Leah Flanagan

Leah Flanagan is an Australian singer-songwriter and arts administrator from Darwin, Northern Territory, now based in Sydney. She has released several albums and has toured Australia with her music and as a part of festival ensembles.

Early life and education Flanagan identifies as Indigenous Australian due to her Aboriginal (Alyawarre) heritage.

Music career Flanagan has released several albums and has toured Australia with her music and as a part of festival ensembles. She has collaborated with Sinéad O'Connor, Meshell Ndegeocello, poet Sam Wagan Watson, The Black Arm Band, Paul Kelly and Ursula Yovich, and recorded a duet with Marlon Williams of Archie Roach’s "I’ve Lied".

Flanagan was invited by Deborah Conway to be part of her Song Trails project for the 2009 and 2011 Queensland Music Festivals, which led to her collaborating with Australian artists Peter Farnan (Boom Crash Opera), Robert Forster (The Go-Betweens) and Rebecca Barnard (Rebecca's Empire) to deliver a series of workshops and to perform concerts across regional Queensland.

Flanagan composed a show entitled Midnight Muses, based on the work of Brisbane poet Samuel Wagan Watson, for the Adelaide Cabaret Festival in 2011. It later appeared at the 2013 Sydney Festival.

She was invited to perform as a featured soloist in the first Australian production of Leonard Bernstein's MASS at the 2012 Adelaide Festival.

In late 2015 Flanagan was invited by Archie Roach to record a duet of his song "I've Lied" with Marlon Williams for the 25th Anniversary release of Charcoal Lane. Rolling Stone Australia gave the anniversary album four-and-a-half stars.

Arts administration In December 2019 Flanagan was appointed as national manager of the APRA AMCOS Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island Music Office.

In January 2020 Flanagan was appointed First Nations export producer at Sounds Australia. The role entails attending key international events such as SXSW, The Great Escape Festival, Folk Alliance International, and WOMEX, as well as establishing an international bursary program for Indigenous artists. Her first assignment in the role was attending the International Indigenous Music Summit in New Orleans, United States.

Television appearances Flanagan has appeared on the Australian TV music quiz shows Spicks & Specks and RocKwiz; on the latter performing Elvis Costello's Shipbuilding in a duet with composer David Bridie. Faboriginal and RocKwiz.

She has also appeared on the light comedy sports programme Marngrook Footy Show, performing a version of Stevie Wonder's For Once in My Life.

Collaborations and projects

Mission Songs Project Buried Country Songtrails Label: Leah Flanagan, Vitamin Formats: CD, Digital download

Released: 16 September 2016 Label: Leah Flanagan Formats: Digital download, streaming, Vinyl

Released: November 2017 Label: Leah Flanagan Formats: CD+Digital download, streaming

Released: 16 October 2020 Label: Leah Flanagan, Small Change Records Formats: Digital download, streaming, Vinyl

Extended plays + List of EPs, with selected details Title EP details Live at the Bella Union Released: May 2017 Label: Leah Flanagan Formats: Digital download, streaming

Awards and nominations National Indigenous Music Awards The National Indigenous Music Awards (NIMA) recognise contributions to the Northern Territory music industry. They commenced in 2004.

Colour by Number Album of the Year Footnotes