Julia Stone

Julia Natasha Stone was born on 13 April 1984 and grew up in Sydney. Her parents, Kim and John Stone, were both folk musicians.[1] Stone's older sister is Catherine (born ca. 1982) and her younger brother is Angus Stone (born 27 April 1986).[1] Stone attended Newport Primary School and Barrenjoey High School.[1] At primary school she joined the school band with her father teaching and her siblings accompanying.[2] At family gatherings when the children performed, Stone played trumpet, Catherine on saxophone and Angus on trombone with Kim singing and John on keyboard or guitar.[2]

After finishing secondary school and while on a holiday with her brother in South America, Stone was impressed by his musical talent, "[Angus] was writing amazing songs ... [he] had shown me how to play guitar in Bolivia, and those songs had gotten me through that year".[2] Subsequently, Stone started writing her own songs.[1][2] By 2005 Stone was playing at open mic nights, sometimes Angus performed backing vocals – their first such gig, at the Coogee Bay Hotel, they performed "Tears".[3] After playing split sets with each singing backing vocals to the other's material, in 2006, they started a duo, Angus & Julia Stone.[2] In March that year the pair recorded their debut extended play, Chocolates and Cigarettes, which was released in August.[2] Since then the group has released five EPs, a compilation album and four studio albums.

Angus & Julia Stone (Julia at left) performing at Falls Festival, Marion Bay, Tasmania, December 2007.

Angus & Julia Stone's second album, Down the Way (March 2010), debuted at number one on the ARIA Albums Chart and was certified 3× platinum in 2011.[4][5] It was the highest-selling album by an Australian artist for 2010.[6][7] At the ARIA Music Awards of 2010 the duo won ARIA Album of the Year for Down the Way and ARIA Single of the Year for "Big Jet Plane".[8] The track, "Big Jet Plane", was voted at number-one position in the Triple J Hottest 100 in 2011 by the station's listeners.[9]

Despite reaching critical acclaim as a duo, Stone had initially embarked on her musical career to become a solo musician.[10] In September 2010, after five years of recording and touring with the duo, Stone released her debut solo album, The Memory Machine, which charted on the ARIA Albums Chart into the top 100.[11] It was well received by fans and critics. Poppy Reid of The Music Network found that "Julia uses clever vintage horror film posters painted by UK artist Caroline Pedler. The posters depict themes from each song; all of them of course, starring Julia as herself".[12]

In June 2011 she sang backing vocals on "Do You Realize" for The Flaming Lips and Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros at a sunrise concert at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery.[13] In August that year Stone supported her collaborator, Doveman, at shows in California and New York.[14]

On 25 May 2012 Stone released her second solo album, By the Horns, simultaneously around the world,[10] which debuted at No. 11 on the ARIA Albums Chart.[4] Stone described writing the songs and temporarily parting with Angus, "[w]e had already been working on a new record together but it didn’t feel right ... I was thinking 'I'll make it now and we'll figure out what happens when it happens'".[15] "Then Angus and I were talking on the phone and he'd been working on more stuff on his own as well and we both just agreed – we were both in the same place, ready to put together a collection of our own songs". She worked on the album in California, France, Australia and India.[16]

Originally released in 2010, Julia's cover version of "You're the One That I Want" has been featured on UK and Irish TV channel, Sky's identification ad. The track entered the UK iTunes charts after airing on the commercial.[17]

In 2015, Stone was featured on Jarryd James' single, "Regardless" that peaked at number 48 in Australia in August.[18]

In February 2020, Stone released a cover version of "Beds Are Burning". The song is the lead single from the collaborative album Songs for Australia, released on 5 March 2020.[19]

In July 2020, it was confirmed that Stone had signed with BMG Australia[20] and on 31 October 2020, Stone announced the her third studio album will be released on 16 April 2021, titled Sixty Summers.[21]