Today’s Birthday, January 7: Megan Washington, Australian singer, songwriter, (1986 – ).
After the unearthing of Megan Washington by Triple J in 2008, her music continues to make its mark on the charts with her 2016 hit, Saint Lo, garnering one million streams via Spotify.
Washington recently wrapped up 2017 touring her fourth album around Australia accompanied by some of the country’s biggest orchestras.
Born Megan Alexandra Washington in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea she attended primary school there until 1996 when her family moved to Brisbane.
She pursued her interest in music at Queensland University of Technology and then studied jazz at the Queensland Conservatorium of Music.
Washington appeared on Australian Story in 2014 describing the struggles she endured while growing up with a debilitating stutter. She would later undergo years of speech therapy to help overcome and disguise the condition.
In 2007 Washington burst onto the national jazz scene alongside jazz pianist Sean Foran with her EP Night Light. The album won the 2008 Australian Jazz Bell Award for Best Australian Jazz Vocal Album.
Her musical style continued to evolve as she backed various musicians including blues and roots Old Man River and indie pop artist Ben Lee.
In 2008 she released her EP Clementine with her new band Washington and were announced as Triple J’s Unearthed winners with a spot at Melbourne’s Big Day Out.
The singer-songwriter further gained attention in 2009, winning the prestigious APRA/AMCOS Vanda & Young Songwriting Competition with the track How To Tame Lions.
A year later she won Best Female Artist and Breakthrough Artist at the Aria Music Awards 2010.
In 2015 she opened for Elton John in the Hunter Valley and toured solo nationally playing over 26 dates.
At the end of last year, Washington released the song Saint Lo as the first release from her as-yet unnamed new record. It became her first song to reach a million plays on Spotify.
In August 2017 she announced she would be touring her fourth album nationally with some of Australia’s best orchestras.
“Essentially these shows are decadent, extravagant album previews for my new record, which will be out next year. It’s going to be a sumptuous, romantic art party,” Washington told AAP in August.
Recently married to film director Nick Waterman, Washington is expecting her first child in February.
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