Lyn Bowtell (born 1977) is an Australian singer-songwriter from Kleinton, Queensland. She has won ten Golden Guitar Awards at 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 ...

. She was primary songwriter and singer for the pop country trio,

Bella Bella is a feminine given name. It is a diminutive form of names ending in -bella. ''Bella'' is related to the Italian, Spanish, Greek, Portuguese and Latin words for beautiful, to the name Belle, meaning ''beautiful'' in French. It increased in ...

(2002–2006). Bowtell has to date released four solo albums, ''Heart's in the Country'' (September 2002), ''Secret Songs'' (March 2012),''Heart of Sorrow'' (July 2014),an EP 'Calling You' (September 2017)and latest album ''Wiser'' (May 2022). Alongside her solo career, since 2015, she has also been a member of Australian super-group, Bennett Bowtell Urquhart, with Kevin Bennett (see the Flood) and

Felicity Urquhart Felicity Ann Urquhart (born 4 May 1976) is an Australian country and western music singer-songwriter, and a TV and radio presenter. Her single "Big Black Cloud", co-written with Randy Scruggs, reached No. 1 on Country Tracks National Top&nb ...

Life and career

Early life

Lyn Bowtell (born 1977), is the daughter of Noel Rodney Bowtell (c. 1943May 2005),. Note: User must add 'Bowtell' into the Surname search parameter and 'Noel' into the Any Given Name(s) parameter. a farmer and baker, and Glenys Fay, from Kleinton on the

Darling Downs The Darling Downs is a farming region on the western slopes of the Great Dividing Range in southern Queensland, Australia. The Downs are to the west of South East Queensland and are one of the major regions of Queensland. The name was generall ...

. Bowtell has two older siblings. Her father Noel sang and played accordion, piano, organ and drums with his father and brother at old time dances. Glenys sings and plays piano accordion, auto-harp and bag-pipes. On

Australia Day Australia Day is the official national day of Australia. Observed annually on 26 January, it marks the 1788 landing of the First Fleet at Sydney Cove and raising of the Union Flag by Arthur Phillip following days of exploration of Port Ja ...

2019, Glenys was awarded a

Medal of the Order of Australia The Order of Australia is an honour that recognises Australian citizens and other persons for outstanding achievement and service. It was established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Queen of Australia, on the advice of the Australian Gove ...

for "service to conservation and the environment". Bowtell first performed at country music clubs in the Darling Downs. At age 13 she competed in her first country music festival talent quest: The Big Doo at Brymaroo. As a teenager she was active in Dalby and

Toowoomba Toowoomba ( , nicknamed 'The Garden City' and 'T-Bar') is a city in the Toowoomba Region of the Darling Downs, Queensland, Australia. It is west of Queensland's capital city Brisbane by road. The urban population of Toowoomba as of the 2021 C ...

Country music clubs. Her parents drove her to numerous talent quests along the east coast, including at

Charters Towers Charters Towers is a rural town in the Charters Towers Region, Queensland, Australia. It is by road south-west from Townsville on the Flinders Highway. During the last quarter of the 19th century, the town boomed as the rich gold deposits under ...

CMF and at

Gympie Muster The Gympie Music Muster is an Australian music festival held in and around the Amamoor Creek State Forest at Amamoor Creek near Gympie, Queensland, Australia. The Muster started as a community fundraiser in 1982 and has now grown to a four-day ...

1995–2001: Southern Steel and Star Maker

In 1995 Bowtell won the Queensland Champion of Champions award. In 1996 Bowtell formed the group Southern Steel in Toowoomba, with Mik McCartin on drums,

Duncan Toombs Duncan Toombs is an Australian singer-songwriter, musician and video director. He has won seven Golden Guitar Awards for Music Video of the Year. Toombs released his debut studio album, ''Steel on Steel'' in January 2023. Career In June 2022, ...

on guitar, and his brother Andrew Toombs on bass guitar (later replaced by Joel Oakhill). Southern Steel released their debut studio album, ''Headed South'', in that same year. The title track, "Headed South", was written by Bowtell. Note: For additional work user may have to select 'Search again' and then 'Enter a title:' &/or 'Performer:' In January 1997 Bowtell attended the CMAA College of Country Music, held over two weeks, in Tamworth ahead of its annual Country Music Festival where she won the Star Maker Quest for "Headed South". Following that win, she released two singles, "The One You Love" and "Searching for Jane" (both in 1997), the latter was co-written with Margie Mason. Note: For additional work user may have to select 'Search again' and then 'Enter a title:' &/or 'Performer:' In the next year Bowtell won the Female Vocal section of 1998 Victorian Country Music Awards. She continued to tour with Southern Steel until they disbanded in 2001. Bowtell then relocated to Central Coast, New South Wales.

2002–2006: Bella

Bowtell issued her debut solo album, ''Heart's in the Country'', on 30 September 2002 via Canberra's ACMEC label. In 2002 Bowtell joined friends Kate Ballantyne and Karen O'Shea to form country pop vocal trio,

Newcastle Newcastle usually refers to: *Newcastle upon Tyne, a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England *Newcastle-under-Lyme, a town in Staffordshire, England *Newcastle, New South Wales, a metropolitan area in Australia, named after Newcastle ...

. The group were active until 2006, they released a studio album, ''Gravity'' and won two Golden Guitar awards for Vocal Group or Duo of the Year in 2004 and 2005. The latter win was for "About a Girl", written by Bowtell. After Bella disbanded in 2006, Bowtell had a break from her music career and undertook a Bachelor of Music and Bachelor of Education degree at University of Newcastle.

2011–present: Solo Career, ''The Voice'' and Bennett Bowtell Urquhart

In 2011 Bowtell resumed her musical career, supporting

Beccy Cole Beccy Cole (born Rebecca Diane Thompson, 27 October 1972), also known as Beccy Sturtzel, Rebecca Diane Albeck and Bec O'Donovan, is an Australian country music singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. She has released ten studio albums, wi ...

on the latter's Australian tour, as a rhythm guitarist, backing singer and opening act. In March 2012 Bowtell released her second solo studio album, ''Secret Songs'', which was produced by Sean Rudd via WJO Distribution. The album track, "Sailing", featured vocals by American singer and folk legend,

Janis Ian Janis Ian (born Janis Eddy Fink; April 7, 1951) is an American singer-songwriter who was most commercially successful in the 1960s and 1970s. Her signature songs are the 1966/67 hit " Society's Child (Baby I've Been Thinking)" and the 1975 Top T ...

; the pair co-wrote the song. On the

ARIA Charts The ARIA Charts are the main Australian music sales charts, issued weekly by the Australian Recording Industry Association. The charts are a record of the highest selling songs and albums in various genres in Australia. ARIA became the offici ...

, ''Secret Songs'' peaked at No. 95 on the Top 100 Physical Albums, No. 8 on the Hitseekers Albums and No. 15 on the Country Albums. Lyn Bowtell (Cole Clark)

Bowtell's third album, ''Heart of Sorrow'', followed in July 2014. It was produced by Shane Nicholson and released via Maven /

Sony Music Entertainment 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 ...

. On the ARIA Charts, ''Heart of Sorrow'', reached No. 58 on the Top 100 Physical Albums, No. 6 on the Hitseekers Albums and No. 5 on the Country Albums. At the 2015 Golden Guitars,

, the singer-songwriter won Best Alternative Country Album for ''Heart of Sorrow''. She was also nominated for Best Female Artist and Vocal Collaboration of the Year. In 2015 Bowtell was appointed Artistic Director of the CMAA Academy of Country Music. Also in that year Bowtell formed the super-group, Bennett Bowtell Urquhart with Kevin Bennett (also in the Flood) on vocals and guitar and

. During 2016 she co-wrote "F U Cancer", a single by Catherine Britt featuring Bowtell,

Kasey Chambers Kasey Chambers (born 4 June 1976) is an Australian country singer-songwriter and musician born in Mount Gambier. She is the daughter of fellow musicians, Diane and Bill Chambers, and the younger sister of musician and producer, Nash Chambers. ...

Josh Pyke Joshua Jon Pyke (born 18 December 1977) is an Australian singer-songwriter, producer, musician and children's book author. Biography Josh Pyke is a prolific songwriter, with a successful and critically acclaimed career both domestically and ove ...

Wes Carr Wesley Dean "Wes" Carr (born 14 September 1982), also recording as Buffalo Tales, is an Australian singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, best known for winning the sixth season of ''Australian Idol'' in 2008. He released his first studi ...

and

Wendy Matthews Wendy Joan Matthews (born 13 January 1960) is a Canadian-born Australian singer-songwriter who has been a member of Models and Absent Friends and is a solo artist. She released Top 20 hit singles in the 1990s including "Token Angels", "Le ...

. Note: For additional work user may have to select 'Search again' and then 'Enter a title:' &/or 'Performer:' In January 2017 Bowtell was nominated for seven Golden Guitars at the Country Music Awards of Australia, five with her group Bennett, Bowtell & Urquhart and two for collaborations with

Adam Harvey Adam Harvey (born 21 December 1974) is an Australian country music singer. Harvey has sold over half a million records, has been nominated five times for an ARIA Music Award and has won nine golden guitars at the Country Music Awards of Austr ...

and with Britt. Bennett, Bowtell & Urquhart won Best Group or Duo and Best Alternative Album while Bowtell, Britt and Cole (et Al) won Vocal Collaboration. On 7 May 2017 Bowtell successfully auditioned for ''The Voice'' Australia (season six), with her version of "

Fields of Gold "Fields of Gold" is a song written and performed by English musician Sting. It first appeared on his fourth studio album, ''Ten Summoner's Tales'' (1993). The song was released as a single on 7 June 1993, reaching 16 on the UK Singles Chart an ...

", and had all four judges turn their chairs. Bowtell joined Team George, but was eliminated in the battle rounds with her rendition of "

Why Why may refer to: * Causality, a consequential relationship between two events * Reason (argument), a premise in support of an argument, for what reason or purpose * Grounding (metaphysics), a topic in metaphysics regarding how things exist in v ...

". She subsequently released a six-track EP, ''Calling You'' (September 2017), including the songs "Fields of Gold" and "Let It Be", which she had performed on ‘The Voice’. The EP peaked at No. 4 on the Hitseekers Albums and No. 13 on the Country Albums charts. In January 2019 Bennett, Bowtell & Urquhart were nominated for three Golden Guitars at the Country Music Awards of Australia and won Vocal Collaboration of the Year for "Every Hello". In September of that year Bowtell joined Luke O'Shea on the song "Sing Me a Story", which won both Vocal Collaboration and Heritage Song of the Year at the 2020 CMAA Awards. In April 2022, Bowtell was inducted into the 'Hands Of Fame' at Tamworth Country Music Festival. On 13 May 2022, Bowtell released her 4th solo album ''Wiser''. In January 2023 Bowtell was nominated for three Golden Guitar Awards at the Country Music Awards of Australia, in the Best Contemporary Album, Vocal Collaboration (with Shane Nicholson) and Best Female Artist categories for her ''Wiser'' album, winning the Award for Best Contemporary Album.

Personal life

Since June 2012 Lyn has lived in the

Hunter Valley The Hunter Region, also commonly known as the Hunter Valley, is a region of New South Wales, Australia, extending from approximately to north of Sydney. It contains the Hunter River and its tributaries with highland areas to the north and so ...

with partner, co-manager and co-writer Damon Morton, a singer-songwriter and live sound engineer.

Discography

Albums

Extended plays

Singles

Awards

APRA Awards

The APRA Awards 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". They commenced in 1982. ! , - ,

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 ...

, "Beautiful Liar" (Lyn Bowtell) , Song of the Year , , , -

Country Music Awards of Australia

The

(CMAA) (also known as the Golden Guitar Awards) 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 have been held annually since 1973. For awards won with Bella see

here Here is an adverb that means "in, on, or at this place". It may also refer to: Software * Here Technologies, a mapping company * Here WeGo (formerly Here Maps), a mobile app and map website by Here Television * Here TV (formerly "here!"), a TV ...

and those won with Bennett Bowtell Urquhart see

. (wins only) , - , 1995 , herself , Queensland 'Champion of Champions' , , - , 1997 , herself , Star Maker , , - , 2015 , ''Heart of Sorrow'' , Alternative Country Album of the Year , , - , 2017 , "F U Cancer" , Vocal Collaboration of the Year , , - , rowspan="2", 2020 , rowspan="2", "Sing Me a Story" , Vocal Collaboration of the Year , , - , Heritage Song of the Year , , - , 2023 , ''Wiser'' , Contemporary Country Album of the Year , , -

Tamworth Songwriters Awards

The Tamworth Songwriters Association (TSA) is an annual songwriting contest for original country songs, awarded in January at the

. They commenced in 1986. Lyn Bowtell has won one awards. (wins only) , - , 1998 , "Searching for Jane" by Lyn Bowtell and Margie Mason , New Songwriter Award , , -

References

External links

*
"Interview: Lyn Bowtell"
on ''Newcastle Live'' podcast, September 2016, retrieved 7 September 2021. {{DEFAULTSORT:Bowtell, Lyn 1970s births Living people Musicians from Queensland Australian country singers Australian women singer-songwriters Australian women guitarists