This is Amity.
After growing up in the church choir, she decided her destiny was to be a singer. Amity wrote her first song ‘Never-ending Love’ for her Grade 6 crush, and at 14 sent off cassette tapes to record studios so they would give her a deal.
Cassette tape demos = that is so cute.
It was heaps of effort recording demos on your bedroom floor – it’s not like I had YouTube. A few weeks later, Sony called my school to talk to me. I had my negotiation hat on ready for the offer, but all they said was ‘We think you’re great – keep going’. I was gutted, I thought I’d have a record deal by 15.
Lying got you a job at piano bar at 16 (above), ambition had you move alone to Sydney at 17, love had you marry your manager like Celine Dion and then boredom got you on TV –
Yes, I got bored one day so applied to be a contestant on a new reality show. I hadn’t told Phil about it, so when they called to say we had an audition we were both like ‘meh’. Then the producer promised he would get me a record deal if we said yes to the show so.. yes it was.
So, you were on first series of The Block (later becoming an All Star) AND you got that recording deal?
Wiithin 6 months of The Block, I had my record deal. My album The Lighthouse went to #6 in the ARIA charts and I was performing for thousands of people. So, by 25 I had my dreams all done and ticked.
You also wrote a cabaret show on your own –
I wanted to make light of motherhood, so while preggo with #2, I wrote a cabaret show about it – going to the toilet with a kid on my lap, how boring playgrounds are etc. It was the first time I had been ‘funny’ on stage and it went gangbusters! The show has since toured Australia, gotten into the New York Musical Festival, got a run in Norway and is in development for a UK tour next year.
Mate you are impressive, you backed yourself so hard…
Self-doubt is a killer. I have it in moments, but I refuse to let it be the loudest voice. It can be in the backseat, but it doesn’t get to navigate.
And now you’ve got a show at the Melb International Comedy Fest?
I had insomnia one night and wrote the cabaret show 39 Forever. I love comedy with truth behind it, so I am brutally honest about all the things that suck about growing-up. Like neck wrinkles. And the idea that women become invisible after 40. It sold out 15 shows at Adelaide Fringe Fest last year, two weeks before its debut. I can’t wait to come to Melbourne for it.
What is good about getting older?
I know who I am now and don’t give a sh*t about what people think. The second I turned 40, I let it all go. And it’s so freeing. It nearly makes up for the neck wrinkles.
See Amity’s show 39 Forever at the Comedy Festival from 18 – 22 April @ Chaps off Chaps
