Kirsty Lee Akers is an Australian

country A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation, or other political entity. It may be a sovereign state or make up one part of a larger state. For example, the country of Japan is an independent, sovereign state, while the ...

singer-songwriter.

Career

Akers performed in public for the first time at the age of three years and recorded her first EP in 2006, at the age of 16. She funded that recording with the money she made busking on the streets of

Tamworth, New South Wales Tamworth is a city and administrative centre of the north-western region of New South Wales, Australia. Situated on the Peel River (New South Wales), Peel River within the local government area of the Tamworth Regional Council, it is the largest ...

. Akers graduated from the CMAA Academy of Country Music. In 2007, at the age of 18, Akers won the Star Maker Award at 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 ...

and signed her first record deal and released her debut studio album, ''Little Things'' the same year. Akers reflected saying, "I used to write my own songs but I had maybe one original song on my first album which was really strange for me at the time because I only ever sang my own songs, but the label ompass Bros.at the time wanted me to record different songs, and when I look back now I wish I had that support to record my own music." In 2010, Akers cut ties with Compass Bros. and released music independently. Her third album ''Naked'' was released in April 2011 and was nominated for 3 Golden Guitar Awards - Best Female Artist, Best Music Video, and Best Vocal Collaboration. In early 2015, Akers signed a new deal with Maven/

Sony Music Australia Sony Music Entertainment Australia is the predominant record label operated by American parent company Sony Music Entertainment in Australia. SMEA also formerly published and distributed video games in Australia & New Zealand on behalf of Sony ...

and in April 2016, released ''Burn Baby Burn''. In July 2018, Akers released ''Under My Skin'' which peaked at number 29 on the ARIA Charts. In 2021, Akers competed on the seventeenth season of television series '' The Block'' with her husband Jesse Anderson. In April 2022, Akers released her sixth studio album, and first on her own label, Rider Records, which she launched in 2021 with husband Jesse Anderson and manager Perrin Finlay-Brown. The album debuted at number 11 on the ARIA Charts.

Discography

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. ! , - ,

2009 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; 2009 Iran ...

, ''Better Days'' , Best Independent Country Album , , , -

APRA Awards

The APRA Awards are held in Australia and New Zealand 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 ...

to recognise songwriting skills, sales and airplay performance by its members annually. ! , - ,

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 ...

, "Burn Baby Burn" (Kirsty Lee Akers,

Trey Bruce Trey Edwin Bruce is an American songwriter. Bruce has written ten Number One singles on the ''Billboard''. "Look Heart, No Hands", "Spirit of a Boy, Wisdom of a Man" and "Whisper My Name" by Randy Travis, and "How Your Love Makes Me Feel" by Dia ...

) , Country Work of the Year , , , -

CMA Awards

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

, celebrating recording excellence in the

Australian country music Australian country music is a part of the music of Australia. There is a broad range of styles, from bluegrass music, bluegrass, to yodeling to Australian folk music, folk to the more popular. The genre has been influenced by Celtic and English ...

industry. (wins only) , - , 2007 , , Kirsty Lee Akers , , Star Maker Award , , , , , - , 2008 , , "Little Things" by Kirsty Lee Akers , , Maton New Talent of the Year , , , - , 2021 , , "True Blue" (with

Amber Lawrence Amber Louise Lawrence (born 19 April 1978) is an Australian country music singer-songwriter-guitarist. Five of her studio albums have reached the ARIA Albums Chart top 50, ''3'' (2012), ''Superheroes'' (2014), ''Happy Ever After'' (2016), ...

, Aleyce Simmonds 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 invo ...

, , Vocal Collaboration of the Year , , , -

References

External links

official web site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Akers, Kirsty Lee Living people Australian women singer-songwriters Participants in Australian reality television series Australian country singers 21st-century Australian women singers Year of birth missing (living people) 21st-century Australian singer-songwriters