As APRA celebrates its 100th birthday, Alberts couldn’t be happier to see iconic Australian rock band INXS named this year’s Ted Albert Award recipients.
Named in honour of fourth generation Albert family member Ted Albert, the producer and entrepreneur widely acknowledged as the founding father of Australia’s rock and pop industry, the Ted Albert Award recognises outstanding services to Australian music. Previous recipients include AC/DC, Midnight Oil, Archie Roach, Kylie Minogue and Colin Hay.
Fifth-generation Albert family members (from left) Emily, David, Ingrid and Anna Albert, pictured with a historic image of their grandfather, Sir Alexis Albert – former APRA Chair and long-serving board member – shown to the right of David, at APRA’s 100th anniversary event at Sydney’s Hordern Pavilion.
Formed in Sydney in 1977 by the Farriss brothers Andrew, Jon and Tim alongside Garry Beers, Kirk Pengilly and the late Michael Hutchence, INXS would go on achieve global stardom, with seven US Top 10 singles including Need You Tonight, New Sensation and Never Tear Us Apart. Under the guidance of longtime manager Chris Murphy, INXS recorded an estimated 75 million global album sales.
INXS and APRA chair Jenny Morris (Image: Rick Clifford)
Accepting the award at this year’s APRA Awards ceremony before a packed house of musicians, producers and supporters, the band said:
“To get this particular award is kind of like the acknowledgment we always wanted. We always hoped ‘one day people will say we did this, and we mattered’.”
Added Jenny Morris, chair of APRA and a former backing vocalist with the band: “INXS are truly one-of-a-kind. Performing with them in the 1980s, at Wembley Stadium opening for Queen for the Listen Like Thieves tour across Europe, North America and Latin America, I saw firsthand the love and adoration they generated. From their compelling and timeless songwriting to their intoxicating performances, few bands have ever left people happily gasping for more the way INXS do.”
Hosted by Julia Zemiro, with guest presenters Bernard Fanning, Jessica Mauboy, Mark Coles Smith and Stella Donnelly, this year’s APRA Music Awards at Sydney’s Hordern Pavilion were the biggest yet.
The night’s big winners were Amyl and The Sniffers (from left: Bryce Wilson, Amy Taylor and Declan Mehrtens), who took home three awards. (Image: Rick Clifford)
Among the night’s winners were rockers Amyl and The Sniffers, who took home three awards including the coveted peer-voted APRA Song of the Year for Jerkin’; Guy Sebastian and co-writers Ned Houston and Robby De Sa won two accolades – Most Performed Australian Work and Most Performed Pop Work – for their hit Maybe; Sarah Aarons was awarded the International Recognition Award and Sia the Most Performed Australian Work Overseas for the third consecutive year for Unstoppable.
Formed in 1926 by six music publishers including Alberts’ then-managing director Frank Albert, APRA’s founding mission was to ensure songwriters, composers and publishers received payment whenever their music was performed. In 1997, APRA expanded to become APRA-AMCOS, administering mechanical royalties for records, tapes and emerging formats.
Today, APRA-AMCOS represents 128,000 music creators in Australia and New Zealand and operates under the careful guidance of CEO Dean Ormston and Morris.
(Feature image: Rick Clifford)
