Shellie Morris is an Australian Indigenous singer who performs earthy and honest songs. Shellie has a beautiful voice and her soulful enigmatic acoustic ballads are guaranteed to delight the listener. The Australian newspaper described her as ‘an aboriginal chanteuse of rare seriousness and grace’. She has performed everywhere from rural outback Australia to London Festival Hall and the Sydney Opera House with great reviews.
Shellie is currently a featured artist with the Black Arm Band. (a collaboration of Australia’s top indigenous artists and jazz musicians) Her song Swept Away was orchestrated and performed in 2008 with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra.
A documentary film on Shellie’s life and music was commissioned and broadcast nationally in 2009 as well as her concert at the Sydney Opera house with Gurrumul Yunupingu. She has released two albums to date and is currently writing the music for her third CD.
In addition to this Shellie performed and co-wrote and the music Liberty Songs a collaboration between refugees from Liberia and indigenous Australian women.
Shellie is also an ambassador for the Fred Hollows foundation a organisation undertaking community-based work with blindness prevention in Australia, Asia, Africa and the Pacific. She also works with Indigenous communities and youth throughout Australia, helping young people to write music about their experiences.
In 2004 and 2005 Shellie was awarded the Female Musician of the Year at the N.T. Indigenous music awards. Her album Waiting Road was nominated for Album of the Year at the 2007 Deadly Awards. In 2010 Shellie performed her song Swept Away at the opening of the Winter Olympics in Vancouver with the Black arm band. Shellie has performed at WomadUK and this year at WomAdelaide and has shared the bill and sang with touring artists of the calibre of Yothu Yindi, Archie Roach, Grinspoon, Vicka and Linda Bull, You am I, Tiddas, Jimmy Little, Bluehouse, Rebecca's Empire and Magic Dirt, Chris Bailey (The Saints) Shane Howard (Goanna).
Shellie Morris: Bio
Glen Heald - Producer, Guitarist, Songwriter
Glen produced, recorded and engineered both of Shellie's albums. He has toured with her for 9 years and plays many of the additional instruments heard on Shellie's album Waiting Road. Some of these include pedal steel, mandolin & flute. He also co-wrote two of the songs on Shellie's second CD and the music for Liberty Songs with Shellie and Liberian refugees. For more information www.glenheald.com