Blake O'Connor is an Australian

country music Country (also called country and western) is a popular music, music genre originating in the southern regions of the United States, both the American South and American southwest, the Southwest. First produced in the 1920s, country music is p ...

singer and songwriter. He released his debut studio album ''Everything I Feel'' in July 2019, which landed at #1 ARIA Australian Country Charts and peaked at number 31 on the all genres international

ARIA Albums Chart 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 ...

Biography

2000–2015: Early life and career beginnings

Blake O'Connor was born in

Windsor, New South Wales Windsor is a historic town in north-western Sydney in New South Wales, Australia. It is the council Seat of government, seat of the City of Hawkesbury, Hawkesbury Local government in Australia, local government area. The town sits on the Hawkesb ...

, before moving with his family to Bathurst and

Port Macquarie Port Macquarie, sometimes shortened to Port Mac and commonly locally nicknamed Port, is a coastal city on the Mid North Coast of New South Wales, Australia, north of Sydney, and south of Brisbane, on the Tasman Sea coast at the mouth of the ...

. His grandparents gifted him an acoustic guitar for his sixth birthday. At 14, Blake had his first gig at a wedding which inspired his first song he wrote especially for the occasion. In 2015, he was a featured artist in the NSW School's Spectacular in Sydney and then made the decision to leave school to focus full-time on music.

2016–2020: ''Everything I Feel''

In January 2017, O'Connor visited

Tamworth, New South Wales Tamworth is a city and administrative centre of the north-eastern 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 ...

and won the Mount Franklin talent quest, the Capitol Country Music Association male vocal category, the Coca-Cola country best youngster in Tamworth and performed three times on the Peel Street stage and once on the ABC stage. Later in 2017, O'Connor entered and won the Coca-Cola Country competition and CCMA Junior talent quest, receiving a scholarship to attend the CMAA Academy. In June 2018, O'Conner self-released his debut, self-titled

extended play An extended play (EP) is a Sound recording and reproduction, musical recording that contains more tracks than a Single (music), single but fewer than an album. Contemporary EPs generally contain up to eight tracks and have a playing time of 1 ...

. In January 2019, O'Connor became the 40th winner of the Toyota Star Maker 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, Tamworth, New South Wales. The f ...

. In July 2019, O'Connor released his debut studio album ''Everything I Feel'' which he said "it's about everything I've been through in the last year with my emotions and experience." The album debuted at number 1 on the ARIA Country Album Chart and 31 on the ARIA All-Genre Charts. In September 2019, O'Connor released "Worth a Little More" as the album's second single, along with its video.

2021–present: ''Finding Light''

In February 2021, O'Connor released "Willin' and Ready", followed by "Soul Feeling" in July 2021. Both singles are from his forthcoming second studio album, ''Finding Light''. The album was announced in January 2023, with a release date of 10 March 2023.

Discography

Albums

Extended plays

Singles

Other appearances

Awards

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 Wale ...

(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. ! , - , rowspan="2", 2020 , , Blake O'Connor , , Male Artist of the Year , , , , rowspan="2", , - , "Worth a Little More" by Blake Connor , New Talent of the Year ,

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:OConnor, Blake Living people Australian country singer-songwriters Australian country guitarists Musicians from New South Wales 21st-century Australian singers 21st-century Australian guitarists 21st-century Australian male singers Australian male guitarists 2000 births Australian male singer-songwriters 21st-century Australian singer-songwriters