Grace Ethel Knight (born 23 December 1955) is an English-born Australian

vocalist Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or withou ...

saxophone The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of Single-reed instrument, single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed (mouthpi ...

player and

songwriter A songwriter is a musician who professionally composes musical compositions or writes lyrics for songs, or both. The writer of the music for a song can be called a composer, although this term tends to be used mainly in the classical music ...

. During the 1980s she was a mainstay of

Indie pop Indie pop (also typeset as indie-pop or indiepop) is a music genre and subculture that combines guitar pop with DIY ethic in opposition to the style and tone of mainstream pop music. It originated from British post-punk in the late 1970s and s ...

group

Eurogliders Eurogliders are a band formed in 1980 in Perth, Western Australia, which included Grace Knight on Singing, vocals, Bernie Lynch on guitar and vocals, and Amanda Villepastour, Amanda Vincent on keyboards. * First edition (online copy): * Secon ...

which formed in

Perth Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth is ...

, Western Australia. Knight later became a solo

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 m ...

singer and musician based in

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 Mounta ...

. In 1984, Eurogliders released an Australian top ten album, '' This Island'', NOTE: Used for Australian Singles and Albums charting from 1970 until

ARIA In music, an aria ( Italian: ; plural: ''arie'' , or ''arias'' in common usage, diminutive form arietta , plural ariette, or in English simply air) is a self-contained piece for one voice, with or without instrumental or orchestral accompa ...

created their own

charts A chart (sometimes known as a graph) is a graphical representation for data visualization, in which "the data is represented by symbols, such as bars in a bar chart, lines in a line chart, or slices in a pie chart". A chart can represent tabu ...

in mid-1988. which spawned their No. 2 hit single, " Heaven (Must Be There)". "Heaven" also peaked at No. 21 on the United States' ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large adverti ...

Mainstream Rock Mainstream rock (also known as heritage rock) is a radio format used by many commercial radio stations in the United States and Canada. Format background Mainstream rock stations represent the middle ground between classic rock and active ro ...

charts and appeared on the

Hot 100 The ''Billboard'' Hot 100 is the music industry standard record chart in the United States for songs, published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine. Chart rankings are based on sales (physical and digital), radio play, and online streaming ...

. The song, written by Eurogliders'

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 string ...

ist, Bernie Lynch, and vocals by Knight, was their only hit in United States. Knight and Lynch married in 1985 but separated soon after. Another Australian top ten album, '' Absolutely'', followed for Eurogliders in 1985, which provided three further local top ten singles, "We Will Together", "The City of Soul" and "Can't Wait to See You". Since Eurogliders disbanded in 1989, Knight has had a successful career as a jazz singer. Knight made a

cameo appearance A cameo role, also called a cameo appearance and often shortened to just cameo (), is a brief appearance of a well-known person in a work of the performing arts. These roles are generally small, many of them non-speaking ones, and are commonly ei ...

in the 1990 TV series '' Come In Spinner''''Come In Spinner''

ABC Records ABC Records was an American record label founded in New York City in 1955. It originated as the main popular music label operated by the Am-Par Record Corporation. Am-Par also created the Impulse! jazz label in 1960. It acquired many labels bef ...

Discogs Discogs (short for discographies) is a database of information about audio recordings, including commercial releases, promotional releases, and bootleg or off-label releases. While the site was originally created with a goal of becoming the ...

and sang on its

soundtrack A soundtrack is recorded music accompanying and synchronised to the images of a motion picture, drama, book, television program, radio program, or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrac ...

, '' Come in Spinner'', recorded with jazz artist

Vince Jones Vincent Hugh Jones (born 24 March 1954) is an Australian jazz singer, songwriter, and trumpet, flugelhorn and flumpet player. His music includes both original material and new contemporary versions of jazz standards. His themes are often lov ...

, which peaked at No. 4 on the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) albums charts. This launched a new career for Knight, with her first solo album, '' Stormy Weather'', which peaked at No. 16 in 1991. Other solo albums followed, ''Gracious'' in 1993, ''Live'' in 1996 and ''Zeitgeist'' in 2000. Eurogliders briefly reformed with Lynch and Knight in 2005 to release two additional albums by 2007. Knight returned to her solo career and released ''Willow'' in 2008.

Life and career

Grace Knight was born in 1955 in

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The ...

, England. She performed as a cabaret singer in folk clubs from 1976. She competed in a semi-final of a national talent quest as a duo and consequently travelled to

Dubai Dubai (, ; ar, wikt:دبي, دبي, translit=Dubayy, , ) is the List of cities in the United Arab Emirates#Major cities, most populous city in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the capital of the Emirate of Dubai, the most populated of the 7 ...

to perform, where she met

Martha Reeves Martha Rose Reeves (born July 18, 1941) is an American R&B and pop singer. She is the lead singer of the Motown girl group Martha and the Vandellas which scored over a dozen hit singles, including " Come and Get These Memories", " Nowhere to R ...

and the Vandellas. In 1977, she obtained a gig on a cruise ship to

, Western Australia, her set included covering

Harry Nilsson Harry Edward Nilsson III (June 15, 1941 – January 15, 1994), sometimes credited as Nilsson, was an American singer-songwriter who reached the peak of his commercial success in the early 1970s. His work is characterized by pioneering vocal ov ...

's ''

A Little Touch of Schmilsson in the Night ''A Little Touch of Schmilsson in the Night'' is a 1973 album of classic 20th-century standards sung by American singer Harry Nilsson. The album was arranged by Frank Sinatra's arranger Gordon Jenkins, and produced by Derek Taylor. This album ...

'' and performed twice a night for six weeks.

Eurogliders (1980–1989)

Knight relocated to

, Western Australia, in 1977 where she performed in a number of local bands. She met

ist and singer Bernie Lynch who fronted a new wave band, Rip Torn and the Stockings, in the late 1970s. They became

domestic partner A domestic partnership is a legal relationship, usually between couples, who live together and share a common domestic life, but are not married (to each other or to anyone else). People in domestic partnerships receive benefits that guarantee ...

s and together formed the band Living Single in 1980 with Crispin Akerman on guitar, Don Meharry on

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 ...

, Guy Slingerland on

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair of matching drumsticks ...

and Amanda Vincent on keyboards. By 1981, drummer John Bennetts replaced Slingerland and the band changed their name to Eurogliders; domestically, Knight and Lynch had separated. Eurogliders' second album, '' This Island'', was released in May 1984 and peaked at No. 4 on the Australian

Kent Music Report The Kent Music Report was a weekly record chart of Australian music singles and albums which was compiled by music enthusiast David Kent (historian), David Kent from May 1974 through to January 1999. The chart was re-branded the Australian Music ...

albums chart. The single " Heaven (Must Be There)", written by Lynch and also released in May, reached No. 2 on the Australian singles charts, No. 65 on the US ''

chart and No. 21 on its

Mainstream Rock Tracks Mainstream Rock is a music chart in '' Billboard'' magazine that ranks the most-played songs on mainstream rock radio stations in the United States, a category that combines the formats of active rock and heritage rock. The chart was launched in ...

chart. The album peaked at No. 140 on the ''Billboard'' 200 chart. At the height of the band's success, Knight and Lynch reconciled their relationship and were married in 1985 but the union was short-lived. Despite their marital separation, they stayed together in the band for another four years. In Australia, "Heaven" was followed by three more top 10 hits. Between 1984 and 1986, Eurogliders toured Australia, the US, Canada, Puerto Rico, Japan and New Zealand. Further albums followed, but late in 1989, the Eurogliders had a 'hiatus' due to Grace's new found Jazz success.

Solo career: 1990–present

After Eurogliders disbanded in 1989, Knight sang backing vocals in the Tania Bowra Band, and made a cameo appearance as Lola, a 1940s night club singer, in the 1990 Australian Broadcasting Corporation TV series '' Come In Spinner''. She also sang on its soundtrack album, '' Vince Jones & Grace Knight: Come in Spinner'', produced by

Martin Armiger John Martin Armiger (10 June 1949 – 27 November 2019) was an Australian musician, record producer and composer. He was one of the singer-songwriters and guitarists with Melbourne-based rock band the Sports from August 1978 to late 1981, whic ...

, recorded with jazz musician

with arrangements by

William Motzing William Edward Motzing Jr. (August 19, 1937January 30, 2014) was an American composer, conductor, arranger and trombonist best known for the award-winning film and television scores and gold and platinum pop album arrangements he wrote in Australi ...

and Derek Williams. The album earned platinum sales and peaked at No. 4 on the

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 replac ...

(ARIA) albums charts. It included jazz standards with half the tracks having lead vocals by Jones, including a single, "I've Got You Under My Skin". Two singles with lead vocals by Knight were also released, "The Man I Love" and "Sophisticated Lady", and this started a new career for Knight as a jazz singer. Her first solo album, '' Stormy Weather'', produced by Larry Muhoberac, was released in October 1991 and peaked at No. 16. Her debut solo single, "Fever", was released in September 1991 but did not peak into the top 50 singles charts. At the 1992

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 ...

, ''Stormy Weather'' was nominated for Best Adult Contemporary Album and Peter Cobbin was nominated for Engineer of the Year for his work on four of its tracks. Knight's second solo album, ''Gracious'', appeared in November 1993. It contained "big, brassy and busy arrangements of standards" and included work by 43 session musicians. This album also did not peak into the ARIA top 50, but was nominated for Best Adult Contemporary Album in

1994 File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which sank in the Baltic Sea; Nels ...

. Other solo albums followed, with ''Live'' in 1996 and ''Zeitgeist'' in 2000. In November 2002, women of

Marin County, California Marin County is a county located in the northwestern part of the San Francisco Bay Area of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 262,231. Its county seat and largest city is San Rafael. Marin County is acros ...

, spelled out the words "No War" with their nude bodies protesting against the proposed invasion of Iraq by a coalition which included Australian troops. This inspired Knight to organise a similar protest in a paddock outside her hometown of Federal near

Byron Bay Byron Bay (Minjungbal: ''Cavvanbah)'' is a beachside town located in the far-northeastern corner of the state of New South Wales, Australia on Bundjalung Country. It is located north of Sydney and south of Brisbane. Cape Byron, a headla ...

on 8 February 2003. Knight justified the protest: Knight indicated that she had been writing lyrics for a forthcoming album with Lynch, when her frustration at the Howard Government's plans to invade Iraq interrupted her concentration. Knight rallied female friends via chain e-mails. Needing 67 women for the wording of "No War", ultimately 750 showed up. Eurogliders reformed in October 2005 with Knight and Bernie Lynch using session musicians and released their fifth studio album. Simply called ''Eurogliders'', the album did not peak into the ARIA top 50 charts. NOTE: Information supplied by

shows that Eurogliders has no Top 50 charting albums or singles since they started their

in mid-1988. Eurogliders started touring again in April 2006 and performed on the

Countdown Spectacular The ''Countdown Spectacular'' is a series of concerts reviving the nostalgia of the Australian music television series ''Countdown''. Countdown Spectacular The first tour was staged from June to August 2006. It featured mainly Australian artists a ...

during June to August, which was a nostalgic tour of Australian bands from the 1970s and 1980s, as featured on the pop television show ''

Countdown A countdown is a sequence of backward counting to indicate the time remaining before an event is scheduled to occur. NASA commonly employs the terms "L-minus" and "T-minus" during the preparation for and anticipation of a rocket launch, and ev ...

'' with its host

Ian "Molly" Meldrum Ian Alexander "Molly" Meldrum AM (born 29 January 1943) is an Australian music critic, journalist, record producer and musical entrepreneur. He was the talent co-ordinator, on-air interviewer, and music news presenter on the former popular mus ...

. The Eurogliders' sixth album, ''Blue Kiss'', was recorded during the same sessions as the previous and was released in 2007 but also had no top 50 charting. In 2008, Knight returned to her solo career and released ''Willow'', which was nominated for Best Jazz Album at the

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

ARIA Music Awards. On 17 July 2009, Knight performed at the Press Gallery Mid-Winter Ball attended by federal politicians, including Australian prime minister,

Kevin Rudd Kevin Michael Rudd (born 21 September 1957) is an Australian former politician and diplomat who served as the 26th prime minister of Australia from 2007 to 2010 and again from June 2013 to September 2013, holding office as the leader of the ...

, and Canberra journalists. Patrons of the function paid up to $20,000 each and raised $250,000 for various charities.

Personal life

Knight's 1977 gig on a cruise ship from London was to visit her sister, who was living in

, Western Australia. Her sister introduced Knight to future bandmate, domestic partner and husband, Bernie Lynch. Knight separated from Lynch in 1986 and has been married two further times. She has a son, born in 1987.

Bibliography

Discography

Albums

Singles

Awards and nominations

ARIA Music Awards

The

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 ...

. Knight has been nominated for seven awards. , - , rowspan="3",

1991 File:1991 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Boris Yeltsin, elected as Russia's first president, waves the new flag of Russia after the 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, orchestrated by Soviet hardliners; Mount Pinatubo erupts in the Phi ...

, Grace Knight ,

ARIA Award for Best Female Artist The ARIA Music Award for Best Female Artist, 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 Indu ...

, , - , ''Come in Spinner'' ,

ARIA Award for Best Original Soundtrack, Cast or Show Album The ARIA Music Award for Best Original Soundtrack / Cast / Show Album is an award presented within the Fine Arts Awards at the annual ARIA Music Awards. The ARIA Awards recognise "the many achievements of Aussie artists across all music genres ...

, , - , ''Come in Spinner'' ,

ARIA Award for Best Adult Contemporary Album The ARIA Music Award for Best Adult Contemporary 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 Recor ...

, , - , rowspan="2",

1992 File:1992 Events Collage V1.png, From left, clockwise: Riots break out across Los Angeles, California after the police beating of Rodney King; El Al Flight 1862 crashes into a residential apartment building in Amsterdam after two of its engin ...

, ''Stormy Weather'' ,

, , - , Peter Cobbin for Grace Knight's "Crazy", "Fever", "Stormy Weather" & "That Ole Devil Called Love" , ARIA Award for Engineer of the Year , , - ,

, ''Gracious'' , Best Adult Contemporary Album , , - ,

, ''Willow'' ,

ARIA Award for Best Jazz Album The ARIA Music Award for Best Jazz Album is an award presented within the Fine Arts Awards at the annual ARIA Music Awards. The award for Best Jazz Album was first presented in 1987, when George Golla Orchestra, received a trophy for their album ...

, , - ,

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the Impeachment of Dilma Rousseff, impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses duri ...

, ''Keep Cool Fool'' , ARIA Award for Best Jazz Album , , -

Countdown Australian Music Awards

'' was an Australian pop music TV series on national broadcaster ABC-TV from 1974 to 1987, it presented music awards from 1979 to 1987, initially in conjunction with magazine ''

TV Week ''TV Week'' is a weekly Australian magazine that provides television program listings information and highlights, as well as television-related news. Content ranges from previews for upcoming storylines of popular television programs, particu ...

''. The TV Week / Countdown Awards were a combination of popular-voted and peer-voted awards. , - , 1984 , Grace Knight , Most Popular Female Performer , , - , 1986 , Grace Knight , Most Popular Female Performer , , -

References

External links

Official website
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Knight, Grace 1955 births Living people Australian women singers Australian jazz singers Australian new wave musicians English emigrants to Australia English new wave musicians Women new wave singers Musicians from Western Australia