No doubt Kasey Chambers is the Australian female country music artist best known to U.S. fans. However, a number of other artists constantly challenge Kasey’s pre-eminent position in Australian country music. One of these artists is Beccy Cole, a dynamic performer whose talented and energetic performances have given great enjoyment to the fans and taken her to the very top in Australian country music.

Beccy was born Rebecca Diane Thompson on 27^th. October 1972 at Glenelg in the Australian State of South Australia - the daughter of country music artist, Carole Sturtzel. She was raised in the Adelaide Hills just outside Adelaide, the capital of  that State.

As a child, Beccy would listen to the music of the day and grew to like country music and blues, as well as 50’s and 60’s Rock ‘n Roll. Her favourite artist and main inspiration was Dolly Parton, and she was also influenced by the music of Nancy Griffiths and Tina Turner as well as several Australian country music singers. At the age of 14, Beccy joined her mother’s country music band.

Beccy played venues in her home State, but expanded her horizons in 1991 when she became a member of the Chambers’ family band, `Dead Ringer Band’ to play interstate venues including the Tamworth Country Music Festival. (Band members Bill and Kasey Chambers both later gained international recognition for their work).

In 1992, Beccy made her initial individual mark on the country music scene when she won the Star Maker Quest at Tamworth. Beccy soon won a recording contract. In 1993, her debut single, `Fooling Around’ won Beccy her first Golden Guitar – Best New Talent - at the Tamworth CMAA Awards.

Beccy always loved travelling Australia playing country music, first with her mother and then in her own right. Travelling the Outback, Beccy would often sleep under the stars to savour the atmosphere of the remote areas of Outback Australia. She would mix with the locals to gain an appreciation of life and the hardships sometimes experienced in the bush – the fires, the floods, and the droughts. Beccy’s Outback performances also embraced the Aboriginal communities in Western Australia and the Northern Territory.

In 1998, Beccy released her first album, self titled `Beccy Cole’. Hits from the album were `Skip A Stone’ and `Big Girls’. Beccy then teamed up with fellow young country music artists Adam Harvey, Darren Coggan, Felicity Urquhart and Stephenie Grant as the `Young Stars of Country’. Stephenie had replaced former group member, Adam Brand, who had gone solo.

The `Young Stars of Country’ played the club circuit throughout Australia and proved to be very popular. In 2001, Beccy won the CMAA Golden Guitar for a vocal collaboration of Dolly Parton’s `Do I Ever Cross Your Mind’ with fellow group members, Darren Coggan, Adam Harvey and Felicity Urquhart. This song was a track from Beccy’s second album `Wild At Heart’. The album also included the hit `Storm in a D Cup’ as well as a duet Beccy recorded with her mother, Carole Sturtzel - `Mother Knows Best’. Assisting Beccy with this album were local country music artists Kasey Chambers, Gina Jeffries, Tamara Stewart, and Carol Young (later with The Greencards). The album was produced by Gina Jeffries’ husband and topline guitarist, Rod McCormack.

Vocal Collaboration wasn’t Beccy’s only success at the CMAA Awards that year. Beccy also reached the pinnacle of female country music acclaim in Australia. Her work resulted in her being named CMAA Female Vocalist of the Year for 2001. Beccy repeated this success at the 2002 Tamworth Country Music Festival, winning the title for the second time.

2003 saw Beccy release her third album, `Little Victories’. Hit tracks from the album were `Sorry I Asked’, `Men Don’t Dance Anymore’, as well as the title track `Little Victories’ and the writer’s favourite Beccy Cole offering `Blackwood Hill’. `Blackwood Hill’ - in which Beccy relates her thoughts, dreams and experiences whilst growing up in the Adelaide Hills – surged to No.1 on the country music charts.

In 2004, Beccy performed at the Concert for Slim – a tribute show to Australian country music icon, Slim Dusty - singing `Bushland Boogie’. The following year, Beccy toured Australia, supported by top young guitarist, Jake Nikolai – hailed by some as a new Keith Urban. Beccy loves helping young country artists. She tutored at the Australian College of Country Music at Tamworth for five years, and Jake Nikolai was one of her students.

Without doubt, 2005 was Beccy’s most successful year to date. She released her fourth album, `Feel This Free’. Album tracks: `Rainbows, Dreams and Butterflies’, `A Better Woman’ and `Poster Girl (Wrong Side of the World)’ all reached No.1 on the country charts. Beccy had travelled to Iraq to perform for the troops and `Poster Girl’ was recorded in answer to a fan who criticised Beccy for supporting the troops, and tore Beccy’s poster off her wall. As stated in the song, Beccy would `prefer to be a poster girl on the wrong side of the world’, supporting the soldiers in Iraq. `Rainbows, Dreams and Butterflies’ placed Beccy as a finalist for the most performed country work at the 2006 APRA (Australasian Performing Right Association) Awards.

2005 also saw Beccy reach the peak of success in Australian country music, when she was declared the country music Entertainer of the Year at the CMAA Industry Achiever Awards. She also won the National Female Vocalist Award at the Victorian State Country Music Awards - an award she had previously won in 2003 as well.

Additionally, Beccy was nominated the official ambassador for the 2006 Telstra Road to Tamworth Quest. The Road to Tamworth Quest is talent quest conducted nationwide throughout Australia to identify the best new country music talents in the country. Winners are selected for 35 regions throughout Australia and meet at the Tamworth Country Music Festival each January to determine a winner. Amongst other prizes, the winner receives a trip to Nashville. The contest is judged by leading industry persons from both Australia and Nashville.

Beccy’s success in 2005 was followed by her being invited to compere both the 2006 CMAA Golden Guitar Awards and the Variety Club’s Heart Awards. That same year, Sydney’s Star City was the venue for a tribute show to the late, great Johnny Cash entitled `Aussies Walk The Line’. Backed by film clips of Johnny, top Australian country music artists performed many Johnny Cash hits. The line up comprised Richard Clapton, Adam Harvey, Rick Price,  Catherine Britt, Mike Carr, Steve Forde, Jake Nikolai, Travis Collins and, of course, Beccy Cole. The show was a huge success.

Beccy followed this by joining multiple Male Vocalist of the Year, Adam Harvey, on his national `How Wrong Is It’ Tour. As she did when she was younger, Beccy enjoys touring. Often she is accompanied by her son from her former marriage, Ricky. Fans are not the only ones to benefit from Beccy’s performances; Beccy is also involved in fund raising  for the Childrens Medical Research Industry to support the treatment of genetic diseases in children.

January, 2007 again saw Beccy at the top of the Australian country music world. She was again voted CMAA Female Vocalist of the Year. Furthermore, `Poster Girl (Wrong Side of the World)’ won both the CMAA Single of the Year and the APRA Song of the Year Awards for Beccy, making Beccy Australia’s most awarded country music artist of this year, after MVOTY - Lee Kernaghan.

Tamworth’s Golden Guitar Wax Museum has now honoured Beccy by choosing her as the first female contemporary country music artist in their displays.  The displays are reserved for top artists such as past performers Slim Dusty, Tex Morton and Jean Stafford as well as contemporary artists such as Lee Kernaghan and John Williamson. As the first contemporary female artist so elected, Beccy may well be considered to be a pioneer in this regard. Well deserved, Beccy Cole. It is little wonder that the industry acclaims your talents and the fans continually clamour for more.