Greg Champion is an Australian songwriter, guitarist, radio personality and athlete.

Biography

Born in

Benalla Benalla is a small city located on the Broken River gateway to the High Country north-eastern region of Victoria, Australia, about north east of the state capital Melbourne. At the the population was 10,822. It is the administrative cent ...

, Victoria, Champion is most recognised for his work as part of the

Coodabeen Champions The Coodabeen Champions'' (often referred to as "The Coodabeens") are an Australian comedy team with radio programs broadcast on the ACE Radio Network in Melbourne on 1377AM 3MP and sell as across regional Victoria and Southern New South Wales. ...

as a songwriter and guitarist. Greg often appears on the program writing songs about both Aussies rules football and cricket. He is an avid Australian rules football fan, supporting the

Adelaide Crows The Adelaide Crows (officially the Adelaide Football Club) are a professional Australian rules football team based in Adelaide, South Australia. Founded in 1990. The Crows has fielded a men's team in the Australian Football League (AFL) since ...

and since the 1980s has penned many tunes on the Australian game. Of these, the most famous is " That's the Thing About Football", which has gone down as a classic Australian rules song, and has been used on

Seven Network The Seven Network (commonly known as Channel Seven or simply Seven) is a major Australian commercial free-to-air television network. It is owned by Seven West Media Limited, and is one of five main free-to-air television networks in Australia ...

's Australian Football League coverage. Greg Champion grew up in Hectorville, a suburb of the South Australian capital,

Adelaide Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...

. Beginning in 1983, Champion has appeared on ABC Local Radio as part of the Coodabeens team, singing parodies of popular songs and relating them to Australian rules footballers. Champion has written hundreds of songs (many serious, many humorous) and is a multi-awarded country/folk singer, who after being discovered in the Catacombs (an Adelaide folk club of the 1970s), went on to form the band Tidewater before launching a successful solo career. Champion's highest-selling album is the 1995 released '' Aussie Christmas with Bucko & Champion'' with Australian country music star Colin Buchanan. In 1998, a sequel to '' Aussie Christmas with Bucko & Champion 2'' was released featuring 25 Christmas-themed songs. In 2006, his song "Been There, Done That" peaked at number 4 on the Country Music Chart, having been released that year as part of ''The Shack Tapes''. In 2009, Greg released his album ''Strayana''. In 2010, Champion was awarded Victorian Male Vocalist in the Victorian Country Music Awards for his song "this was my town (Marysville)". In 2012, just prior to heading off to his 22nd

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 ...

, he surprised many with his ''Emergence'' CD which had a wide range of musical styles of 11 original songs. In 2017, Champion headlined the All Star Musical Comedy Showcase'' at the

Melbourne International Comedy Festival The Melbourne International Comedy Festival (MICF) is the largest stand-alone comedy festival and the second-largest international comedy festival in the world. Established in 1987, it takes place annually in Melbourne over four weeks, typicall ...

.''

Discography

Studio albums

Compilation albums

Charting singles

Awards and recognition

Champion was awarded the 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 Gov ...

(OAM) in the 2022 Queen's Birthday Honours.

ARIA Music Awards

The ARIA Music Awards are a set of annual ceremonies presented by

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 ...

(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.

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 ...

(CMAA) (also known as the Golden Guitar Awards) is an annual awards night held in January during the

, celebrating recording excellence in the Australian country music industry. They have been held annually since 1973. (wins only) , - , 1994 , "May Your Fridge Be Full of Coldies" , Video Track 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. Greg Champion has won two awards. (wins only) , - , 1994 , "May Your Fridge Be Full of Coldies" by Greg Champion , Comedy/ Novelty Song of the Year , , - , 1996 , "Don't Call Wagga Wagga, Wagga" by Greg Champion and Jim Haynes , Comedy/ Novelty Song of the Year ,

References

External links

Greg Champion siteCoodabeen Champions Official Site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Champion, Greg Australian songwriters Living people Musicians from Adelaide Year of birth missing (living people) ABC radio (Australia) journalists and presenters Radio personalities from Melbourne Recipients of the Medal of the Order of Australia