Loose Goose moved to Sydney, when iOTA was 23. iOTA changed his name by

deed poll A deed poll (plural: deeds poll) is a legal document binding on a single person or several persons acting jointly to express an intention or create an obligation. It is a deed, and not a contract because it binds only one party (law), party. Et ...

when he was 26. iOTA has cited three reasons for this: wanting to begin a new identity as an entertainer, being openly gay, and being a recovering alcoholic.

Music

iOTA's first album ''The Hip Bone Connection'' was released in 1999 and was nominated for

ARIA Award for Best Independent Release The ARIA Music Award for Best Independent Release, 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 Recording ...

. Following the release of the album, iOTA was labelled as an acoustic/blues/roots musician, a label he does not like. His second, ''Big Grandfather'', was considered less accessible, more atmospheric and was not as successful as his first. His third, ''La Caravana'', "is about the nomadic life of a musician". His fourth and most recent is ''Beauty Queen of the Sea'' and uses a full electric band, moving towards rock and away from his previous roots label. In November 2019 it was announced that iOTA would be a participant in

Eurovision - Australia Decides The Eurovision Song Contest (), sometimes abbreviated to ESC and often known simply as Eurovision, is an international songwriting competition organised annually by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), featuring participants representing pri ...

; in an attempt to represent

Australia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2020 Australia originally planned to participate in the Eurovision Song Contest 2020 with the song "Don't Break Me" written by Montaigne (musician), Jessica Cerro, DNA Songs, Anthony Egizii and DNA Songs, David Musumeci. The song would have been perf ...

. He competed with the song, "Life" and finished 9th.

Acting

As an actor, iOTA has performed on stage in Australia as an angel in

Sydney Dance Company Sydney Dance Company is a contemporary dance company in Australia. The company has performed on stages around the world, including the Sydney Opera House in Australia, the Joyce Theater in New York, the Shanghai Grand Theatre in China, and the ...

's ''Berlin'', as Frank-N-Furter in ''

The Rocky Horror Show ''The Rocky Horror Show'' is a musical with music, lyrics and book by Richard O'Brien. A humorous tribute to the science fiction and horror B movies of the 1930s through to the early 1960s, the musical tells the story of a newly engaged couple ...

'', as Hedwig in '' Hedwig and the Angry Inch'', and in the original productions ''Smoke & Mirrors'' and ''B-Girl''. His acting has won him

Helpmann Awards The Helpmann Awards are accolades for live entertainment and performing arts in Australia, presented by industry group Live Live Performance Australia (LPA) since 2001. The annual awards recognise achievements in the disciplines of musical t ...

for Best Male Actor in a Musical (for ''Hedwig and the Angry Inch'') in 2007, and Best Cabaret Performer (for ''Smoke & Mirrors'') in 2010. He also received Helpmann Awards for Best New Australian Work and Best Original Score for ''Smoke & Mirrors.'' He appeared in George Miller's 2015 film '' Mad Max: Fury Road'' (the fourth in the ''

Mad Max ''Mad Max'' is an Australian post-apocalyptic Action film, action film series and media franchise created by George Miller (filmmaker), George Miller and Byron Kennedy. It began in 1979 with ''Mad Max (film), Mad Max'', and was followed by thre ...

'' series) as the Doof Warrior, a guitarist whose guitar is also a flamethrower. He has said he learned to act by necessity: "In the country, poofters are there to be bashed, or ridiculed. So I put on a mask, and became tough and rowdy: the long hair, the slouching, the spitting, lots of drinking piss." iOTA can be seen in Baz Luhrmann's 2013 film ''

The Great Gatsby ''The Great Gatsby'' is a 1925 novel by American writer F. Scott Fitzgerald. Set in the Jazz Age on Long Island, near New York City, the novel depicts First-person narrative, first-person narrator Nick Carraway's interactions with mysterious mil ...

'' as Trimalcio the orchestra leader. He is one of two singers for the character of Walter Walrus on the animated

Netflix Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fil ...

series ''

Beat Bugs ''Beat Bugs'' is an animated children's television series, created by Josh Wakely, and produced for Netflix by Grace: A Storytelling Company and Thunderbird Entertainment since 2016. The series is centred around five young anthropomorphised inse ...

'', along with

Daniel Johns Daniel Paul Johns (born 22 April 1979) is an Australian musician, singer, and songwriter best known as the former frontman, guitarist, and main songwriter of the rock band Silverchair. Johns is also one half of The Dissociatives with Paul Mac a ...

Discography

Albums

Live albums

EPs

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 ...

are a set of annual ceremonies presented by

Australian Recording Industry Association The Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) is a trade association representing the Australian recording industry which was established in the 1970s by six major record companies, EMI, Festival, CBS, RCA, WEA and Universal replacing th ...

(ARIA), which recognise excellence, innovation, and achievement across all genres of the

music of Australia 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 ...

. They commenced in 1987. ! , - ,

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from ...

, ''The Hip Bone Connection'' ,

, ,

Helpmann Awards

The

is an awards show, celebrating live entertainment and performing arts in Australia, presented by industry group ''Live Performance Australia'' since 2001. Note: 2020 and 2021 were cancelled due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

. ! , - ,

, Iota - ''Hedwig and the Angry Inch'' ,

Helpmann Award for Best Male Actor in a Musical The Helpmann Award for Best Male Actor in a Musical is a musical award, presented by Live Performance Australia (LPA) at the annual Helpmann Awards since 2001. This is a list of winners and nominations for the Helpmann Award for Best Male Acto ...

, , , - ,

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, Iota - ''Richard O'Brien's Rocky Horror Show'' , Best Male Actor in a Musical , , , - , rowspan="3",

, Iota - ''Smoke & Mirrors'' , Helpmann Award for Best Cabaret Performer , , rowspan="3", , - , Iota - ''Smoke & Mirrors'' ,

Helpmann Award for Best New Australian Work __NOTOC__ The Helpmann Award for Best New Australian Work is an award presented by Live Performance Australia (LPA), an employers' organisation which serves as the peak body in the live entertainment and performing arts industries in Australia ...

, , - , Iota - ''Smoke & Mirrors'' ,

Helpmann Award for Best Original Score The Helpmann Award for Best Original Score is a musical award presented by Live Performance Australia (LPA) at the annual Helpmann Awards since 2001. In the following list winners are listed first and marked in gold, in boldface, and the nominees ...

, , -

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Iota 1968 births Living people Australian male singers Australian songwriters Australian male musical theatre actors Helpmann Award winners Australian gay actors Gay musicians LGBT singers from Australia LGBT songwriters People from Pinjarra, Western Australia Musicians from Western Australia Australian people of English descent Australian people of Māori descent New Zealand people of Māori descent New Zealand people of English descent Australian people of New Zealand descent 21st-century Australian male actors Male actors from Western Australia Australian male film actors 20th-century LGBT people 21st-century LGBT people