• Song of the Year Nominees 2003
• Most Performed Australian Work nominations
• Most Performed Country Work nominations
• Most Performed Dance Work nominations
• Most Performed Foreign Work nominations
• Most Performed Jazz Work nominations

MOST PERFORMED AUSTRALIAN WORK - NOMINEES

Beautiful - Disco Montego

They’ve already made a name for themselves with their work as Kaylan, but for brothers Dennis and Darren Dowlut, a new musical day is dawning. Inspired by the sounds of Europe’s club scene, Disco Montego is the pair’s latest creation: a new collective of groove-laden styles, shapes and sounds that have now come to fruition on their debut self titled album. Taking inspiration for their name from a Spanish club of the same title, Disco Montego released first single "We Got Love" back in mid 2001 – which would later go on to enter the Top Ten ARIA Club Chart.

Soon the ever-evolving Disco Montego collective began searching for the right voices to fit the new sounds they were making. They collaborated with Katie Underwood whose vocals on "Beautiful" helped propel the single into the ARIA Singles Chart’s Top Ten in May 2002.

With their collection of crossover dance tracks, Disco Montego are set to ignite the charts and the clubs across the country, giving the local scene a fresh new sound to groove to. Asked what they want listeners to get from putting this record in their CD player, and Dennis says it’s plain and simple: just a good time.

Creepin' Up Slowly - Taxiride

Taxiride began in Melbourne during 1996. Tim Watson, Tim Wild and Jason Singh had all been a part of the live band scene for several years when they decided to team up and make music that would stand out from the pack. Two years of writing and recording, as well as the addition of a fourth member (Dan Hall) saw Taxiride's sound begin to take shape. 1998 was spent recording the debut album at Oceanway Studios in Los Angeles with legendary producer Jack Joseph Puig. The first single release entitled "Get Set" was included on "The Election" soundtrack (starring Reese Witherspoon) and went on to become a top 10 hit for the band in Australia. Their second single "Everywhere You Go" was also a major hit in Australia (both singles achieving gold status) and their debut album "Imaginate" entered the charts at No.1 nationally and it wasn't long before it had achieved double platinum sales.

In 2000 Taxiride clocked up countless thousands of kilometres touring the globe. The highlight of the year was playing some of the worlds largest and most famous venues supporting Tina Turner on the European leg of her world tour.

2001 and early 2002 was spent writing and recording new material for the new album and for the first time they worked together as a consolidated band, with the addition of regular touring bassist Andy McIvor and drummer Sean McLeod. The album has been mixed by David Way (3 tracks) and Mike Shipley (9 tracks) and between them they have CV’s that read like a greatest hits of the last two decades.

The album in question ‘Garage Mahal’ is jam-packed with deeply melodic songs, drunk with hooks and trademark harmonies. The first single "Creepin' Up Slowly" leapt out of the box and within two weeks was the most played song on Australian radio. Upon release in June 2002 it debuted on the Aria Charts at No.8 and went on to become the bands best selling single in Australia reaching platinum status and staying in the top 20 for over three months.

The Greatest View - Silverchair

Silverchair is one of Australia’s most successful contemporary rock bands. Since their debut album “frogstomp” was released in early 1995 and sold 2.5 million copies world wide, the group has enjoyed a long string of hits from subsequent albums ”Freak Show” (1997), and “Neon Ballroom” (1999). In fact, they have had more top twenty hits during the last decade than any other local artist and they have sold over six million albums worldwide.

In June 2001 the band began work with producer David Bottrill (Tool, Peter Gabriel, King Crimson) on their fourth album, “Diorama”. This time Daniel Johns formally assumed the role of co-Producer and set out to explore even more new musical territory. Also contributing to the album was the legendary Beach Boys and U2 collaborator, Van Dyke Parks who contributed orchestral arrangements to three tracks including a lush epic called “Luv Your Life”. Also helping out again were “Neon Ballroom” sidemen, paulmac and Jim Moginie.

Fans got their first taste of “Diorama” when a single called “The Greatest View” was released in Australia in January 2002. The track displayed a fresh new sound showing yet another creative leap for the band and gave a hint of the exploration of a vast array of instrumentation and musical styles to follow on the album. The enhanced melodic sensibility and newfound vocal confidence of “The Greatest View” attracted unprecedented radio support in Australia on all formats and drove the single to #1 on the alternative charts and #3 on the mainstream singles chart.

“Diorama” entered the Australian charts at #1 in April and has gone on to sell over 140,000 copies (double platinum) in this country so far. It has also yielded the top 10 single “Without You” and the top 20 hit “Luv Your Life”.

In October 2002 the band’s work on “Diorama” won them six ARIA Awards including “Best Group” and “Best Rock Album”.

Insatiable - Darren Hayes

Since the departure of Savage Garden in 2001, Darren Hayes has moved on to forge an impressive solo career and the stunning success of his debut album ‘Spin’ (March 2002) proved his star quality as a solo artist. The album has attained platinum sales status in Australia and the equivalent in the UK, having sold over a million copies there. ‘Spin’ is still selling strongly in both these territories as well as Europe, South America, Japan & South East Asia.

The first single from ‘Spin’ was ‘Insatiable’. The song made an impressive debut on the Australian charts coming in at #3 on the ARIA charts and #1 in the Australasian Top 20 and enjoyed gold record sales status in Australia.

After circumnavigating the world several times over the last twelve months promoting and performing the music of ‘Spin’, Darren Hayes is taking a well earned break whilst his record company deliver his next single ‘I Miss You. This song has been re-worked by Dallas Austin - the man whose c.v includes the likes of Madonna, Michael Jackson & TLC amongst his chart topping clientele. His most recent work was producing some of Pink’s internationally successful ‘M!ssundaztood’ album.

Not Pretty Enough - Kasey Chambers

Kasey Chambers had made history in the Australian and international music scene with her unique blend of country/folk/blues/rock. Raised on a diet of Hank Williams and Gram Parsons, the 26 year old singer/songwriter began playing along side her father, brother and mother in the award winning all family country act – The Dead Ringer Band. She has now risen to musical heights world wide with album sales of over 600 000. Chambers debut solo album "The Captain" was released in 1999 to an ocean of international accolades and critical acclaim. She toured the album around Australia, Europe and the US and [mark of things to come] when she received an Aria for Best Female Artist of the Year in 2000.

Three years after the release of her double platinum debut, (which also sold 100 000 copies in the US), Kasey Chambers launched her highly anticipated follow up "Barricades and Brickwalls" in late 2001. The double platinum single "Not Pretty Enough" spent 5 weeks as the nation’s #1 single and boosted overall album sales to well over quadruple platinum.

Playing at 2001’s Homebake Music Festival, sharing the bill with alternate rock/pop bands like Shihad, Grinspoon and You Am I, Chambers exposed the crossover to altfolk country that younger audiences are slowly making