Sia Kate Isobelle Furler (pronounced /ˈsiːə/) (born 18 December 1975), also known simply as Sia, is an Australian soulful jazz-styled pop singer and songwriter. At the 2009 ARIA Music Awards, she won the award for Best Music DVD and Some People Have Real Problems was nominated for Best Breakthrough Artist Album.[1] Sia received six nominations at the 2010 ARIA Music Awards and won Best Independent Release, Best Pop Release (for We Are Born) and Best Video (for Clap Your Hands).[2] She is noted for her work with Zero 7 and her three major label solo albums.

Career

Sia Furler, born in Adelaide, South Australia, was part of the Australian acid jazz and indie formation, Crisp, which released two albums, Word and the Deal and Delirium. Sia later released her own solo album entitled OnlySee in 1997 on a now-defunct independent record label. Furler did not achieve commercial success until her move to the United Kingdom where she embarked on a solo career.[citation needed]
[edit] Healing is Difficult

In 2000, Sia signed to the Sony Music sub-label DancePool and released her major-label debut, Healing is Difficult, an eclectic mix of R&B and jazz. The album included the underground club hits "Drink to Get Drunk" (remixed by Different Gear) and "Little Man". It also featured the single "Taken For Granted", a song containing a sample from Prokofiev's Dance of the Knights. The single reached #10 in the UK Singles Chart during June 2000.[3]

Part of Sia's success can be attributed to the UK garage remix of "Little Man" by Wookie. It still remains a popular song in nightclubs throughout the UK. Healing is Difficult received wide critical acclaim and led to Furler being hailed as the next Lauryn Hill or Nelly Furtado by certain sections of the music press[citation needed]. However, following record label conflicts, Sia left Sony Music and signed with Go! Beat Records, a subsidiary of UMG.
[edit] Colour the Small One

2003 saw Sia release an EP titled Don't Bring Me Down. This was used as the closing title track of the French film, 36 Quai des Orfèvres. Her second album, titled Colour the Small One, was released in Australia and Europe the following year. This downtempo album saw Sia employ a mixture of acoustic instruments and electronic backing in her material, which led to comparisons to artists such as Dido and Sarah McLachlan.[citation needed] It featured "The Bully", which was a collaboration with American musician Beck Hansen. Two further songs were co-written and produced, but have yet to be released. Colour the Small One, though, spawned the singles "Breathe Me" and "Where I Belong". The latter track was earmarked to appear on the soundtrack of the film Spider-Man 2, but owing to a record label conflict, its inclusion was withdrawn. In anticipation of this notable inclusion, the single of "Where I Belong" was packaged with a cover featuring Sia dressed in a Spider-Man costume.[4]

In early 2005, Sia parted company with Go! Beat Records, disappointed at the company's poor promotion of the album, and the failure of the label's U.S. counterpart to pick up the record. Meanwhile, "Breathe Me" was beginning to receive international notice with appearances on the series finale of the U.S. HBO television series Six Feet Under and the broadcast of the 2006 Victoria's Secret Fashion Show. The track had been licensed to Astralwerks (which also produces the Six Feet Under soundtracks), and based on positive feedback, the full license of Colour the Small One was picked up by Astralwerks and given an American release in early 2006.

Sia toured the U.S. throughout 2006, promoting the album and cross-promoting the Six Feet Under season five DVD release. The re-released 2006 U.S. album features four bonus tracks: "Broken Biscuit" (from the Don't Bring Me Down EP), "Sea Shells" (the B-side to "Breathe Me" in the UK) and two remixes of "Breathe Me" by Four Tet and Ulrich Schnauss.
[edit] Zero 7
Sia Furler and Zero 7 in a concert.

In addition to her solo career, Furler provided vocals for Zero 7 on their hit singles "Destiny" and "Distractions" from their debut album Simple Things. Zero 7's second album, When It Falls, featured Sia voicing "Somersault" and "Speed Dial No. 2". Their third album, The Garden (released May 2006), found six contributions from Furler, with two ("Throw it All Away" and "You're My Flame") released as singles in the UK and North America.
[edit] Lady Croissant, Some People Have Real Problems

In 2007, Sia had a prolific year in terms of releasing music, although she would not release her third full album until January 2008. On April 3, 2007, Sia's third LP (almost EP-ish) Lady Croissant was released in the U.S. It featured eight live songs and one new studio track ("Pictures"). In November 2007, Sia's four-song EP, Day Too Soon, was released on iTunes. It included the tracks "Day Too Soon", "Buttons", "The Girl You Lost to Cocaine", and a remix of "Day Too Soon" by Mock & Toof.

Sia's fourth LP (third proper), Some People Have Real Problems, was released in January 2008. The first single was "Day Too Soon". A video for the song "Buttons" can be found on YouTube, as well as many other live and studio videos. The song "Little Black Sandals" from the album was featured on the television show Private Practice in the season one episode, "In Which Addison Finds a Showerhead".

On 8 January 2008, Sia performed "The Girl You Lost to Cocaine" on Late Night with Conan O'Brien. The song has also been remixed by the likes of Sander van Doorn, Stonebridge and Jens O. The Sander van Doorn remix was a hit in the Netherlands, reaching the #11 spot in the Dutch Single Charts. Sia and her band members wore glow-in-the-dark costumes on Jimmy Kimmel Live! in January 2008, performing "Buttons" and "Breathe Me". The Mylo remix of "Breathe Me" was also repeatedly used in their nightly segment "Wall Street Crisis: Is Your Money Safe?" during the economic crisis of 2008-2009.

Sia's music video, "Soon We'll Be Found", was featured on the United States front page of the iTunes Music Store. Customers were able to download a high quality version of the video for free. It has garnered overall good reviews from customers, although the average rating as of 10 November 2008 is 3.5 stars.

Her cover of Ray Davies' "I Go to Sleep" has featured on the TV shows Dollhouse ("Gray Hour" episode) and Packed to the Rafters ("Perfect Bubble" episode).
[edit] Christina Aguilera

She has written songs with her bassist and regular co-writer Samuel Dixon[5] and Christina Aguilera for Christina's fourth studio album, Bionic. Sia confirmed on her website's blog to have created four "beautiful" songs. Sia and Aguilera share the same birthday. The album was released on June 8, 2010, and includes collaborations with M.I.A., Santigold, and Le Tigre. Three of the songs made it on the Bionic standard version ("I Am", "All I Need", "You Lost Me") and one song on the deluxe edition ("Stronger Than Ever"). Christina Aguilera herself called the productions "The heart of the record". Sia has also penned at least one track for the upcoming movie Burlesque, also performed by Aguilera.
[edit] We Are Born

Sia released her fifth studio album titled We Are Born on June 18, 2010.[6] The first single from the album is to be "Clap Your Hands".[7] A first track from this album, "You've Changed", was premiered on music blog, Sheena Beaston, on November 18, 2009.[8] "You've Changed" was originally co-written and released in 2008 by American DJ/producer Lauren Flax which was then re-recorded for Sia's 2010 album, We Are Born.

Sia performed some new material ("You've Changed", "The Co-Dependent" and "Clap Your Hands") during her 2009/2010 tours, from "We Are Born". "The Co-Dependent" was originally noted in 2008 to be part of a future 'Animated Pop Project' called "The H-Crusaders".

"You've Changed" has become Sia's highest charting single in Australia to date, and her first top 50 release, peaking at #31 and was played in the television show The Vampire Diaries. Her three other charting singles are "Buttons" (#67 in April 2009), "Soon We'll Be Found" (#87 in May 2009) and "Taken for Granted" (#100 in March 2002). "You've Changed" also placed 72nd in the Triple J Hottest 100, 2009, even only being available since December 2009, followed shortly after by "Buttons" (CSS Remix) in 50th place.[9]

At the 2010 ARIA Music Awards the album was recognized with awards for Best Pop Release and Best Independent Release. Kris Moyes won best video for Sia's video for Clap Your Hands.[10] The album was also nominated for Album of the Year, and Clap Your Hands was nominated for Single of the Year.[2]
[edit] Covers and other contributions

On November 25, 2005, Sia recorded a duet with fellow Australian singer Katie Noonan, a member of Brisbane-based band George. The song, entitled "Sweet One", was supposed to be included on the respective artists' solo albums in 2007 but has not appeared on the track listings of either Sia's Some People Have Real Problems or Noonan's Skin.[11] A tweet via Sia's Twitter account, @siamusic in late 2009 confirmed the duet "Sweet One" is to appear on the Katie Noonan and the Captain's forthcoming album in 2010, Emperor's Box.

In 2006, Sia recorded a cover version of Radiohead's "Paranoid Android", which appeared on the tribute album, Exit Music: Songs with Radio Heads. The song also appeared in an episode of teen drama The O.C..

Sia provides backing vocals on The Bird and the Bee's cover version of the Bee Gees's "How Deep Is Your Love", which appears on the soundtrack for the Sex and the City film. She also collaborated with Lior on his album, Corner of an Endless Road on the song "I'll Forget You".

In August 2008, "Breathe Me" was licensed to Coles Supermarkets Australia and appeared in their commercial airing during coverage of the 2008 Beijing Olympics. In October 2008, she performed 2 songs on the BBC2 TV show, Later with Jools Holland: "Buttons" and "Soon We'll Be Found". Sia's song "Breathe Me" is used as the backing music for the Tokyo Games Show trailer of the video game Prince of Persia, published by Ubisoft in 2008, as well as the movie The Ultimate Gift.

In 2009, Sia contributed to Flight of the Conchords' second LP, "I Told You I Was Freaky" singing the backing vocals on "Carol Brown" and "You don't have to be a Prostitute". Sia appeared on the Swedish singer Peter Jöback's album "East side stories" on the cover song duet "wicked game", originally written by Chris Isaak. Sia provides guest vocals on the song "Never So Big" on David Byrne and Fatboy Slim's concept album Here Lies Love released in 2010.

Her cover of The Church song "Under the Milky Way" was used in a Lincoln MKT car commercial, and on January 26, 2010, was released to the iTunes store.

Sia has also performed cover versions of Britney Spears's "Gimme More", Cyndi Lauper's "Time After Time", and Grease's "You're The One That I Want" - a duet with Beck.

Sia's new album also contains a cover of the Madonna song "Oh Father".

In 2010, Sia contributed a song to the soundtrack of the third installment of The Twilight Saga pentalogy, titled "My Love". The album debuted at number two on the U.S. Billboard 200 albums chart.

In 2008, Sia talked about her bisexuality in interviews with Scotland on Sunday and AfterEllen.com saying, "I've always been open about it. People are making a fuss of it now because I'm getting successful". She is included on a list of openly gay entertainers in The Advocate's "Forty under 40" issue of June/July 2009.[12] In 2009 she was also recognised as one of the most influential gay and lesbian Australians in the annual SameSame 25 poll.[13] Currently, she is dating JD Samson from Le Tigre.

Sia, who is also a vegetarian, has recently done an advertisement with her dog Pantera for PETA Australia, urging animal lovers to spay and neuter their pets. She encourages people to desex their pets to prevent the breeding of countless unwanted animals who are then dumped at animal shelters.[14]

A few days prior to the release of her album We Are Born, Sia's official site announced that all forthcoming promotional events and live shows were canceled due to health reasons.[15] A day later, Sia confirmed suffering from Graves' disease on her Twitter account.[16] Sia is currently focusing on recuperating.

Albums:

2001 - Healing Is Difficult
2004 - Colour the Small One
2008 - Some People Have Real Problems
2010 - We Are Born

Live Album:
2007 - Lady Croissant (Torrent file included)