Amber Lawrence

Lawrence grew up in the Sydney suburb of Mascot.[2] She attended Our Lady of the Sacred Heart College, Sydney where she completed the Higher School Certificate in 1995, including a place in the Order of Merit List.[3] After graduating from the University of New South Wales with a commerce degree and working for six years as a chartered accountant for Qantas, Lawrence became a full-time musician.[4]

On Christmas Day 2017, Lawrence became engaged to marketer Martin Newman at Coogee Beach[5] and in August 2018, the pair had a son.[6] In May 2019, Lawrence and Newman married in Port Douglas, Queensland.

She has released a debut EP, I've Got The Blues, and four full-length albums to date: The Mile (2007), When It All Comes Down (2009), 3 (2011), Superheroes (2014), Happy Ever After (2016) and Spark (2019). In addition, Lawrence has released two children's albums, The Kid's Gone Country (2016) and Aussie Aussie Christmas (2017), and a collaboration album with fellow Australian country artist, Travis Collins, entitled Our Backyard (2017).[7]

Lawrence was nominated for "Independent Country Album of the Year" by the Australian Independent Record Labels Association for her debut album, The Mile.[8] In 2008, she was nominated for the Golden Guitar for "Female Artist of the Year" and "New Talent".[4] In 2009, she won the Golden Guitar "People's Choice Award" for "Female Artist of the Year", as well as being nominated for "Female Artist of the Year", "APRA Song of the Year" and "Video Clip of the Year," capping it off with an APRA nomination for "Country Work of the Year" for the single "Good Girls".[9] In 2010, she won "Female Vocalist of the Year" at the Victorian National Country Music Awards, and was nominated for "Best Independent Country Album" at the Independent Music Awards; she also won the new Golden Guitar category of "Horizon Award", while her album When It All Comes Down was nominated three times.[10] In 2012[11] and 2013,[12] Lawrence was again nominated for the Golden Guitar "Female Artist of the Year". In 2014, Lawrence was nominated for "Female Artist of the Year" at the Australian Club Entertainment Awards.{{citation needed|date=April 2015}

In 2015 Lawrence was awarded the Golden Guitar for Best Female Artist of the Year, the Australian Bush Laureate Award for Contemporary Song Lyric of the Year[13] and was nominated for Heritage Song of the Year, both for "The Lifesaver".[14] The song is especially meaningful to her, as it deals with her family's response to her father's stroke.[15] She was also named CMC Music Video Channel's Female Oz Artist of the Year.[16]

Lawrence performing in 2011

She has been nominated in the CMC Top 20 Artists of the Year five years running, and is the winner of six Southern Star Independent Awards, including Independent Album of the Year (twice), APRA/AMCOS Independent Country Music Single of the Year (twice), Independent Artist of the Year, Independent Female Artist of the Year (twice). Fourteen of her singles have either reached #1, top 5 or top 10 on the Country Music Radio Chart and CMC Video Charts.

Lawrence performs over 100 shows per year, including an extensive schools mentor performance programme, having already notched up over 200 performances around the country for kids. Lawrence has performed and is featured at many of the leading country music festivals, such as Gympie Muster, CMC Rocks The Hunter and QLD, Mildura Music Festival, Deni Ute Muster, Caboolture, Mudbulls & Music, Derwent Valley Muster,[17] etc. She has toured with the likes of Lee Kernaghan, The McClymonts,[4] Adam Harvey, Melinda Schneider, Sunny Cowgirls, and Kaylens Rain, and event tours such as Chic Frontier.[4]

Over the years, she has also been a supporter of Australia's military, performing for the troops both abroad and at various events around the country. In 2007, she played in East Timor,[18] and in 2013, she was in the Sinai, entertaining Australian and coalition forces.[19] Her song "Man Across The Street" is about a returned veteran; it resulted in her 2013 Golden Guitar nomination for "Best Female Artist of the Year".[12]

After a chance encounter at an airport in 2017, a unique opportunity presented itself, and Lawrence was invited to perform in New York for an event commemorating the 75th Anniversary Battle of the Coral Sea with the American Association. The audience was made up of surviving war veterans, then-Australian Prime Minister, Malcolm Turnbull, then-President of the United States of America, Barack Obama and Donald Trump, among others. Lawrence performed the poingnat, 100 Year Handshake, which she wrote especially for the event with her now-husband Martin Newman.

In 2019, Lawrence was invited to perform as part of Vision Australia's Carols by Candlelight, broadcast live annually on Christmas Eve from the Sidney Myer Music Bowl in Melbourne, Australia.

Lawrence is also a mentor to young artists in the Australian Music industry and has provided free entertainment and mentoring in over 300 schools Australia wide, as part of her ‘Be Your Own Superhero’ program.

Lawrence is the face of iHeartRadio Australia Country, hosting the show each week, a guest presenter on Channel 9’s ‘Getaway’ and was the co-host of the CMC Music Awards in 2017 – live on Foxtel, and the 2019 Golden Guitar Awards. Lawrence was also extremely honored to receive an Australia Day Bronze Achievement Award for her contribution to War Veterans and their families, via her work with RSL DefenceCare.

• Official website
• Amber Lawrence Interview September 2013 on Ben Sorensen's REAL Country