Jen Cloher (born 9 October 1973) is an Australian singer, songwriter, and record producer, currently based in Melbourne, Victoria. Cloher's 2017 self-titled fourth studio album peaked at number 5 on the ARIA Charts. From 2006 to 2010, Cloher recorded and toured with her band Jen Cloher and the Endless Sea and since 2013 has released with Mia Dyson and

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 ...

music under the name Dyson Stringer Cloher.

Career

Originally from Adelaide, Cloher moved to

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 ...

and studied at the National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA). Whilst studying, Cloher lived in a share house with several musicians, which is when she bought her first second-hand guitar, and started to write songs. In 1994, Cloher graduated NIDA at the age of 21. After NIDA, Cloher performed in Andrew Bovell's ''

After Dinner ''After Dinner'' is a play by Australian playwright Andrew Bovell. It was Bovell's first play, written in 1984, when he lived in Carlton, Melbourne. After Dinner was first performed at La Mama Theatre in 1988, and went on to be performed th ...

'' and performed in it at the Edinburgh Festival. Upon returning to Australia, Cloher continued to pursue her music career. In the late 1990s, Cloher colloboared with Sydney collective Bonepeople on the track "Looking for More". In 2001, Cloher relocated to Melbourne. Later that year, she released her debut EP titled, ''Movement Involves Danger'', on Regency Records. Cloher then released the EP ''Permanent Marker'' via Shiny Records in 2005. The single, "Rain," was played on Triple J. In 2006, Cloher's debut album ''Dead Wood Falls'' was released. It was credited to Jen Cloher and the Endless Sea, a collective of musicians. Its lineup originally included drummer Jen Sholakis, bassist "Lord" Geoffrey Dunbar, guitarist Michael Hubbard, pianist Ross Calia and violinist Andrea Summer. Cloher herself was nominated for ARIA Award for Best Female Artist at the

ARIA Music Awards of 2006 The 20th annual Australian Recording Industry Association Music Awards (generally known as ARIA Music Awards or simply The ARIAS) were held on 29 October 2006 at the Acer Arena at the Sydney Olympic Park complex. Presenters on the night includ ...

. In 2009, Cloher's mother was diagnosed with

Alzheimer's Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disease that usually starts slowly and progressively worsens. It is the cause of 60–70% of cases of dementia. The most common early symptom is difficulty in remembering recent events. As t ...

and Cloher found songwriting a way of expressing herself. This led to the writing and creation of Cloher's second album, ''Hidden Hands''. The album included the single "Eden With My Eve." Calia and Sumner were replaced by Laura Jean and Biddy Connor, respectively; Tiny Ruins guitarist Tom Healy was also added to the line-up. Following a solo tour with Jordie Lane, Cloher took an extended hiatus from music. In 2012, Cloher re-emerged and signed with

Milk! Records ''Milk! Records'' is an Australian record label founded in 2012 by musicians Jen Cloher and Courtney Barnett. In early 2019, Tom Larnach-Jones previously of Trifekta Records took over the role of label manager. Artists ;Current * Chastity Belt ...

, a label created by Cloher's partner Courtney Barnett the same year. Cloher released a duet with former Kid Sam frontman Kieran Ryan, entitled "Call if You Need Me". It was included on the EP ''Baby We Were Born to Die''. Cloher recorded an album at Melbourne's Headgap Studios. Her backing band included lead guitarist Barnett, bassist Bones Sloane and drummer Sholakis. In October 2012, Cloher released "Mount Beauty," the lead single from her then-yet-to-be-titled third studio album. It was released as a limited-edition split seven-inch, with the flipside containing Courtney Barnett's song "History Eraser". To support the album's release, Cloher began a

crowdfunding Crowdfunding is the practice of funding a project or venture by raising money from a large number of people, typically via the internet. Crowdfunding is a form of crowdsourcing and alternative finance. In 2015, over was raised worldwide by crow ...

campaign with a target of $15,000, which she exceeded. 'In Blood Memory'' was released in May 2013 and was shortlisted for the Australian Music Prize. In August 2013 Cloher collaborated with Mia Dyson and

and formed Dyson Stringer Cloher. The trio released an EP which featured an individual track from each musician. They then took on the road, playing over 40 shows around the country. In January 2014, Cloher won a Victorian Music Management Award. In June 2014, Cloher released "Stone Age Brain" featuring Tim Rogers. The B-side of the CD single was a cover of The Loved Ones' "Sad Dark Eyes". In September 2015, Cloher contributed two tracks for the Milk! Records compilation entitled ''Good for You'', released in February 2016. The album featured songs from Cloher, Courtney Barnett, The Finks, Ouch My Face, East Brunswick All Girls Choir and Fraser A. Gorman. The EP was supported with a national tour featuring all six artists. Later that year, ''Dead Wood Falls'' was released on vinyl for the very first time in celebration of its 10-year anniversary. The release was supported by a reunion show of the original line-up of Jen Cloher and The Endless Sea in October 2016. In August 2017, Cloher released her self-titled album. The album was preceded by the singles "Forgot Myself" and "Regional Echo" and debuted at number 5 on the ARIA charts. The album received five star reviews from The Herald Sun, The Guardian and The Independent and was voted Double J's Album of the Year for 2017. The album was shortlisted for the Australian Music Prize. In December 2017, it was announced that Cloher would be one of the guest judges for Happy Mag's 'Needle in the Hay' vinyl competition. In 2018, Cloher toured the United States, Europe and

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

. In 2019, Cloher reunited with Dyson and Stringer. The trio recorded a self-titled album in eight days at The Loft in Chicago in April 2019, which was released in October 2019 and toured nationally. In November 2022, Cloher announced the forthcoming release of album, ''I Am the River, the River Is Me''.

Personal life

Cloher is of Ngāpuhi and Ngāti Kahu descent through her mother. Cloher was in a relationship with Courtney Barnett from 2012 to 2018. Cloher's relationship with Barnett informed much of her 2017 self-titled album. They have sung several songs together, including "Numbers", a song about their relationship and their age difference—Cloher is 14 years older. She uses she/her and

they/them Singular ''they'', along with its inflected or derivative forms, ''them'', ''their'', ''theirs'' and ''themselves'' (or ''themself''), is a gender-neutral third-person pronoun. It typically occurs with an unspecified antecedent, in sentence ...

pronouns and identifies as

Takatāpui ''Takatāpui'' (also spelled ''takataapui'') is a Te Reo Māori (Māori language) term, which is used in a similar way to LGBTQI+. ''Takatāpui'' can also refer to an individual who is SOGIE diverse. When speaking te reo Māori, LGBTQI+ people o ...

Backing band members

Jen Cloher Band

;Current members *Jen Sholakis – drums, backing vocals (2012–present) *Robert Wrigley – lead guitar (2018–present) *Nathalie Pavlovic – bass, backing vocals (2022–present) *Anika Ostendorf – keyboards, guitar, backing vocals (2022–present) ;Former members *Courtney Barnett – lead guitar, backing vocals (2012–2018) *Bones Sloane – bass, backing vocals (2012–2018) *Ricky Bradbeer – bass, backing vocals (2018–2022)

The Endless Sea

*Jen Sholakis – drums (2006–2010, 2016) *Michael Hubbard – lead guitar (2006–2010, 2016) *"Lord" Geoffrey Dunbar – bass (2006–2010, 2016) *Ross Calia – piano (2006–2008, 2016) *Andrea Summer – violin, backing vocals (2006–2008, 2016) *Laura Jean – piano, backing vocals (2008–2010) *Biddy Connor – violin, musical saw, backing vocals (2008–2010) *Tom Healy – guitar (2008–2010)

Discography

Studio albums

Compilations

Extended plays

Singles

Awards

AIR Awards

The Australian Independent Record Awards is an annual awards night to recognise, promote and celebrate the success of Australia's Independent Music sector. , - ,

2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro 2006 Montenegrin independence referendum, votes to declare ...

, herself , Most Outstanding New Independent Artist , , - , rowspan="2" ,

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the United ...

, herself , Best Independent Artist , , - , ''Jen Cloher'' , Best Independent Album , , - ,

2020 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of events, COVID- ...

, ''Dyson Stringer Cloher'' , Best Independent Blues and Roots Album or EP , , -

APRA Awards

The

APRA Awards APRA Awards may refer to one of two awards ceremonies: *APRA Awards (Australia) *APRA Awards (New Zealand) The APRA Music Awards are several annual and two-yearly award ceremonies run in New Zealand by Australasian Performing Right Association ...

are presented annually from 1982 by the

Australasian Performing Right Association APRA AMCOS consists of Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA) and Australasian Mechanical Copyright Owners Society (AMCOS), both copyright management organisations or copyright collectives which jointly represent over 100,000 songwr ...

(APRA), "honouring composers and songwriters". ! , - ,

, "Forgot Myself" , Song of the Year , , , -

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 ...

. Cloher has been nominated once. , - ,

, ''Dead Wood Falls'' , Best Female Artist , , -

Australian Music Prize

The Australian Music Prize (the AMP) is an annual award of $30,000 given to an Australian band or solo artist in recognition of the merit of an album released during the year of award. The commenced in 2005. , - , 2013 , ''In Bloody Memory'' , Australian Music Prize , , - , 2017 , ''Jen Cloher'' , Australian Music Prize , , -

Australian Women in Music Awards

The Australian Women in Music Awards is an annual event that celebrates outstanding women in the

Australian Music Industry Australian(s) may refer to: Australia * Australia, a country * Australians, citizens of the Commonwealth of Australia ** European Australians ** Anglo-Celtic Australians, Australians descended principally from British colonists ** Aboriginal Au ...

who have made significant and lasting contributions in their chosen field. They commenced in 2018. , - ,

, Jen Cloher , Music Leadership Award ,

J Award

The J Awards are an annual series of Australian music awards that were established by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's youth-focused radio station Triple J. They commenced in 2005. , - ,

J Awards of 2017 The J Award of 2017 is the thirteenth annual J Awards, established by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's youth-focused radio station Triple J. The announcement comes at the culmination of Ausmusic Month (November). For the fourth year, four ...

, herself , Double J Artist of the Year , , -

Music Victoria Awards

The Music Victoria Awards is an annual awards ceremony celebrating Victorian music. Cloher has won one award form four nominations. , - ,

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fact ...

, herself , Best Female Artist , , - ,

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...

, herself , Best Female Artist , , - , rowspan="2",

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 ...

, ''Jen Cloher'' , Best Album , , - , herself , Best Female Artist , , - ,

, herself , Best Musician , , -

National Live Music Awards

The National Live Music Awards (NLMAs) are a broad recognition of Australia's diverse live industry, celebrating the success of the Australian live scene. The awards commenced in 2016. , - ,

, Jen Cloher , Live Guitarist of the Year , , -

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cloher, Jen Australian women guitarists Australian women singer-songwriters Living people Musicians from Adelaide 1973 births Australian LGBT singers Australian rock singers 21st-century Australian singers 21st-century Australian women singers 21st-century guitarists 21st-century women guitarists New Zealand Māori musicians