Joshua Hayden Cunningham is an Australian

guitarist A guitarist (or a guitar player) is a person who plays the guitar. Guitarists may play a variety of guitar family instruments such as classical guitars, acoustic guitars, electric guitars, and bass guitars. Some guitarists accompany themselv ...

, vocalist and songwriter who is one-third of

folk rock Folk rock is a hybrid music genre that combines the elements of folk and rock music, which arose in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom in the mid-1960s. In the U.S., folk rock emerged from the folk music revival. Performers suc ...

band

the Waifs The Waifs (originally styled as The WAiFS) are an Australian folk rock band formed in 1992 by sisters Vikki Thorn (harmonica, guitar, vocals) and Donna Simpson (musician), Donna Simpson (guitar, vocals) as well as Josh Cunningham (guitar, vocal ...

. Note: nlineversion established at White Room Electronic Publishing Pty Ltd in 2007 and was expanded from the 2002 edition. His involvement with the Waifs has resulted in a total of four

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)

Award An award, sometimes called a distinction, is something given to a recipient as a token of recognition of excellence in a certain field. When the token is a medal, ribbon or other item designed for wearing, it is known as a decoration. An awar ...

wins, all in

2003 File:2003 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The crew of STS-107 perished when the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated during reentry into Earth's atmosphere; SARS became an epidemic in China, and was a precursor to SARS-CoV-2; A des ...

for '' Up All Night'' and ten further nominations. Cunningham has released five studio albums with The Waifs and co-writes songs with fellow members Donna Simpson and

Vikki Thorn Vikki Elizabeth Thorn (née Simpson, born c. 1974) is an Australian harmonica player, guitarist, vocalist, and songwriter and one-third of the Australian folk rock band the Waifs. Her elder sister, Donna Simpson (musician), Donna Simpson, also p ...

, including "Lighthouse", which was nominated for

ARIA Award for Single of the Year The ARIA Music Award for Single of the Year/Song of the Year, 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 Austral ...

at the

ARIA Music Awards of 2003 The 17th Annual Australian Recording Industry Association Music Awards (generally known as ARIA Music Awards) were held on 21 October 2003 at the Sydney Superdome. The ceremony aired on Network Ten. Awards ''Winners highlighted in bold, with n ...

. Cunningham has been a regular member of

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 ...

's backing band, performed on her album ''On a Clear Night'' and appeared in her live shows. He has constructed some of the guitars he plays, both acoustic and electric.

Biography

Joshua Cunningham grew up on a farm in

Moruya Moruya is a town located on the far south coast of New South Wales, Australia, situated on the Moruya River. The Princes Highway runs through the town that is about south of Sydney and from Canberra. At the , Moruya had a population of 4 ...

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

, and picked up his first

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

in 1987. He met

Donna Donna may refer to the short form of the honorific ''nobildonna'', the female form of Don (honorific) in Italian. People * Donna (given name); includes name origin and list of people and characters with the name * Roberto Di Donna (born 1968), ...

and

Vikki Simpson Vikki Elizabeth Thorn (née Simpson, born c. 1974) is an Australian harmonica player, guitarist, vocalist, and songwriter and one-third of the Australian folk rock band the Waifs. Her elder sister, Donna Simpson, also plays guitar and sings i ...

while the two sisters played gigs in Broome, in 1992. At the time, Cunningham played

bass guitar The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and ...

in an all-male band. Donna Simpson described, on The Waifs' official website, how they met: Cunningham has been a member of The Waifs ever since. Josh Cunningham at WA Art Gallery 9 03 2017

Josh Cunningham at WA Art Gallery 9 03 2017

Discography

Solo studio albums

Awards and nominations

AIR Awards

The Australian Independent Record Awards (commonly known informally as

AIR Awards The Australian Independent Record Awards (commonly known informally as AIR Awards) is an annual awards night to recognise, promote and celebrate the success of Australia's Independent Music sector. History The inaugural 2006 awards were held at ...

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

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, ''The Song Club'' (with Felicity Urquhart) , Best Independent Country Album or EP ,

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 ceremony presented by

(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. ! , - ,

2021 File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the 2021 Myanmar coup d'état, coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October–November 2021 ...

, , ''The Song Club'' (with Felicity Urquhart), ,

ARIA Award for Best Country Album The ARIA Music Award for Best Country 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 Recording Indus ...

, , , , -

Country Music Awards of Australia

The

Country Music Awards of Australia The Country Music Awards of Australia also known as the Golden Guitar Awards (originally named Australasian Country Music Awards) is an annual awards night held in January during the Tamworth Country Music Festival, in Tamworth, New South Wales ...

is an annual awards night held in January during the

Tamworth Country Music Festival The Tamworth Country Music Festival is an annual Australian music festival held for 10 days from Friday to Sunday in mid to late January each year, sometimes including Australia Day, in Tamworth, New South Wales. The festival is the second bigg ...

. Celebrating recording excellence in the Australian country music industry. They commenced in 1973. ! , - , rowspan="4", 2022 , , Felicity Urquhart & Josh Cunningham , , Group or Duo of the Year , , , , rowspan="4", , - , ''The Song Club'' , , Alt. Country Album of the Year , , , - , ''The Song Club'' , , Album of the Year , , , - , "Spare Parts" , , Video of the Year , , , - , 2023 , , "Bogswamp" (written by Josh Cunningham) – Recorded by Felicity Urquhart & Josh Cunningham , , Heritage Song of the Year , , , , , , -

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cunningham, Josh Musicians from Western Australia Australian guitarists Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Place of birth missing (living people)