Roscoe James Irwin (born 21 February 1982) is a singer-songwriter, trumpetist and arranger/composer from

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

, Australia. He attended

Blackburn High School Blackburn High School is a public secondary school for both girls and boys in years 7 to 12 in Blackburn North, a suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, founded in 1956. The school has performed in prestigious music events such as The Victo ...

known for its music.

Biography

Born to a classical

soprano A soprano () is a type of classical female singing voice and has the highest vocal range of all voice types. The soprano's vocal range (using scientific pitch notation) is from approximately middle C (C4) = 261 Hz to "high A" (A5) = 880&n ...

mother, and a

folk Folk or Folks may refer to: Sociology *Nation *People * Folklore ** Folk art ** Folk dance ** Folk hero ** Folk music *** Folk metal *** Folk punk *** Folk rock ** Folk religion * Folk taxonomy Arts, entertainment, and media * Folk Plus or Fol ...

loving father, Irwin was raised in the

Dandenong Ranges The Dandenong Ranges (commonly just The Dandenongs) are a set of low mountain ranges, rising to 633 metres at Mount Dandenong, approximately east of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. The ranges consist mostly of rolling hills, steeply weathere ...

in Victoria. Irwin's musical life was born at home. At age 9, he was welcomed into a

Brady Bunch ''The Brady Bunch'' is an American sitcom created by Sherwood Schwartz that aired from September 26, 1969, to March 8, 1974, on ABC. The series revolves around a large blended family with six children. The show aired for five seasons and, after ...

-esque step-family of

brass Brass is an alloy of copper (Cu) and zinc (Zn), in proportions which can be varied to achieve different mechanical, electrical, and chemical properties. It is a substitutional alloy: atoms of the two constituents may replace each other with ...

players, pianists and conductors. Learning from his brother-in-law, Irwin showed early talent as an instrumentalist, and very quickly developed as a jazz trumpet player. Influenced by the greats like

Miles Davis Miles Dewey Davis III (May 26, 1926September 28, 1991) was an American trumpeter, bandleader, and composer. He is among the most influential and acclaimed figures in the history of jazz and 20th-century music. Davis adopted a variety of music ...

Clifford Brown Clifford Benjamin Brown (October 30, 1930 – June 26, 1956) was an American jazz trumpeter and composer. He died at the age of 25 in a car accident, leaving behind four years' worth of recordings. His compositions "Sandu", "Joy Spring", an ...

and

Louis Armstrong Louis Daniel Armstrong (August 4, 1901 – July 6, 1971), nicknamed "Satchmo", "Satch", and "Pops", was an American trumpeter and vocalist. He was among the most influential figures in jazz. His career spanned five decades and several era ...

. At age 15, Irwin was already working professionally as a

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...

and commercial trumpeter, playing pubs, restaurants and clubs in his hometown

. Since those early days, Irwin has never looked back. Aside from his solo career, he has ended up working as a multi-instrumentalist and sideman with artists like

Megan Washington Megan Alexanda Washington (born 7 January 1986) is an Australian musician and songwriter who has worked mononymously as Washington. Originally performing jazz music, her style shifted to indie pop and alternative rock. She has released three ...

Brooke Fraser Brooke Gabrielle Ligertwood (née Fraser; born 15 December 1983) better known by her maiden name Brooke Fraser, is a New Zealand singer and songwriter best known for her hit single " Something in the Water", released in 2010. Fraser released two ...

, Magnolia and

Tinpan Orange Tinpan Orange are an Indie folk band from Melbourne, Australia. They formed in 2005 after they were discovered busking on the streets of Darwin, Australia. The band is a trio of musicians, made up of Emily Lubitz as the lead singer and guitar ...

. His involvement with seminal Australian bands

The Cat Empire The Cat Empire are an Australian jazz/funk band, formed in Melbourne, Victoria, in 1999. For most of the band's duration, the core members were Felix Riebl (lead vocals, percussion), Harry James Angus (trumpet, vocals), Will Hull-Brown (drums), ...

and The Bamboos, to his highly ambitious

compositions Composition or Compositions may refer to: Arts and literature * Composition (dance), practice and teaching of choreography *Composition (language), in literature and rhetoric, producing a work in spoken tradition and written discourse, to include ...

and

arrangements In music, an arrangement is a musical adaptation of an existing composition. Differences from the original composition may include reharmonization, melodic paraphrasing, orchestration, or formal development. Arranging differs from orchestr ...

that have been performed by countless

big band A big band or jazz orchestra is a type of musical ensemble of jazz music that usually consists of ten or more musicians with four sections: saxophones, trumpets, trombones, and a rhythm section. Big bands originated during the early 1910s an ...

s and orchestras have cemented him in the Australian music industry. Most recently he has also added co-writer, arranger and producer credits to this list, for bands and artists like Lanu,

Felix Riebl Felix Riebl (born 1 May 1981) is a singer, songwriter, and composer based in Melbourne. He is the co-founder, band leader and principal songwriter of the internationally acclaimed band The Cat Empire, who have made multi-platinum albums, and are ...

, and The Bamboos.

Solo Project

Having suffered a clean break of heart in 2009, Irwin retreated to the

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

mountain town of

Nelson Nelson may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Nelson'' (1918 film), a historical film directed by Maurice Elvey * ''Nelson'' (1926 film), a historical film directed by Walter Summers * ''Nelson'' (opera), an opera by Lennox Berkeley to a lib ...

. After three weeks of late autumn cold, Irwin returned with a pocket full of songs, and soon after recorded 'The Hunting Road', with

producer Producer or producers may refer to: Occupations *Producer (agriculture), a farm operator *A stakeholder of economic production *Film producer, supervises the making of films **Executive producer, contributes to a film's budget and usually does not ...

John Castle ( The Bamboos,

) at The Shed studio in

. His debut album,"The Hunting Road" was released through Vitamin Records on 5 September 2011. Irwin then went on to independently release his first EP 'Wasted' in 2013, again with

John Castle. This time however it was recorded at the newly built Pick and Mix Studios in the Dandenong ranges with musician and producer Ben Edgar. The artwork for this release was created by Melbourne digital artist Kate Moon, the two collaborated and created a world of imagery inspired by his appreciation for the work of writers such as

Kazuo Koike was a prolific Japanese manga writer ( gensakusha), novelist, screenwriter, lyricist and entrepreneur. He is best known for his violent, artful ''seinen'' manga, notably ''Lone Wolf and Cub'' (with Goseki Kojima, 1970–6), '' Lady Snowblood'' ...

and

Haruki Murakami is a Japanese writer. His novels, essays, and short stories have been bestsellers in Japan and internationally, with his work translated into 50 languages and having sold millions of copies outside Japan. He has received numerous awards for his ...

. This art work is to be featured in the next 2 of Irwin's releases. He has toured the Australia playing his own solo shows and in support of some of Australia's great musical success stories such as Vance Joy,

Ella Hooper Ella Keighery Hooper (born 30 January 1983) is an Australian rock music singer-songwriter, radio presenter and TV personality. Hooper is the lead singer of Killing Heidi. The band formed in 1996 (when Ella was 13) and also featured her older bro ...

, and Julia Stone.

Band members

*Roscoe James Irwin – Vocals,

Keys Key or The Key may refer to: Common meanings * Key (cryptography), a piece of information that controls the operation of a cryptography algorithm * Key (lock), device used to control access to places or facilities restricted by a lock * Key (map ...

*Ben Edgar –

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 ...

, and Guitar *Leonard Grigoryan-

and Guitar *Alex Burkoy –

Mandolin A mandolin ( it, mandolino ; literally "small mandola") is a stringed musical instrument in the lute family and is generally plucked with a pick. It most commonly has four courses of doubled strings tuned in unison, thus giving a total of 8 ...

and

*Danny Farrugia – Kit and Percussion

Discography

*''1000 Nights'' Single (May 2011) *''The Hunting Road'' (September 2011) *"Wasted" (September 2013) * "1941" (October 2014) *"The Wild" (March 2015)

Other Projects

* The Bamboos

References

External links

Facebook Alberts Music Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Irwin, Roscoe Australian singer-songwriters 1984 births Living people 21st-century Australian singers People educated at Blackburn High School Musicians from Melbourne