type	city
name	Adelaide
state	sa
pop	1,203,873 (2010)
pop footnotes
poprank	5th
density	659
density footnotes	(2006)
area	1826.9
lga	18
est	28 December 1836
force national map	yes
timezone	ACST
utc	+9:30
timezone-dst	ACDT
utc-dst	+10:30
coordinates
dist1	729
dir1	NW
location1	Melbourne
dist2	1191
dir2	West
location2	Canberra
dist3	1408
dir3	West
location3	Sydney
dist4	1969
dir4	SW
location4	Brisbane
dist5	2700
dir5	East
location5	Perth
maxtemp	22.1
mintemp	12.1
rainfall	545.3 }}

Adelaide () is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of South Australia, and is the fifth-largest city in Australia. Adelaide has an estimated population of more than 1.28 million. The adjectival form "Adelaidean" is used in reference to the city and its residents.

Adelaide is a coastal city situated on the eastern shores of Gulf St Vincent, on the Adelaide Plains, north of the Fleurieu Peninsula, between Gulf St Vincent and the low-lying Mount Lofty Ranges. The suburbs reach roughly from the coast to the foothills but sprawl from Gawler at its northern extent to Sellicks Beach in the south.

Named in honour of Queen Adelaide, the German-born consort of King William IV, the city was founded in 1836 as the planned capital for a freely settled British province in Australia. Colonel William Light, one of Adelaide's founding fathers, designed the city and chose its location close to the River Torrens in the area originally inhabited by the Kaurna people. Light's design set out Adelaide in a grid layout, interspaced by wide boulevards and large public squares, and entirely surrounded by parkland. Early Adelaide was shaped by religious freedom and a commitment to political progressivism and civil liberties, which led to the moniker "City of Churches".

As South Australia's seat of government and commercial centre, Adelaide is the site of many governmental and financial institutions. Most of these are concentrated in the city centre along the cultural boulevard of North Terrace, King William Street and in various districts of the metropolitan area. Today, Adelaide is noted for its many festivals and sporting events, its food, wine and culture, its long beachfronts, and its large defence and manufacturing sectors. It ranks highly in terms of liveability, being listed in the Top 10 of ''The Economist's'' World's Most Liveable Cities index in 2010 and being ranked the most liveable city in Australia by the Property Council of Australia in 2011.

History

Prehistory

Prior to British settlement, the Adelaide area was inhabited by the Kaurna Aboriginal nation (pronounced "Garner" or "Gowna").

19th century

South Australia was officially proclaimed as a new British colony on 28 December 1836, near The Old Gum Tree in what is now the suburb of Glenelg North. The event is commemorated in South Australia as Proclamation Day. The site of the colony's capital was surveyed and laid out by Colonel William Light, the first Surveyor-General of South Australia, through the design made by the architect George Strickland Kingston. In 1823, Light had fondly written of the Sicilian city of Catania: "The two principal streets cross each other at right angles in the square in the direction of north and south and east and west. They are wide and spacious and about a mile long", and this became the basis for the plan of Adelaide. Light chose, not without opposition, a site on rising ground close to the River Torrens, which was the chief early water supply for the fledgling colony. "Light's Vision", as it has been termed, has meant that the initial design of Adelaide required little modification as the settlement grew and prospered.

Adelaide was established as the centre of a planned colony of free immigrants, promising civil liberties and freedom from religious persecution, based upon the ideas of Edward Gibbon Wakefield. Wakefield had read accounts of Australian settlement while in prison in London for attempting to abduct an heiress, and realised that the eastern colonies suffered from a lack of available labour, due to the practice of giving land grants to all arrivals. Wakefield's idea was for the Government to survey and sell the land at a rate that would maintain land values high enough to be unaffordable for labourers and journeymen. Funds raised from the sale of land were to be used to bring out working class emigrants, who would have to work hard for the monied settlers to ever afford their own land. As a result of this policy, Adelaide does not share the convict settlement history of other Australian cities like Sydney, Perth, Brisbane and Hobart.

As it was believed that in a colony of free settlers there would be little crime, no provision was made for a gaol in Colonel Light's 1837 plan. However, by mid-1837 the ''South Australian Register'' was warning of escaped convicts from New South Wales, and tenders for a temporary gaol were sought. Following a burglary, a murder, and two attempted murders in Adelaide during March 1838, Governor Hindmarsh created the South Australian Police Force (now named South Australia Police) in April 1838 under 21-year-old Henry Inman. The first Sheriff, Mr Samuel Smart, was wounded during the robbery, and on 2 May 1838 one of the offenders, Michael Magee, became the first person to be hanged in South Australia. William Baker Ashton was appointed Governor of the temporary goal in 1839, and in 1840 George Strickland Kingston was commissioned to design Adelaide's new Gaol. Construction of Adelaide Gaol commenced in 1841.

Adelaide's early history was wrought by economic uncertainty and incompetent leadership. The first governor of South Australia, John Hindmarsh, clashed frequently with others, in particular with the Resident Commissioner, James Hurtle Fisher. The rural area surrounding Adelaide was surveyed by Light in preparation to sell a total of over of land. Adelaide's early economy started to get on its feet in 1838 with the arrival of livestock from New South Wales and Tasmania. Wool production provided an early basis for the South Australian economy. Light's survey was completed in this period, and land was promptly offered for sale to early colonists. By 1860, wheat farms had been established from Encounter Bay in the south to Clare in the north.

Governor Gawler took over from Hindmarsh in late 1838 and, despite being under orders from the ''Select Committee on South Australia'' in Britain not to undertake any public works, promptly oversaw construction of a governor's house, the Adelaide Gaol, police barracks, a hospital, a customs house and a wharf at Port Adelaide. In addition, houses for public officials and missionaries, and outstations for police and surveyors were also constructed during Gawler's governorship. Adelaide had also become economically self-sufficient during this period, but at heavy cost: as a result of Gawler's public works the colony was heavily in debt and relied on bail-outs from London to stay afloat. Gawler was recalled and replaced by Governor Grey in 1841. Grey slashed public expenditure against heavy opposition, although its impact was negligible at this point: silver was discovered in Glen Osmond that year, agricultural was well underway, and other mines sprung up all over the state, aiding Adelaide's commercial development. The city exported meat, wool, wine, fruit and wheat by the time Grey left in 1845, contrasting with a low point in 1842 when one-third of Adelaide houses were abandoned.

Trade links with the rest of the Australian states were established with the Murray River being successfully navigated in 1853 by Francis Cadell, an Adelaide resident. South Australia became a self-governing colony in 1856 with the ratification of a new constitution by the British parliament. Secret ballots were introduced, and a bicameral parliament was elected on 9 March 1857, by which time 109,917 people lived in the province.

In 1860 the Thorndon Park reservoir was opened, finally providing an alternative water source to the now turbid River Torrens. In 1867 gas street lighting was implemented, the University of Adelaide was founded in 1874, the South Australian Art Gallery opened in 1881 and the Happy Valley Reservoir opened in 1896. In the 1890s Australia was affected by a severe economic depression, ending a hectic era of land booms and tumultuous expansionism. Financial institutions in Melbourne and banks in Sydney closed. The national fertility rate fell and immigration was reduced to a trickle. The value of South Australia's exports nearly halved. Drought and poor harvests from 1884 compounded the problems, with some families leaving for Western Australia. Adelaide was not as badly hit as the larger gold-rush cities of Sydney and Melbourne, and silver and lead discoveries at Broken Hill provided some relief. Only one year of deficit was recorded, but the price paid was retrenchments and lean public spending. Wine and copper were the only industries not to suffer a downturn.

20th century

Electric street lighting was introduced in 1900 and electric trams were transporting passengers in 1909. 28,000 men were sent to fight in World War I. Adelaide enjoyed a post-war boom but, with the return of droughts, entered the Great Depression of the 1930s, later returning to prosperity under strong government leadership. Secondary industries helped reduce the state's dependence on primary industries. World War II brought industrial stimulus and diversification to Adelaide under the Playford Government, which advocated Adelaide as a safe place for manufacturing due to its less vulnerable location. Seventy thousand men and women enlisted and shipbuilding was expanded at the nearby port of Whyalla.

The South Australian Government in this period built on former wartime manufacturing industries. International manufacturers like General Motors Holden and Chrysler made use of these factories around Adelaide, completing its transformation from an agricultural service centre to a twentieth-century city. A pipeline from Mannum brought River Murray water to Adelaide in 1954 and an airport opened at West Beach in 1955. An assisted migration scheme brought 215,000 immigrants of many nationalities, mainly European, to South Australia between 1947 and 1973.

The Dunstan Governments of the 1970s saw something of an Adelaide 'cultural revival' – establishing a wide array of social reforms and overseeing the city becoming a centre of the arts, building upon the biennial "Adelaide Festival of Arts" which commenced in 1960. Adelaide hosted the Formula One Australian Grand Prix between 1985 and 1996 on a street circuit in the city's east parklands, before tough economic conditions due to the state bank collapse. The 1991 State Bank collapse plunged both Adelaide and South Australia into economic recession, and its effects lasted until 2004, when ratings agency Standard & Poor's reinstated South Australia's AAA credit rating. Recent years have seen the Clipsal 500 V8 Supercars race make use of sections of the former Formula One circuit.

Geography

Adelaide is located north of the Fleurieu Peninsula, on the Adelaide Plains between the Gulf St Vincent and the low-lying Mount Lofty Ranges. The city stretches from the coast to the foothills, and from Gawler at its northern extent to Sellicks Beach in the south. According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, the Adelaide Metropolitan Region has a total land area of , and is at an average elevation of above sea level. Mount Lofty is located east of the Adelaide metropolitan region in the Adelaide Hills at an elevation of . It is the tallest point of the city and in the state south of Burra.

Much of Adelaide was bushland before British settlement, with some variation – swamps and marshlands were prevalent around the coast. However, much of the original vegetation has been cleared with what is left to be found in reserves such as the Cleland Conservation Park and Belair National Park. A number of creeks and rivers flow through the Adelaide region. The largest are the Torrens and Onkaparinga catchments. Adelaide relies on its many reservoirs for water supply with the Happy Valley Reservoir supplying around 40% and the much larger Mount Bold Reservoir 10% of Adelaide's domestic requirements respectively.

Urban layout

Adelaide is a planned city, designed by the first surveyor-general of South Australia, Colonel William Light. His plan, now known as Light's Vision, arranged Adelaide in a grid, with five squares in the Adelaide city centre and a ring of parks, known as the Adelaide Parklands, surrounding it. Light's design was initially unpopular with the early settlers, as well as South Australia's first Governor, John Hindmarsh. Light persisted with his design against this initial opposition.

The benefits of Light's design are numerous; Adelaide has had wide multi-lane roads from its beginning, an easily navigable grid layout and a beautiful green ring around the city centre. There are two sets of ring roads in Adelaide that have resulted from the original design. The inner ring route (A21) borders the parklands, and the outer route (A3/A13/A16/A17) completely bypasses the inner city via (in clockwise order) Grand Junction Road, Hampstead Road, Ascot Avenue, Portrush Road, Cross Road and South Road.

Suburban expansion has to some extent outgrown Light's original plan. Numerous former outlying villages and "country towns", and the satellite city of Elizabeth, have been enveloped by its suburban sprawl. Expanding developments in the Adelaide Hills region led to the construction of the South Eastern Freeway to cope with growth, which has subsequently led to new developments and further improvements to that transport corridor. Similarly, the booming development in Adelaide's South led to the construction of the Southern Expressway. New roads are not the only transport infrastructure developed to cope with the urban growth. The O-Bahn Busway is an example of a unique solution to Tea Tree Gully's transport woes in the 1980s. The development of the nearby suburb of Golden Grove in the late 1980s is possibly an example of well-thought-out urban planning. The newer suburban areas as a whole, however, are not as integrated into the urban layout as much as older areas, and therefore place more stress on Adelaide's transportation system – although not on a level comparable with Melbourne or Sydney. In the 1960s a Metropolitan Adelaide Transport Study Plan was proposed in order to cater for the future growth of the city. The plan involved the construction of freeways, expressways and the upgrade of certain aspects of the public transport system. The then premier Steele Hall approved many parts of the plan and the government went as far as purchasing land for the project. The later government elected under Don Dunstan shelved the plan, but allowed the purchased land to remain vacant, should the future need for freeways arise. Some parts of this land have been used for transport, (e.g. the O-Bahn Busway and Southern Expressway), while other parts have been progressively subdivided for residential use.

In 2008 the SA Government announced plans for a network of transport-oriented developments across the Adelaide metropolitan area and purchased a 10 hectare industrial site at Bowden for $52.5 million as the first of these developments.

Climate

Adelaide has a Mediterranean climate (Köppen climate classification ''Csa''), where most of the rain falls in the winter months. Of the Australian capital cities, Adelaide is the driest, and it has a semi-arid climate influence because of its dryness. Rainfall is unreliable, light and infrequent throughout summer. In contrast, the winter has fairly reliable rainfall with June being the wettest month of the year, averaging around 80 mm. Frosts are occasional, with the most notable occurrences having occurred in July 1908 and July 1982. Hail is also common in winter. There is usually no appreciable snowfall, except for very light falls at Mount Lofty and some places in the Adelaide Hills.

Governance

Adelaide, as the capital of South Australia, is the seat of the Government of South Australia. As Adelaide is South Australia's capital and most populous city, the State Government co-operates extensively with the City of Adelaide. In 2006, the Ministry for the City of Adelaide was created to facilitate the state government's collaboration with the Adelaide City Council and the Lord Mayor to improve Adelaide's image. The state parliament's Capital City Committee is also involved in the governance of the City of Adelaide, being primarily concerned with the planning of Adelaide's urban development and growth.

Local governments

The Adelaide metropolitan area is divided between eighteen local government areas, including, at its centre, the City of Adelaide, which administers the Adelaide city centre, North Adelaide, and the surrounding Adelaide Parklands. It is the oldest municipal authority in Australia and was established in 1840, when Adelaide and Australia's first mayor, James Hurtle Fisher, was elected. From 1919 onwards, the City has had a Lord Mayor, the current being Lord Mayor Stephen Yarwood.

Demography

As of 2006 Census, Adelaide had a metropolitan population of more than 1,105,839, making it Australia's fifth largest city. In the 2002–03 period the population grew by 0.6%, while the national average was 1.2%. Some 70.3% of the population of South Australia are residents of the Adelaide metropolitan area, making South Australia one of the most centralised states.

Major areas of population growth in recent years were in outer suburbs such as Mawson Lakes and Golden Grove. Adelaide's inhabitants occupy 341,227 houses, 54,826 semi-detached, row terrace or town houses and 49,327 flats, units or apartments.

High socioeconomic areas include a number of the coastal suburbs, most of the inner north-eastern, eastern, south-eastern and inner southern suburbs, the Adelaide hills and North Adelaide. Almost a fifth (17.9%) of the population had university qualifications. The number of Adelaideans with vocational qualifications (such as tradespersons) fell from 62.1% of the labour force in the 1991 census to 52.4% in the 2001 census.

Overseas-born Adelaideans composed 23.7% (262,367) of the total population. The north-western suburbs (such as Woodville and Athol Park) and suburbs close to the CBD have a higher ratio of overseas-born residents. The five largest groups of overseas-born were from England (7.3%), Italy (1.9%), Scotland (1.0%), Vietnam (0.9%), and Greece (0.9%). The most-spoken languages other than English were Italian (3.0%), Greek (2.2%), Vietnamese (1.2%), Mandarin (0.8%), and Cantonese (0.7%).

Religion

Approximately 24% of the population expressed no religious affiliation, compared with the national average of 18.7%, although ironically the large number of churches in Adelaide has led people to believe this is the source of the nickname ''The City of Churches''. Never the less over half of the population of Adelaide identifies as Christian, with the largest denominations being Catholic (22.1%), Anglican (14.0%), Uniting Church (8.4%) and Eastern Orthodox (3.8%).

Age structure

Overall, Adelaide is ageing more rapidly than other Australian capital cities. Just over a quarter (26.7%) of Adelaide's population is aged 55 years or older, in comparison to the national average of 24.3%. Adelaide has the lowest number of children (under-15 year olds), which composed 17.8% of the population, compared to the national average of 19.8%.

Economy

South Australia's largest employment sector is health care and social assistance, surpassing manufacturing in SA as the largest employer since 2006–07. In 2009–10, manufacturing in SA had average annual employment of 83,700 persons compared with 103,300 for health care and social assistance. Health care and social assistance represented nearly 13% of the state average annual employment.

The retail trade is the second largest employer in SA (2009–10), with 91,900 jobs, and 12 per cent of the state workforce.

Manufacturing, defence technology and research, commodity export and corresponding service industries play a role in the SA economy. Almost half of all cars produced in Australia are made in Adelaide at the General Motors Holden plant in Elizabeth. Adelaide has over 40% of Australia's high-tech electronics industry which designs and produces electronic systems that are sold worldwide for applications in medical, communications, defence, automotive, food and wine processing and industrial sectors. The revenue of Adelaide's electronics industry has grown at over 15% per annum since 1990, and in 2010 exceeds A$5 billion. The electronics industry in Adelaide employs over 14,000 people.

The global media conglomerate News Corporation was founded in and until 2004 incorporated in Adelaide and is still considered its 'spiritual' home by Rupert Murdoch. Australia's largest oil company, Santos, prominent South Australian brewery, Coopers, major national retailer Harris Scarfe and Australia's second largest listed investment company Argo Investments Limited call Adelaide their home.

The collapse of the State Bank in 1992 resulted in large levels of state public debt (as much as A$4 billion). The collapse had meant that successive governments had enacted lean budgets, cutting spending, which had been a setback to the further economic development of the city and state. The debt has recently been reduced with the State Government once again receiving a AAA+ Credit Rating. The South Australian economy, very closely tied to Adelaide's, still enjoys a trade surplus and has higher per capita growth than Australia as a whole.

Defence industry

Adelaide is home to a large proportion of Australia's defence industries, which contribute over A$1 billion to South Australia's Gross State Product. Seventy-two percent of Australian defence companies are located in Adelaide. The principal government military research institution, the Defence Science and Technology Organisation, and other defence technology organisations such as BAE Systems Australia and Lockheed Martin Australia, are located north of Salisbury and west of Elizabeth in an area now called "Edinburgh Parks", adjacent to RAAF Base Edinburgh.

Others, such as Saab Systems and Raytheon, are located in or near Technology Park. The Australian Submarine Corporation, based in the industrial suburb of Osborne, was charged with constructing Australia's ''Collins'' class submarines and more recently the A$6 billion contract to construct the Royal Australian Navy's new air-warfare destroyers.

Employment statistics

There are 466,829 employed people in Adelaide, with 62.3% full-time and 35.1% part-time. In recent years there has been a growing trend towards part-time (which includes casual) employment, increasing from 11.6% of the workplace in 1991, to over a third today.

The median weekly individual income for people aged 15 years and over is $447 per week, compared with $466 nationally. The median family income is $1,137 per week, compared with $1,171 nationally. Adelaide's housing and living costs are substantially lower than that of other Australian cities, with housing being notably cheaper. The median Adelaide house price is half that of Sydney and two-thirds that of Melbourne. The three month trend unemployment rate to March 2007 was 6.2%. The Northern suburbs' unemployment rate is disproportionately higher than the other regions of Adelaide at 8.3%, while the East and South are lower than the Adelaide average at 4.9% and 5.0% respectively.

House prices

Over the decade March 2001 – March 2010, Metropolitan Adelaide median house prices have approximately tripled. (approx. 285%) In summary: {| class=wikitable |- align=right | March || 2001 || 2002 || 2003 || 2004 || 2005 || 2006 || 2007 || 2008 || 2009 || 2010 |- align=right | Median || 140,000 || 170,000 || 200,000 || 250,000 || 270,000 || 280,000 || 300,000 || 360,000 || 350,000 || 400,000 |- align=right |% change|| || 21% || 18% || 25% || 8% || 4% || 7% || 20% || −3% || 14% |} ''All numbers approximate and rounded''

Education and research

Education forms an increasingly important part of the city's economy, with the South Australian Government and educational institutions attempting to position Adelaide as "Australia's education hub" and marketing it as a "Learning City." The number of international students studying in Adelaide has increased rapidly in recent years to 23,300, of which 2,380 are secondary school students. In addition to the city's existing institutions, foreign institutions have been attracted to set up campuses in order to increase its attractiveness as an education hub.

Primary and secondary education

At the level of primary and secondary education, there are two systems of school education. There is a public system operated by the South Australian Government and a private system of independent and Catholic schools. All schools provide education under the South Australian Certificate of Education (SACE) or, to a lesser extent, the International Baccalaureate (IB), with Adelaide having the highest number of IB schools in Australia.

Tertiary education

There are several South Australian TAFE (Technical and Further Education) campuses located in the metropolitan area which provide a range of vocational education and training. There are three public universities local to Adelaide, as well as three constituent colleges of three foreign universities. The Flinders University of South Australia, the University of Adelaide and the University of South Australia are based in Adelaide and were all ranked within the world's top 400 universities in the ''Times Higher Education'' magazine in 2007. The historic Torrens Building in Victoria Square houses Carnegie Mellon University's Heinz College Australia, Cranfield University's Defence College of Management and Technology, and University College London's School of Energy and Resources (Australia), and constitute the city's international university precinct.

The University of Adelaide, with 20,478 students, is Australia's third-oldest university, and a member of the leading "Group of Eight". It has five campuses throughout the state, including two in the city-centre, and also has a campus in Singapore. The University of South Australia, with 36,000 students, has two North Terrace campuses, three other campuses in the metropolitan area and campuses at Whyalla and Mount Gambier. The Flinders University of South Australia, with 16,237 students, is located in the southern suburb of Bedford Park, alongside the Flinders Medical Centre.

Carnegie Mellon became the first American university to establish a campus in Australia when it established two postgraduate campuses in the Adelaide city centre in 2006: the Heinz College Australia in Victoria Square and the Entertainment Technology Center ''(sic)'' in Light Square. Cranfield University followed suit in 2007 and established a postgraduate campus in Victoria Square alongside the Heinz College. University College London established its first international campus (alongside CMU and Cranfield) in 2009, with postgraduate courses commencing in 2010. The two hundred year-old Royal Institution of Great Britain is also establishing an Australian counterpart in Adelaide which will formally open in 2009.

Research

In addition to the universities, there are a number of organisations involved in research with significant establishments in the metropolitan area. These tend to be geographically clustered:

Located at the east end of North Terrace: IMVS; Hanson Institute; RAH; National Wine Centre. Located in the Waite Research Precinct: SARDI Head Office and Plant Research Centre; AWRI; ACPFG; CSIRO research laboratories. SARDI also have establisments at Glenside and West Beach.

Located in Edinburgh, South Australia: DSTO; BAE Systems (Australia); Lockheed Martin Australia Electronic Systems.

Located at Technology Park (Mawson Lakes): BAE Systems; Optus; Raytheon; Topcon; Lockheed Martin Australia Electronic Systems.

Located in Research Park at Thebarton: businesses involved in materials engineering, biotechnology, environmental services, information technology, industrial design, laser/optics technology, health products, engineering services, radar systems, telecommunications and petroleum services.

Located at Science Park (adjacent to Flinders University): Playford Capital.

Cultural

While established as a British province, and very much English in terms of its culture, Adelaide attracted immigrants from other parts of Europe early-on, including German and other European non-conformists escaping religious persecution. The first German Lutherans arrived in 1838 bringing with them the vine cuttings that they used to found the acclaimed wineries of the Barossa Valley.

After the Second World War, British, Italian, Greek, Dutch, Polish and other European immigrants settled in Adelaide. The conclusion of the Vietnam War in 1975 saw an influx of Indo-Chinese immigrants to Adelaide. ''See: Immigration history of Australia''

Arts and entertainment

Adelaide's arts scene flourished in the 1960s and 1970s with the support of successive premiers of both major political parties. The renowned Adelaide Festival of Arts and Fringe Festival were established in 1960 under Thomas Playford. Construction of the Adelaide Festival Centre began under Steele Hall in 1970, and was completed under the subsequent government of Don Dunstan, who also established the South Australian Film Corporation.

Over time, the Adelaide Festival has expanded to include the Adelaide Cabaret Festival, Adelaide Film Festival, Adelaide Festival of Ideas, Adelaide Writers' Week, and WOMADelaide, all held predominately in the autumnal month of March (that month is sometimes jocularly called 'mad March' by locals due to the hectic clustering of these events). Other festivals include FEAST (a queer culture celebration), Tasting Australia (a biennial food and wine affair), and the Royal Adelaide Show (an annual agricultural show and state fair). There are also many international cultural fairs, most notably the German Schützenfest and Greek Glendi. Adelaide is also home to the Adelaide Christmas Pageant, the world's largest Christmas parade. As the state capital, Adelaide is also home to a great number of cultural institutions with many located along the boulevard of North Terrace. The Art Gallery of South Australia, with around 35,000 works, holds Australia's second largest state-based collection.

Situated adjacent are the South Australian Museum and State Library of South Australia, while the Adelaide Botanic Garden, National Wine Centre and Tandanya National Aboriginal Cultural Institute are located nearby in the East End of the city. In the back of the State Library lies the Migration Museum is Australia's oldest museum of its kind. Adelaide Festival Centre, on the banks of the Torrens, is the focal point for much of the cultural activity in the city and home to the State Theatre Company of South Australia, with other venues including the Adelaide Entertainment Centre and the city's many smaller theatres, pubs and cabaret bars.

The music of Adelaide has produced various musical groups and individuals who have achieved both national and international fame. This includes the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra, the Adelaide Youth Orchestra, rock bands: The Angels, Cold Chisel, The Superjesus, Wolf & Cub, Fire! Santa Rosa, Fire!, roots/blues group The Audreys, internationally acclaimed metal acts I Killed The Prom Queen and Double Dragon, popular Australian hip-hop outfit Hilltop Hoods, pop acts, Orianthi, Guy Sebastian, and Wes Carr, as well as internationally successful tribute act The Australian Pink Floyd Show.

Noted rocker Jimmy Barnes spent most of his youth in the northern suburb of Elizabeth. Paul Kelly grew up in Adelaide and was head prefect at Rostrevor College. The first ''Australian Idol'' winner, Guy Sebastian, hails from the north-eastern suburb of Golden Grove. American musician Ben Folds used to base himself in Adelaide when he was married to Australian Frally Hynes. Folds recorded a song about Adelaide before he moved away from the city. In addition to its own WOMADelaide, Adelaide attracts several touring music festivals, including Big Day Out, Parklife and Laneway.

Concert venues

Adelaide pop-concert venues (past and present) include: Adelaide Entertainment Centre; Adelaide Festival Theatre; Adelaide Oval; Apollo Stadium; Memorial Drive Park; Thebarton Theatre. Other concert and live theatre venues include: Adelaide Town Hall; Dunstan Playhouse; Her Majesty's Theatre.

Media

Newspapers

Newspapers in Adelaide are dominated by News Corporation publications—Adelaide being the birthplace of News Corporation itself. The only South Australian daily newspaper is ''The Advertiser'', published by News Corporation six days a week, while the Sunday paper is the ''Sunday Mail''.

There are eleven suburban community newspapers published weekly, known collectively as the ''Messenger Newspapers'', also published by a subsidiary of News Corporation. ''The Independent Weekly'' was a small independent newspaper providing one alternative view, but abolished its print edition in November 2010 and now exists as a digital daily newsletter only. Two national daily newspapers are circulated in the city: ''The Australian'' and its weekend publication, ''The Weekend Australian'', also published by News Corporation; and ''The Australian Financial Review'' published by Fairfax. Interstate dailies, ''The Age'' and ''The Sydney Morning Herald'', published by Fairfax, are also typically available. ''The Adelaide Review'' is a free paper published fortnightly, and other independent magazine-style papers are published, but are not as widely available.

Television

All of the five Australian national television networks broadcast both analogue PAL and high definition digital services in Adelaide. They share three transmission towers on the ridge near the summit of Mount Lofty. The two government-funded stations are run by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC1) and the Special Broadcasting Service (SBS One). The Seven Network and Network Ten both own their Adelaide stations (SAS-7 and ADS-10 respectively).

Adelaide's NWS-9 is affiliated with the Nine Network and was owned by Southern Cross Broadcasting until the sale to WIN Corporation in May 2007. New digital-only channels available in addition to ABC1, Seven, Nine, Ten and SBS One include One HD, Eleven, ABC2, ABC3, ABC News 24, SBS Two, 7Two, 7mate, GEM HD and GO!. Adelaide also has a community television station, C31 Adelaide. The Foxtel pay TV service is available as cable television in a few areas, and as satellite television to the entire metropolitan area. It is resold by a number of other brands, mostly telephone companies.

As part of a nation-wide phase-out of analogue television in Australia, Adelaide's analogue TV service is slated to be shut down in the second half of 2013.

Radio

There are twenty radio stations that serve the metropolitan area, as well as four community stations that serve only parts of the metropolitan area. Of the twenty full coverage stations, there are six commercial stations, six community stations, six national stations and two narrowcast stations. A complete list can be found at List of radio stations in Australia#Adelaide.

Commercial stations include:

AM Band: Cruise 1323; FIVEaa 1395

FM Band: Nova 91.9; Mix 102.3; Triple M 104.7; SAFM 107.1; Fresh FM 92.7

Australian Broadcasting Corporation stations include:

AM Band: Radio National 729; 891 Adelaide (Local Radio); NewsRadio 972

FM Band: Classic FM 103.9; and Triple J 105.5.

Icons

Sport

The main sports played professionally in Adelaide are Australian rules football, soccer, cricket, netball and basketball. Adelaide is the home of two Australian Football League teams: the Adelaide Crows and Port Adelaide Power. A local football league, the SANFL, is made up of nine teams from around Adelaide.

Adelaide has developed a strong culture of attracting crowds to major sporting events. Most large sporting events take place at either AAMI Stadium or the historic Adelaide Oval, home of the Southern Redbacks cricket team. Adelaide hosts an international cricket test every summer, along with a number of One Day International cricket matches. Memorial Drive Park, adjacent to the Adelaide Oval, used to host the Adelaide International, a major men's tennis tournament in the lead-up to the Australian Open before the tournament was moved to Brisbane in 2009. Adelaide's professional football (soccer) team, Adelaide United, play in the A-League. Founded in 2003, their home ground is Hindmarsh Stadium, which has a capacity of 17,000 and is one of the few purpose-built soccer stadia in Australia. In 2008 the Cronulla Sharks, an Australian NRL franchise, and the South Australian Government announced a three year contract in which the Sharks will play a single home game each season at Hindmarsh. Unfortunately this only happened for 2009. From 2010 the Canterbury Bulldogs signed an agreement to play one home game per season at the Adelaide Oval for three years with the hope of establishing a strong supporter base in Adelaide.

Adelaide has two professional basketball teams, the mens team being the Adelaide 36ers who play in the NBL and the women's team, the Adelaide Lightning who play in the WNBL. The 36ers play their home games at the Adelaide Arena while the Lightning mostly play at the Wayville Sports Centre and occasionally at The Dome. Adelaide has a professional netball team, the Adelaide Thunderbirds play in the trans-Tasman netball competition, the ANZ Championship, with home games played at ETSA Park. The Thunderbirds also occasionally play games or finals at The Dome or the Adelaide Entertainment Centre. Adelaide hosts the Tour Down Under bicycle race, the largest cycling event outside Europe and the first event outside Europe with UCI ProTour status.

The Australian Grand Prix for Formula One racing was hosted by Adelaide from 1985 to 1995 on a street circuit in the city's eastern parklands. The Grand Prix became a source of pride and losing the event to Melbourne in a surprise announcement left a void that has since been filled with the highly successful Clipsal 500 for V8 Supercar racing, held on a modified version of the same street circuit. The Classic Adelaide, a rally of classic sporting vehicles, is also held in the city and its surrounds.

The World Solar Challenge race attracts teams from around the world, most of which are fielded by universities or corporations although some are fielded by high schools. The race has a 20-year history spanning nine races, with the inaugural event taking place in 1987. Adelaide will host the 2012 World Bowls Championships at Lockleys Bowling Club. Adelaide will become the third city in the world to have held the championships twice, having previously hosted the event in 1996.

[[File:Adelaide.jpg|center|800px|thumb|360-degree panoramic view of the Southern Plaza of the Festival Theatre Centre. (From left-to-right, starting SE): Background: (SE): Government House, The Myer Centre, (S): Parliament House, Dame Roma Mitchell Building (SW): Adelaide Railway Station/Casino/Hyatt Hotel Foreground: (SE): Southern Plaza, (S-to-W): ''City Sign'' Background:(W-to-N): Adelaide Festival Centre: The Dunstan Playhouse, The Space Theatre, The outdoor amphitheatre, The Festival Theatre Foreground:(W-to-N): Southern Plaza Background:(N-to-NE): The Festival Theatre (northern) Plaza, (NE-to-E): Trees along King William Road Foreground:(N-to-E): Stairs from Southern Plaza down to Festival Theatre Plaza, and Southern Plaza.]]

Infrastructure

Health

Adelaide's first hospital is the Royal Adelaide Hospital (RAH). Founded in 1840, it is one of the major hospitals in Adelaide and is a teaching hospital of the University of Adelaide. It has a capacity of 705 beds. Two other RAH campuses which specialise in specific patient services are located in the suburbs of Adelaide – the Hampstead Rehabilitation Centre in Northfield, and the Glenside Campus Mental Health Service. Four other large hospitals in the Adelaide area are: the Women's and Children's Hospital (305 beds), which is located on King William Road in North Adelaide; the Queen Elizabeth Hospital (340 beds), located in Woodville, the Flinders Medical Centre (580 beds), located in Bedford Park and in the northern suburbs, and the Lyell McEwin Hospital (198 beds) in Elizabeth. These hospitals are also associated with medical schools. The Women's and Children's, the Queen Elizabeth and the Lyell McEwin are affiliated with the University of Adelaide, Flinders Medical Centre is affiliated Flinders University, and the Lyell McEwin is also affiliated with the University of South Australia.

In June 2007 the State Government announced a series of overhauls to the health sector that would see a new hospital constructed on railyards at the west end of the city, to replace the Royal Adelaide Hospital located at the east end of the city. Should it go ahead, the new 800 bed hospital would cost A$1.7 bn and be named the "Marjorie Jackson-Nelson Hospital" after the former Governor of South Australia. However, in 2009, at the former governor's request, the state government chose to drop this name and instead transfer the Royal Adelaide Hospital name to the proposed facility.

In addition, major upgrades would see the Flinders Medical Centre become the primary centre for health care for the southern suburbs, while upgrades for the Lyell McEwin Hospital in Elizabeth would see that become the centre for the northern suburbs. The trio of the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, the Modbury Hospital and the Noarlunga Hospital would become specialist elective surgery centres. The Repatriation General Hospital would also expand its range of speciality areas beyond veterans' health to incorporate stroke, orthopaedic rehabilitation and aged care. With the "Global Financial Crisis" of 2008, it remains to be seen if and how these initiatives will proceed.

Transport

Being centrally located on the Australian mainland, Adelaide forms a strategic transport hub for east-west and north-south routes. The city itself has a metropolitan-wide public transport system, which is managed by and known as the Adelaide Metro. The Adelaide Metro consists of a contracted bus system including the O-Bahn Busway, metropolitan railways, and the Adelaide-Glenelg Tram, which was extended as a metropolitan tram in 2010 through the city centre to the inner north-west suburb of Hindmarsh.

Road transport in Adelaide has historically been comparatively easier than many of the other Australian cities, with a well-defined city layout and wide multiple-lane roads from the beginning of its development. Historically, Adelaide was known as a "twenty-minute city", with commuters having been able to travel from metropolitan outskirts to the city proper in roughly twenty minutes. However, these roads are now often considered inadequate to cope with Adelaide's growing road traffic, and often experience traffic congestion.

Adelaide has one freeway and two expressways; the South Eastern Freeway, connecting the city with the Adelaide Hills and beyond to Murray Bridge, the Port River Expressway connecting Port Adelaide and Outer Harbor to interstate routes, and the Southern Expressway, an interchangeable one-way road connecting the southern suburbs with the city proper. The Gawler Bypass skirting Gawler is another expressway style, high speed inter-urban corridor. In February 2010, the current state government announced plans to upgrade the Southern Expressway to a dual direction expressway if it was re-elected at the next State election.

A third expressway, the Northern Expressway (formerly the Sturt Highway extension), a northern suburbs bypass route—connecting the Gawler Bypass to Port Wakefield Road—started construction in 2008. There are also plans for major upgrades to busy sections of South Road, including road widening and underpasses of Anzac Highway (completed in 2009), Grange Road, Port Road and the Outer Harbour Railway Line, during the first stage.

Airports

The Adelaide metropolitan area has two commercial Airports, Adelaide and Parafield.

Adelaide Airport, located in Adelaide's western suburbs, is designed to serve in excess of 6.3 million passengers annually. The dual international/domestic terminal named T1 incorporates glass aerobridges and has the ability to cater for the Airbus A380. The airport is designed to handle 27 aircraft simultaneously and is capable of processing 3,000 passengers per hour. Unusually for a major city, it is located only seven kilometres (4.4 mi) from the Adelaide city centre. The airport is serviced by five international airlines in addition to domestic, regional and charter operators, including: Air New Zealand, Qantas, Virgin Australia, Cathay Pacific, Malaysia Airlines, Singapore Airlines, Pacific Blue Airlines, QantasLink and Tiger Airways Australia. Adelaide airport currently has direct flights servicing Denpasar (Bali, Indonesia), Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia), Nadi (Fiji), Hong Kong, Singapore and Auckland (New Zealand). In March 2007, Adelaide Airport was rated the world's second best airport in the 5–15 million passengers category at the Airports Council International (ACI) 2006 awards in Dubai.

Parafield Airport, Adelaide's second airport, located eighteen kilometres (11.2 mi) north of the CBD, is used for small aircraft, pilot training and recreational aviation purposes.

Utilities

Adelaide's energy requirements are met by a variety of companies who separately provide for the generation, transmission, distribution and retail sales of gas and electricity. Some of the major companies are: TRUenergy, which generates electricity; ElectraNet, which transmits electricity from the generators to the distribution network; ETSA Utilities (formerly a government-owned company which was privatised by the Olsen Government in the 1990s), which distributes electricity from transmission companies to end users; and AGL Energy, which retails gas and electricity. Substantial investment has been made in maintenance and reinforcement of the electricity supply network to provide continued reliability of supply.

Adelaide derives most of its electricity from a gas-fired plant operated by AGL Energy at Torrens Island, with more coming from power stations at Port Augusta and Pelican Point, and from connections to the national grid. Gas is mainly supplied from the Moomba Gas Processing Plant in the Cooper Basin, and is piped to Adelaide and other areas within the state. A small part of supply also comes from wind turbines at Sellicks Hill, and a trial of more turbines on city buildings is underway.

Adelaide's water supply is gained from its reservoirs: Mount Bold, Happy Valley, Myponga, Millbrook, Hope Valley, Little Para and South Para. The yield from these reservoir catchments can be as little as 10% of the city's requirements in drought years and about 60% in average years. The remaining demand is met by the pumping of water from the River Murray. A sea water desalination plant capable of supplying half of Adelaide's water requirements (100GL per annum) is currently being planned, with construction expected to be completed by 2012. The provision of water services is by the government-owned SA Water.

Sister cities

See also

Adelaide city centre

City of Adelaide

Music of Adelaide

South Australian wine

Port Adelaide

Lists:

Images of Adelaide (Commons)

List of Adelaide parks and gardens

List of Adelaide railway stations

List of Adelaide suburbs

List of bus routes in Adelaide

List of people from Adelaide

List of sports clubs in Adelaide

List of tallest buildings in Adelaide

References

Further reading

Kathryn Gargett; Susan Marsden, ''Adelaide: A Brief History'' Adelaide: State History Centre, History Trust of South Australia in association with Adelaide City Council, 1996 ISBN 0-7308-0116-0

Susan Marsden; Paul Stark; Patricia Sumerling, eds, ''Heritage of the City of Adelaide: an illustrated guide'' Adelaide: Adelaide City Council, 1990, 1996 ISBN 0-9098-6630-9

Derek Whitelock et al., ''Adelaide: a sense of difference'' Melbourne: Arcadia, 2000 ISBN 0-87560-657-1

External links

City of Adelaide

Adelaide City Council

SA Central

Equirectangular Image of North Terrace, Adelaide

Category:Adelaide Category:Australian capital cities Category:Cities in South Australia Category:Coastal cities in Australia Category:Populated places established in 1836 Category:1836 establishments in Australia

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Name	Dave Grohl
Background	solo_singer
Landscape	Yes
Birth name	David Eric Grohl
Alias	Late! (pseudonym for his solo album ''Pocketwatch''), Probot
Birth date	January 14, 1969
Birth place	Warren, Ohio
Genre	Alternative rock, grunge, hardcore punk, hard rock, heavy metal
Occupation	Musician, singer-songwriter
Years active	1981–present
Instrument	Vocals, drums, guitar, bass guitar, piano
Label	RCA Capitol DGC Dischord
Associated acts	Nirvana, Foo Fighters, Scream, Them Crooked Vultures, Probot, Queens of the Stone Age, Tenacious D
notable instruments	Gibson SG Custom Gibson DG-335/Trini LopezGibson Firebird }}

David Eric "Dave" Grohl (born January 14, 1969) is an American rock musician, multi-instrumentalist, and singer-songwriter who is the lead vocalist, guitarist, and primary songwriter for the Foo Fighters; the former drummer for Nirvana and Scream; and the current drummer for Them Crooked Vultures. He has also written all the music for his short-lived side projects Late! and Probot as well as being involved with Queens of the Stone Age. Furthermore, he has performed session work for a variety of musicians, including Killing Joke, Nine Inch Nails, The Prodigy, Slash, Juliette Lewis, and Lemmy Kilmister. In total, he has performed in over 30 bands.

Early life

As a child, Grohl's family relocated from Warren, Ohio, to Springfield, Virginia, a suburb of Washington, D.C. Three years later, when Grohl was six, his parents divorced, and Grohl grew up living with his mother. His early influences also involved tutorials in drumming from "Treasures of the Earth" drummer Timothy Aldridge.

At the age of twelve, Grohl began learning to play guitar. He quickly grew tired of lessons and instead taught himself, and began playing in bands with friends. A year later, Grohl and his sister spent the summer in Evanston, Illinois, at their cousin Tracy's house. Tracy introduced them to punk rock by taking the pair to shows by a variety of punk bands. "From then on we were totally punk," Grohl explained. "We went home and bought ''Maximumrocknroll'' and tried to figure it all out."

In Virginia, Grohl attended Thomas Jefferson High School as a freshman and sophomore. He was elected vice president of his freshman class and played bits of songs by bands like the Circle Jerks and Bad Brains over the school intercom before his morning announcements. During his junior year, Grohl and his mother decided that he should transfer to Bishop Ireton High School in Alexandria because his marijuana usage was affecting his grades.

While in high school, Grohl played in several local bands, including a stint on guitar in a band called Freak Baby. While playing in Freak Baby, he taught himself to play drums. When Freak Baby kicked out its bass player, Grohl decided to switch to drums, and the new band called themselves Mission Impossible. During his developing years as a drummer, Grohl cited John Bonham as his greatest influence, and eventually had Bonham's three-circle logo tattooed on his wrist. Mission Impossible later rebranded themselves Fast before breaking up, after which Grohl joined the post-punk-influenced hardcore punk band Dain Bramage.

Many of Grohl's early influences were gained at the 9:30 club, a live music venue in Washington D.C.: "I went to the 9:30 club hundreds of times. I was always so excited to get there, and I was always bummed when it closed. I spent my teenage years at the club and saw some shows that changed my life."

Musical career

Scream

At the age of seventeen, Grohl auditioned with local DC favorites Scream to fill the vacancy left by the departure of drummer Kent Stax. In order to be lined up for the audition, Grohl had lied about his age, claiming he was 20. To Grohl's surprise, the band asked him to join. After waffling for a brief period, Grohl accepted the offer. Grohl dropped out of high school in his junior year; he said, "I was seventeen and extremely anxious to see the world, so I did it." Over the next four years, Grohl toured extensively with the band, recording a couple of live albums (their May 4, 1990 show in Alzey, Germany being released by Tobby Holzinger as Your Choice Live Series Vol.10) and two studio albums, ''No More Censorship'' and ''Fumble'', on which Grohl penned and sang vocals on the song "Gods Look Down".

While playing in Scream, Grohl became a fan of Melvins and eventually befriended the band. During a 1990 tour stop on the west coast, The Melvins' Buzz Osborne took a couple of his friends, Kurt Cobain and Krist Novoselic, to see the band.

Nirvana

A few months later, Scream unexpectedly disbanded following the departure of its bass player. Grohl called Osborne for advice, and the latter gave Grohl's phone number to Krist Novoselic, who invited Grohl to Seattle, where Grohl would attend Nirvana's infamous show at the Motor Sports Garage, the one Nirvana show that featured Dan Peters on drums. (Grohl admitted to ''Rolling Stone'' magazine in 2005 that he spent most of Nirvana's set outside talking to a friend.) Grohl subsequently auditioned for the band, and soon joined them full-time.

At the time that Grohl joined Nirvana, the band had already recorded several demos for what would be the follow-up to their debut album ''Bleach'', having spent time recording with producer Butch Vig in Wisconsin. Initially, the plans were to release the album on Sub Pop, but the band found itself receiving a great deal of major label interest based on the demos. Grohl spent the initial months with Nirvana traveling to various major labels as the band shopped for a deal, eventually signing with DGC Records. In the spring of 1991, the band entered the studio to record the album.

Upon its release, ''Nevermind'' exceeded all expectations and became a massive success, catapulting the band to worldwide stardom. At the same time, Grohl found himself fighting with his status in the band. While his drumming style was a significant element in the band's success, Grohl saw himself as just another in a long line of drummers. In his mind, Nirvana was the band that recorded ''Bleach''; his arrival had altered that sound dramatically, and, as he saw it, not necessarily in a positive way. Though Grohl had been writing songs for several years, he declined to introduce his songs to the band for fear of damaging the band's chemistry. Instead, Grohl compiled his songs and recorded them himself, releasing a cassette called ''Pocketwatch'' in 1992 on indie label Simple Machines. Rather than using his own name, Grohl released the cassette under the pseudonym "Late!".

In the later years of Nirvana, Grohl's songwriting contributions increased. In Grohl's initial months in Seattle, Cobain overheard him working on a song called "Color Pictures of a Marigold", and the two ended up working on it. Grohl would later record the song for the ''Pocketwatch'' cassette. During the sessions for ''In Utero'', he decided to re-record the song, and the band released this version as a b-side on the "Heart-Shaped Box" single, titled simply "Marigold". Earlier, as the band worked on new material for ''In Utero'', Grohl contributed the main guitar riff for what ended up becoming "Scentless Apprentice". Cobain conceded in a late 1993 MTV interview that he initially thought the riff was "kind of boneheaded", but was gratified at how the song developed (a process captured in part in a demo on the Nirvana box set ''With the Lights Out''). Cobain noted that he was excited at the possibility of having Novoselic and Grohl contribute more to the band's songwriting.

Prior to their 1994 European tour, the band decided to schedule session time at Robert Lang Studios in Seattle to work on demos. For most of the three-day session, Cobain was absent, so Novoselic and Grohl worked on demos of their own songs. The duo completed several of Grohl's songs, including future Foo Fighters songs "Exhausted", "Big Me", "February Stars", and "Butterflies". On the third day of the session, Cobain finally arrived, and the band recorded a demo of a song later named "You Know You're Right". It was the band's final studio recording.

Foo Fighters

Following Cobain's death in April 1994, Grohl retreated, unsure of where to go and what to do with himself. In October 1994, Grohl scheduled studio time, again at Robert Lang's Studio, and quickly recorded a fifteen-track demo. With the exception of a single guitar part on "X-Static" played by Greg Dulli of the Afghan Whigs, Grohl performed all of the instruments himself.

At the same time, Grohl wondered if his future might be in drumming for other bands. In November, Grohl took a brief turn with Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, including a memorable performance on ''Saturday Night Live''. Petty asked him to join permanently, but Grohl realized that his future lay elsewhere, and thus he declined the invitation. Grohl's name was also rumored as a possible replacement for Pearl Jam drummer Dave Abbruzzese, and Grohl even performed with the band for a song or two at three shows during Pearl Jam's March 1995 Australian tour. However, by then, Pearl Jam had already settled on ex- Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer, Jack Irons, and Grohl had other solo plans in the works.

After passing the demo around, Grohl found himself with considerable major label interest. Nirvana's A&R rep Gary Gersh had subsequently taken over as president of Capitol Records and lured Grohl to sign with the label. Grohl did not want the effort to be considered the start of a solo career so he recruited other band members: former Germs and touring Nirvana guitarist Pat Smear, and two members of the band Sunny Day Real Estate, William Goldsmith (drums) and Nate Mendel (bass). Rather than re-record the album, Grohl's demo was given a professional mix by Rob Schnapf and Tom Rothrock and was released in July 1995 as Foo Fighters' debut album.

During a break between tours, the band entered the studio and recorded a cover of Gary Numan's "Down in the Park". In February 1996, Grohl and his then-wife Jennifer Youngblood made a brief cameo appearance on the X-Files third season episode "Pusher". (The two can be spotted walking in the FBI building, just after the Pusher character has put on his phony pass. Grohl pauses to look at his watch.)

After touring for the self-titled album for more than a year, Grohl returned home and began work on the soundtrack to the 1997 movie ''Touch''. Grohl performed all of the instruments and vocals himself, save for vocals from Veruca Salt singer Louise Post on the title track, and vocals and guitar by X's John Doe on "This Loving Thing (Lynn's Song)". Grohl completed the recording in two weeks, and immediately joined Foo Fighters to work on their follow-up.

In the midst of the initial sessions for Foo Fighters' second album, tension emerged between Grohl and Goldsmith. According to Goldsmith, "Dave had me do 96 takes of one song, and I had to do thirteen hours' worth of takes on another one. ... It just seemed that everything I did wasn't good enough for him, or anyone else." Goldsmith also believed that Capitol and producer Gil Norton wanted Grohl to drum on the album. With the album seemingly complete, Grohl headed home to Virginia with a copy of the rough mixes, and found himself unhappy with the results. Grohl penned a few new songs, recording one of them, "Walking After You", by himself at a studio in Washington, DC. Inspired by the session, Grohl opted to move the band, without Goldsmith's knowledge, to Los Angeles to re-record most of the album with Grohl behind the kit. After the sessions were complete, Goldsmith officially announced his departure from the band.

The effort was released in May 1997 as the band's second album, ''The Colour and the Shape'', which eventually cemented Foo Fighters as a staple of rock radio. The album spawned several hits, including "Everlong", "My Hero", and "Monkey Wrench". Just prior to the album's release, former Alanis Morissette drummer Taylor Hawkins joined the band on drums. The following September, Smear (a close friend of Jennifer Youngblood) left the band, citing a need to settle down following a lifetime of touring. Smear was subsequently replaced by Grohl's former Scream bandmate Franz Stahl. (Stahl departed the band prior to recording of Foo Fighters' third album and was replaced by touring guitarist Chris Shiflett, who later became a full-fledged member during the recording of ''One by One''.)

Grohl's life of non-stop touring and travel continued with Foo Fighters' popularity. During his infrequent pauses he lived in Seattle and Los Angeles before returning to Alexandria, Virginia. It was there that he turned his basement into a recording studio where the 1999 album ''There Is Nothing Left to Lose'' was recorded.

In 2000, the band recruited Queen guitarist Brian May to add some guitar flourish to a cover of Pink Floyd's "Have a Cigar", a song which Foo Fighters previously recorded as a b-side. The friendship between the two bands resulted in Grohl and Taylor Hawkins being asked to induct Queen into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2001. Grohl and Hawkins joined May and Queen drummer Roger Taylor to perform "Tie Your Mother Down", with Grohl standing in on vocals for Freddie Mercury. (May later contributed guitar work for the song "Tired of You" on the ensuing Foo Fighters album, as well as on an unreleased Foo Fighters song called "Knucklehead".)

Near the end of 2001, Foo Fighters returned to the studio to work on their fourth album. After four months in the studio, with the sessions finished, Grohl accepted an invitation to join Queens of the Stone Age and helped them to record their 2002 album ''Songs for the Deaf''. (Grohl can be seen drumming for the band in the video for the song "No One Knows".) After a brief tour through North America, Britain and Japan with the band and feeling rejuvenated by the effort, Grohl recalled the other band members to completely re-record their album at his studio in Virginia. The effort became their fourth album, ''One by One''. While initially pleased with the results, in another 2005 ''Rolling Stone'' interview, Dave Grohl admitted to not liking the record: "Four of the songs were good, and the other seven I never played again in my life. We rushed into it, and we rushed out of it."

On November 23, 2002, Grohl achieved a historical milestone by replacing himself on the top of the ''Billboard'' Modern Rock chart, when "You Know You're Right" by Nirvana was replaced by "All My Life" by Foo Fighters. When "All My Life" ended its run, after a one week respite, "No One Knows" by Queens of the Stone Age took the number one spot. Between October 26, 2002 and March 1, 2003 Grohl was in the number one spot on the Modern Rock charts for 17 of 18 successive weeks, as a member of three different groups.

Grohl and Foo Fighters released their fifth album ''In Your Honor'' on June 14, 2005. Prior to starting work on the album, the band spent almost a year relocating Grohl's home-based Virginia studio to a brand new facility, dubbed Studio 606, located in a warehouse near Los Angeles. Featuring collaborations with John Paul Jones of Led Zeppelin, Josh Homme of Queens of the Stone Age and Norah Jones, the album was a departure from previous efforts, and included one rock and one acoustic disc.

Foo Fighters's sixth studio album ''Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace'' was released on September 25, 2007. It was recorded during a three-month period between March 2007 and June 2007, and its release was preceded by the first single "The Pretender" on September 17. The second single, "Long Road to Ruin", was released on December 3, 2007, followed by the third single, "Let It Die", June 24, 2008.

On November 3, 2009 Foo Fighters released their first ''Greatest Hits'' collection, consisting of 16 tracks including a previously unreleased acoustic version of "Everlong" and two new tracks "Wheels" and "Word Forward" which were produced by Nevermind's producer Butch Vig. Grohl has been quoted saying the ''Greatest Hits'' is too early and "...can look like an obituary." He does not feel they have written their best hits yet.

The Foo Fighters' seventh studio album, ''Wasting Light'', was released on April 12, 2011. It is the first Foo Fighters album to reach #1 in the United States.

Other projects

Apart from his main bands, Grohl has been involved in other music projects. In 1992, Grohl played drums on Buzz Osborne's Kiss-styled solo-EP ''King Buzzo'', where he was credited as ''Dale Nixon'', a pseudonym that Greg Ginn adopted to play bass on Black Flag's ''My War''. Grohl also released the music cassette Pocketwatch under the pseudonym ''Late!'' on the now defunct indie label, Simple Machines.

In 1993, Grohl was recruited to help recreate the music of The Beatles' early years for the movie ''Backbeat''. Grohl played drums in an "all-star" lineup that included Greg Dulli of the Afghan Whigs, indie producer Don Fleming, Mike Mills of R.E.M., Thurston Moore of Sonic Youth, and Dave Pirner of Soul Asylum. A music video was filmed for the song "Money (That's What I Want)" while Grohl was with Nirvana on their 1994 European tour, footage of Grohl was filmed later and included.

Later in 1994, Grohl played drums on two tracks for Mike Watt's ''Ball-Hog or Tugboat?''. In early 1995, Grohl and Foo Fighters played their first US tour opening for Watt, and helped make up Watt's supporting band. Nicknamed the "Ringspiel" tour, Watt's band featured Grohl and William Goldsmith on drums, Eddie Vedder and Pat Smear on guitar, and Watt on bass.

During the early 2000s, Grohl spent time in his basement studio writing and recording a number of songs for a "metal" project. Over the span of several years, Grohl recruited his favorite metal vocalists from the 1980s, including Lemmy of Motörhead, Conrad "Cronos" Lant from Venom, King Diamond, Scott Weinrich, and Max Cavalera of Sepultura, to perform the vocals for the songs. The project was released in 2004 under the moniker Probot.

Also in 2003, Grohl stepped behind the kit to perform on Killing Joke's second self-titled album. The move surprised some Nirvana fans, given that Nirvana had been accused of stealing the opening riff of "Come as You Are" from Killing Joke's 1984 song "Eighties". However, the controversy failed to create a lasting rift between the bands. Foo Fighters covered Killing Joke's "Requiem" during the late 1990s, and were even joined by Killing Joke singer Jaz Coleman for a performance of the song at a show in New Zealand in 2003.

Grohl lent his drumming skills to other artists during the early 2000s. In 2000, Dave played drums and sang on a track, "Goodbye Lament", from Tony Iommi's album ''Iommi''. In 2001, Grohl performed on Tenacious D's debut album, and appeared in the video for lead single "Tribute" as Satan. He later appeared in the duo's 2006 movie ''Tenacious D in The Pick of Destiny'' as Beelzeboss and performed on its soundtrack. In 2002, Grohl helped Chan Marshall of Cat Power on the album ''You Are Free'' and played with Queens of the Stone Age on their album ''Songs for the Deaf''. Grohl also toured with the band in support of the album, delaying work on the Foo Fighters' album One by One. In 2004, Grohl drummed on several tracks for Nine Inch Nails' 2005 album ''With Teeth''. He also drummed on the song "Bad Boyfriend" on Garbage's 2005 album ''Bleed Like Me''. Most recently, he recorded all the drums on Juliette and the Licks's 2006 album ''Four on the Floor'' and the song "For Us" from Pete Yorn's 2006 album ''Nightcrawler''. Beyond drumming, Grohl contributed guitar to a cover of Neil Young's "I've Been Waiting For You" on David Bowie's 2002 album ''Heathen''.

In June 2008, Grohl was Paul McCartney's special guest for a concert at the Anfield football stadium in Liverpool, in one of the central events of the English city's year as European Capital of Culture. Grohl joined McCartney's band singing backup vocals and playing guitar on "Band on the Run" and drums on "Back in the U.S.S.R." and "I Saw Her Standing There". Grohl also performed with McCartney at the 51st Grammy Awards, again playing drums on "I Saw Her Standing There". Grohl also helped pay tribute to McCartney at the 2010 Kennedy Center Honors along with No Doubt, Norah Jones, Steven Tyler, James Taylor, and Mavis Staples. He sang a duet version of "Maybe I'm Amazed" with Norah Jones on Dec. 5 2010.

Grohl played drums on the tracks 'Run With The Wolves' and 'Stand Up' on The Prodigy's 2009 album Invaders Must Die. In July 2009, it was revealed that Grohl was recording with Josh Homme and John Paul Jones as Them Crooked Vultures. The trio performed their first show together on August 9, 2009 at Metro in Chicago. The band played their first UK gig on August 26, 2009, with a surprise appearance at Brixton Academy in London, supporting the Arctic Monkeys. The band released their debut album Them Crooked Vultures on November 16, 2009 in the UK and November 17, 2009 in the US. Grohl has recently been involved in producing emerging Brit-rock outift A Band Called Bert, notably on the track ''It's Over Now''.

On February 6, 2010, Grohl performed with his band Them Crooked Vultures the songs "Mind Eraser, No Chaser" and "New Fang" as musical guests on Saturday Night Live. Dave Grohl appeared as an old punk rock drummer reuniting the group "Crisis of Conformity" after 25 years in a skit later on in the episode.

On October 23, 2010, Grohl performed with Tenacious D at Blizzcon. He appeared as the drummer for the entire concert.

Also in 2010, Grohl helped write and performed on drums for "Watch This" with guitarist Slash and Duff McKagan on Slash's self titled album that also included many other famous artists.

Outside of his music projects, Grohl will be making a cameo in the 2011 film ''The Muppets''.

Personal life

Grohl has been married twice. He was first married to photographer Jennifer Youngblood from 1993 to 1997. After their divorce, Grohl had relationships with Louise Post from Veruca Salt, solo artist and Hole bassist Melissa Auf Der Maur, and pro-snowboarder Tina Basich.

He then went on to marry Jordyn Blum on August 2, 2003, at their home in Los Angeles. Guests included Clive Davis, Jack Black, and former Nirvana bandmate Krist Novoselic. On April 15, 2006, their daughter Violet Maye was born in Los Angeles, being named after Grohl's maternal grandmother. Earlier that year, Foo Fighters bandmate Taylor Hawkins told MTV, "We're going to be touring Europe in January and February, but we've got to be home by March, because Dave and his wife are having a baby," he said, adding, "but I probably wasn't supposed to tell you that." Grohl said that he had been playing music to his unborn child, saying "she 'likes' The Beatles. Doesn't really get down to The Beach Boys. Digs Mozart." On April 17, 2009, Grohl's second child, daughter Harper Willow, was born.

Grohl has been vocal in his views on drug misuse, contributing to a 2009 anti-drug video for the BBC. "I have never done cocaine, ever in my life. I have never done heroin, I have never done speed," he said in a 2008 interview, adding that he had stopped smoking marijuana and taking acid at the age of 20. In the BBC video he said "I've seen people die. It ain't easy being young, but that stuff doesn't make it any easier".

In May 2006, Grohl sent a note of support to the two trapped miners in the Beaconsfield mine collapse in Tasmania, Australia. In the initial days following the collapse, one of the men requested an iPod with Foo Fighters album ''In Your Honor'', to be sent down to them through a small hole. Grohl's note read, in part, "Though I'm halfway around the world right now, my heart is with you both, and I want you to know that when you come home, there's two tickets to any Foos show, anywhere, and two cold beers waiting for yous. Deal?" In October 2006, one of the miners took up his offer, joining Grohl for a drink after Foo Fighters acoustic concert at the Sydney Opera House. Grohl wrote an instrumental piece for the meeting, which Grohl pledged he would include on the band's next album. The song, titled "Ballad of the Beaconsfield Miners," appears on Foo Fighters' 2007 release ''Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace'', and features Kaki King.

In August 2009 Grohl was given the key to the city of Warren, Ohio and performed the songs "Everlong", "Times Like These", and "My Hero". A roadway in downtown Warren named "David Grohl Alley" has been dedicated to him with murals by local artists.

In 2000 while on tour with Foo Fighters in Australia, Grohl was arrested by Australian police while driving a scooter for driving under the influence following a concert on the Gold Coast in Queensland. He was fined $400 and had his Australian driving permit revoked for three months. Following the incident Grohl stated: "So, people, I guess if there's anything to learn here, it's: don't drive after a few beers, even if you feel entirely capable like I did."

Discography

Notes

References

External links

Foo Fighters official website

Dave Grohl Band Discography

Live Review at ArtistDirect.com

Category:1969 births Category:American male singers Category:American multi-instrumentalists Category:American music video directors Category:American punk rock drummers Category:American rock drummers Category:American rock guitarists Category:American rock singer-songwriters Category:Backing vocalists Category:Foo Fighters members Category:Grammy Award winners Category:Grunge musicians Category:Killing Joke members Category:Musicians from Ohio Category:Musicians from Virginia Category:Nirvana members Category:People from Fairfax County, Virginia Category:People from Warren, Ohio Category:Queens of the Stone Age members Category:Scream members Category:Living people Category:English-language singers Category:American heavy metal drummers

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Name	Shannon Noll
Background	solo_singer
Birth date	September 16, 1975
Origin	Condobolin, New South Wales, Australia
Genre	Country rock, Rock
Occupation	Singer-songwriter
Years active	2003–present
Label	Sony Music (2003—2009) Universal Music Australia (2010-present)
Website	Official Website }}

Shannon Noll (born 16 September 1975) first came to prominence as runner-up of the first series of ''Australian Idol'' (2003) which led to him being signed to Sony BMG. Since then he has released four Top 10 albums and ten Top 10 singles. His first two albums ''That's What I'm Talking About'' in 2004 and ''Lift'' in 2005 debuted at No. 1 on the ARIA charts and both reached multi platinum accreditation. His third album ''Turn It Up'' released in 2007, debuted at No. 3 and was accredited platinum. His most recent album ''No Turning Back: The Story So Far'' containing some of his previous hits and five new songs was released in 2008, debuting at No. 7. Noll's first ten singles released between February 2004 and September 2007 all peaked inside the Aria Top 10. He is the only Australian artist in Australian chart history to have ten consecutive Top 10 singles. Seven of these singles were Top 5 with three of those debuting at No. 1.

Noll has 17 platinum and two gold accreditations for albums and singles according to Australian Recording Industry Association records, and has sales of over 1.3 million. This is the second highest accreditation and sales level for an Australian Idol contestant, and the highest for a non winner. Noll received Aria nominations for highest seller for his debut album and single in 2004, and for the single "Shine" in 2006. His second album ''Lift'' was also nominated for Best Pop release in that year. He won MTV awards for Best Male Artist three years in succession between 2005 and 2007.

Noll also had chart success in two other countries in 2004. His debut single "What About Me" reached No. 2 in Ireland and No. 10 in New Zealand. His debut album also peaked at No. 31 in the New Zealand charts. An album of his Australian hits called ''What Matters Most'' was released in the UK and Ireland in June 2009 to coincide with his tour there with the stage production of The War Of The Worlds. On 5 January 2010 the Daily Telegraph reported Noll was no longer signed to Sony, and that he was looking for a new label. Noll is now signed to Universal Music.

Early life

Noll was born in Orange, New South Wales and grew up in the small town of Condobolin in central western New South Wales. He is the youngest of three children to parents Sharyn and Neil Noll and along with brothers Adam and Damian, spent their entire childhood and teenage years on the family farm which ran sheep and cattle and grew cereal crops. At school, Noll enjoyed drama classes, performing in a number of school productions. Noll has since expressed a desire to continue his acting work. After leaving school, Noll traveled to Sydney and played football. It was here where he met his current wife Rochelle.

During his adult years, Noll began working on other farms and properties shearing sheep amongst other tasks. It was during this time Noll and his brothers formed the band called "Cypress" (named for the fact that they rehearsed in a timber mill). Shannon provided vocals and played guitar. In numerous small gigs around the Australian outback, the band played in country pubs gaining a solid live reputation. Although they performed mainly covers, the group also wrote original music they would include as part of their set.

Neil, Noll's father, was killed during a farming accident in 2001, which left running the farm to Shannon and his brothers. After two years of extreme drought the brothers sold the farm and settled in Condobolin with their mother. Shannon often cites the death of his father as a major inspiration in his musical career, and penned a song on his latest album Lift titled "Now I Run" in memory of his father.

Noll and his wife Rochelle Ogston began their relationship in 1997. They have two sons Cody (2001) and Blake (2002). They wed in October 2004 and had a daughter, Sienna (2006).

Australian Idol

By 2003, Noll was in debt and out of work following the sale of the farm. His brothers and good friend Michael Hunter, encouraged him to travel to Melbourne to audition for the 2003 debut season of "Australian Idol". Noll impressed the judges Mark Holden, Marcia Hines, and Ian Dickson with his audition in which he performed the Southern Sons' ''Hold Me In Your Arms''. After his audition, Marcia Hines praised Shannon and told him that she had just discovered '' "a voice" '' and Ian Dickson informed Shannon that '' "...Australia will love you" ''

Following his initial audition, Noll made his way into the Top 32 semi-final where he performed a rendition of Robbie Williams' hit "Better Man". The viewing audience voted Noll into the Top 12. Over eight weeks of performance shows, Noll found himself in the bottom three only once – following his performance of Bon Jovi's "Livin' On A Prayer" during The 80s theme night. Throughout the show, Noll impressed both the judges and audience with performances of songs as diverse as Powderfinger's "Already Gone", to The Beatles "Hey Jude" to Jimmy Barnes "Working Class Man".

During the 2003 ''Australian Idol'' series finals, Noll sang:

!Week	!Theme	!Song Sung	!Original Artist
Audition	Contestant's Choice	"Hold Me in Your Arms"	Southern Sons
Top 40	Semifinals		Robbie Williams
Top 12	Time Warp 1 - The 1970s	"Help is On Its Way"	Little River Band
Top 10	Number 1 Smash Hits
Top 8	Aussie Music	"Already Gone"	Powderfinger
Top 6Up, Close & Personal	Time Warp 2 - The 1980s-	"Livin' on a Prayer""With or Without You"	Bon JoviU2
Top 5	R&B MusicSongs of Soul Music	"Higher and Higher (song)	[[Jackie WilsonPercy Sledge
Top 4	Big Bands	"I've Got You Under My Skin (song)	[[Virginia BruceLiza Minnelli
Top 3	Time Warp 3 - The 1960s	"One""Hey Jude"	Harry NilssonThe Beatles
Top 2	Idol's ChoiceIdol's ChoiceWinner's Single	"Please Forgive Me""Working Class Man""Angels Brought Me Here"	Bryan AdamsJimmy BarnesGuy Sebastian

In the weeks leading up to the Grand Final of Idol, Noll recorded his version of the winner's single "Angels Brought Me Here" and filmed the music video for the song, which was to be released the week after the winner was announced. Copies of Noll's version of the song were released to radio stations in anticipation of his win, however Noll's version of the song was subsequently never aired on radio and the music video was never released for television broadcast.

In the week before the Grand Final, Noll and fellow finalist Guy Sebastian embarked on a whirlwind Australia-wide promotional tour. Tens of thousands of fans turned out in support, including 20,000 people in Adelaide and 15,000 in Melbourne.

Noll reached the Grand Final on 19 November 2003 alongside eventual winner Guy Sebastian following fellow contestant, Cosima De Vito's withdrawal from the competition. During the Grand Final show, Noll performed an encore performance of "What About Me", which helped cement the popularity of his version of the song and lead it to being chosen for release as his debut single.

Professional career

2003-2004: ''That's What I'm Talking About''

Noll signed a five album deal with Sony BMG shortly after Australian Idol. It was announced in December 2003 that his debut single would be a cover of the Moving Pictures hit ''What About Me'' performed on Idol. Recording of the single took place during November/December 2003 at Eargasm Studios in Sydney and tracks were chosen and recorded for inclusion on Noll's debut album around the same time.

Shannon Noll's debut single ''What About Me'' was released on 25 January 2004 and debuted at number one on the Australian Singles Chart the following week with sales exceeding 125,000 copies in its first week. At the time, this figure was the third highest one-week sales for a single in Australian chart history. The single earned Noll a nomination for Highest Selling Single at the 2004 ARIA Awards. Over its chart run, ''What About Me'' sold in 280,000 copies and was certified 4x Platinum in March 2004.

Following the success of "What About Me", Noll's full-length debut album ''That's What I'm Talking About'' was released on 9 February 2004 in Australia by Sony BMG.

Noll joined the other Australian Idol Top 12 finalists in January and February 2004 on an arena tour which played to crowds in every Australian capital city. Though, it was at his record-breaking Valentine's Day in-store appearance at Warringah Mall to more than 15,000 fans that Noll announced that the second single from the album was ''Drive''.

Containing a mixture of pop, rock and country tracks recorded over six weeks between December 2003 and January 2004, ''That's What I'm Talking About'' debuted at number one and was certified triple-platinum upon its release. By August 2004, the album was certified as a 3x Platinum seller and remained in the Top 100 Album Chart for almost a year.

''Drive'', an uptempo rock track written by Canadian singer Bryan Adams, was a successful second single from ''That's What I'm Talking About'' in March 2004. Noll undertook a large amount of promotion for the single including performances on television, including ''The NRL Footy Show'' and ''Sunrise''. It reached number four in Australia and was another Platinum seller. Noll later performed ''Drive'' at the 2004 TV Week Logie Awards ceremony.

Solo tour

Noll undertook his first full scale solo tour in May 2004 playing 40 shows in 47 days. Noll later stated in an interview that performing that number of shows in such a small amount of time was something he would never do again.

"Learn To Fly" was the third and final commercial release from That's What I'm Talking About. A limited edition release of 40,000 copies, the single was another success for Noll, debuting at the number one position on the ARIA singles chart on 12 July 2004.

Increased popularity during this period saw him star in his own one-hour TV special on the Ten Network, ''Up Close with Shannon Noll'', hosted by ''Australian Idol'' judge Ian "Dicko" Dickson, screened on 2 August 2004. During the show, Noll spoke candidly about his past and touched on topics including his experiences with drugs and the death of his father. Noll also performed several songs during the special, including "Learn to Fly" which he dedicated to his father, and a duet with Australian Idol judge Marcia Hines. The special rated reasonably well .

In October 2004, Noll achieved overseas success when his single "What About Me" reached number two in Ireland.. Also in October 2004, the Nine Network approached Noll to re-record the World Series Cricket song "C'mon Aussie C'mon" with updated lyrics with names of the current Australian cricket team, for release on 19 December 2004. The single peaked at number two on the ARIA singles chart, raising more than $A150,000 for children's charities.

In December 2004 it was announced that Noll would star in the stage musical production of ''Grease'', which appeared in Australian theatres in May 2005, however, Noll opted out to concentrate on the recording of his second album release, ''Lift''.

2005-2006: '' Lift ''

In early 2005, Noll embarked on a songwriting trip in which he travelled to London, UK, and across America. It was reported early on in the process that Noll had met with hitmaking songwriters Desmond Child, responsible for writing hit songs for Bon Jovi and Aerosmith, and powerballad writer Dianne Warren. Noll later explained that whilst he appreciated the opportunity to work with big name international songwriters, he felt the material being written by local Australian songwriters was more connected to the type of album he wanted to create at the time and that they were the stronger songs.

During his time in America in early 2005, Noll played a handful of small "showcase" style gigs both for Sony BMG executives and the general public, but was unable to obtain a US recording contract. Following the trip, Noll returned to Australia to complete the writing and recording of ''Lift''.

Noll was asked by Canadian artist Bryan Adams to support him on Adams' Australian tour throughout February and March 2005. It was during these concerts that Noll premiered two songs he had written for his new album, ''Lonely'' and the unreleased ''The Winner Takes It All''.

On 25 August 2005, the first single from his second album ''Lift'', entitled ''Shine'' was released to Australian radio. The track premiered simultaneously Australia wide and quickly became one of the most requested songs. The uptempo bouncing pop-rock track moved away from Noll's prior releases and it was commented that Noll's voice and vocal technique had improved since his last recording. ''Shine'' was released as the first single from the album ''Lift'' on 23 September 2005, and debuted at number one on the ARIA singles chart the following week. ''Shine'' was later nominated as Highest Selling Single at the 2005 ARIA Awards.

A week after the release of ''Shine'', Noll's second album ''Lift'' was released on 16 October 2005, and debuted at number one on the ARIA charts the following week. First week shipment and sales of ''Lift'' ensured the album a platinum certification. The album, with 11 out of 13 tracks co-written by Noll, contained some of Noll's most personal songs to date, ranging in topic from finding love to death, overcoming the odds and self belief. Highlight tracks were third and fourth singles ''Now I Run'' and ''Lonely''.

Noll made a special guest appearance at the final of the 2005 season of Australian Idol, where he performed his new single ''Lift''. After the performance, Noll was presented a plaque in honour of sales exceeding one million units in Australia over the previous 18 months.

The title track of Noll's second album, ''Lift'', was released in December 2005. The single was Noll's first not to debut in the top ten, however two weeks after its release, it jumped to number ten, remaining there for several weeks. The track, an uplifting rock influenced song about overcoming the odds and fighting adversity, achieved a gold certification. ''Lift'' spent 35 weeks in the top 100 singles chart, the longest running chart single for an Australian Idol related release. ''Lift'' is the theme song of the Australian version of ''The Biggest Loser''.

In January 2006, Noll performed the song ''Shine'' at the 2006 Australian Open tennis final. The performance sparked renewed interest in the ''Lift'' album which returned to the top ten.

In support of the album's third single release, ''Now I Run'', Noll embarked on a 72-date concert tour across Australia including a gig during the annual Gympie Muster. Once again he focused on some of the more remote and isolated country and rural areas during this tour, one of the few Australian touring acts to do so, and at completion of the tour had played to more than 200,000 people.

In 2006, Noll was courted for a role in an Australian movie based loosely on the life of now-deceased Australian racing legend Peter Brock, but he declined, preferring to focus on his music.

Noll released a further two singles from ''Lift'', ''Now I Run'' and ''Lonely''. Both singles were top 10 hits, increasing his run of top 10 successes to eight. With the release of ''Lonely'', Noll rewrote Australian chart history by having so far achieved nine consecutive top 10 singles (10 including his contribution to the Number 1 hit ''Rise Up'' with the Australian Idol Final 12, 2003). To the end of 2006, Noll has been the only former Australian Idol contestant to have ever been nominated for a music industry-voted award by ARIA. January 2007, the ''Lift'' album remains in the Top 100 ARIA album chart after 64 weeks. It has now charted over a three year period from 2005–2007.

In September 2006, Noll decided not to continue with his managers since his first album, Sydney firm Caplice Management, and signed with Worldwide Entertainment Group. The decision was seen as a positive move in Noll's desire to gain success in America. Worldwise Entertainment Group's press release stated that Noll is a "high priority artist" for them and that an extensive promotional and songwriting trip was organised for America in early 2007.

Noll was chosen as support act for American rock group Live in October 2006, playing each capital city across Australia. Including the tour with Live, Noll has now performed in excess of 300 concerts in the last two and a half years.

On 9 December 2006, Noll released a duet with Rogue Traders singer Natalie Bassingthwaithe. It is a cover of the Peter Gabriel and Kate Bush hit ''Don't Give Up''. The single was yet another success for Noll, peaking at number two on the ARIA singles charts and being certified Platinum with 12 consecutive weeks in the top 10. Proceeds from the single went to the charity "Beyond Blue", which deals with depression.

2007: ''Turn It Up''

Noll spent several months in early 2007 travelling to America to write songs for his upcoming third album. During Noll's "Now I Run" tour in mid 2006, he premiered a new composition entitled "The World Outside" which may find a place on his next album.

It was reported that Noll would be spending time in Nashville, New York, and Los Angeles collaborating with US writers Jon Ingoldsby, Desmond Child, Richie Sambora, and Richard Marx on tracks for possible inclusion on his third album, which has been slated for release in September 2007.

28 February brought nomination for the third consecutive time as "Best Male Artist" at the MTV Australia Awards, an award he won for the previous two years. Noll performed his hit singles ''Shine'' and ''Don't Give Up'' at the opening ceremony of the FINA World Swimming Championships, in Melbourne, Victoria. Noll was the lead act at a large-scale annual public function held on the Queensland Gold Coast.

In 2007 Noll appeared as Parson Nathaniel in the Australian tour of Jeff Wayne's Musical Version of The War of the Worlds.

The first single from Noll's third album ''Turn It Up'' was a track called ''Loud''. A one-minute teaser of the track premiered on the website for the Daily Telegraph. The single included the previously unreleased track ''The World Outside''. ''Turn It Up'' was released on 15 September 2007.

On 21 September, it was confirmed by Noll that his second single from ''Turn It Up'' would be ''In Pieces''. Shannon states, "this song is such a strong ballad and has a personal message for me. I think many people will be able to relate to the message in it." The song reached number 26 on the ARIA Charts and spent 5 weeks in the top 50. Noll performed a great version of the track live on the Australian Idol Grand Finale in front of thousands at the venue and nationwide.

Noll performed as part of the National Rugby League season 2007 Grand Final's pre-match entertainment. He was awarded Best Male in the Australian Nickelodeon Kid's Choice Awards. And the album ''Turn It Up'' received Gold sales status.

2008: Turn It Up Wrap-Up, No Turning Back: The Story So Far & Touring

In January 2008, Noll stated on radio show ''Take 40'' that the third single from the album would be ''Everybody Needs A Little Help''. Promoted on television, it would be released to radio in 2008. No official single release of the track eventuated, rather the single joined "New Beginning" to becoming a radio-only single.

On 30 July 2008, Shannon was honoured on the Australian version of This Is Your Life, which included appearances from his Idol "family", notably Guy Sebastian, Ian Dickson, Cosima De Vito and musical director John Foreman, and an emotional tribute to his father Neil by John Williamson. The event recapped Noll's record-breaking accomplishments and his service to the Australian music industry.

It was announced in early August 2008 that Shannon would be releasing a Greatest Hits compilation before the year's end. Titled, ''No Turning Back: The Story So Far'', the album also contained five new songs and was released on 27 September, with its lead single, "Summertime". The album reached a peak of number 7 on the ARIA charts, with "Summertime" peaking at number 54.

Noll announced a surprise show with former childhood friend Simon Ridley (drummer of influential band DZ). The show was free and played at the famous Tarragindi Fingalbang Arena that has played host to such bands as Crowded House and Nirvana during their final Australian tour.

2009: War of the Worlds & UK Debut

''No Turning Back'' was released to radio as the second single from the compilation, though the track remained a radio-only single (Noll's third) due to Sony wanting to create a break before the release of his fourth studio album.

Shannon appeared as Parson Nathaniel in the 21 date 30th Anniversary tour of Jeff Wayne's War of the Worlds. However he was unable to perform the last 8 concerts including those in Amsterdam and Oberhausen Germany due to a family death. He was replaced by understudy Damien Edwards.

On 4 May 2009, he released his UK debut, ''What Matters the Most''. The album was a compilation of his singles, plus several B-sides. This album did not chart in the UK.

Fifth Album

On 19 September 2008, Noll announced on Australian radio that his untitled fifth album will "most definitely see a release [in 2009]". Noll additionally mentioned that he has been "writing and recording the best demos of [his] career so far" and that he "can't wait to unleash them after ''No Turning Back''". On 10 July 2009, Sony Music officially announced that Noll's album would be released in 2010, due to the string of shows Noll has performed in 2009 and his "War of the Worlds" European Tour commitments.

Noll toured on the GSR's Indian Pacific Christmas train from Sydney to Perth via Adelaide in Dec 2009 entertaining guests at stops along the way.

On 5 January 2010 the Daily Telegraph reported Noll was no longer signed to Sony and was looking for a new record label. Noll signed with Universal Music Australia in June 2010. He is recording his new album. Shannon announced on his facebook page that the new album will be released in the middle of October. The first single is called "Switch Me On" which was co-written by Benji Madden of Good Charlotte, and has so far reached a peak of number 45 on the ARIA Singles Chart.

Charity

Despite the controversies that Noll has encountered, he consistently remains one of Australia's most generous charity workers. He has to date worked to donate well over $1 million to various charities throughout Australia. Most notably, he has donated the complete earnings from two of his singles, ''C'mon Aussie C'mon'' and ''Don't Give Up'' (with Natalie Bassingthwaighte), both of which reached number two on the Australian Singles Chart and were certified Platinum. Noll additionally makes appearances and personally fundraises for numerous charities, including donating items for charity auctions. In July 2010, a towel used at one of his concerts reached a bid of $20 at the Mackay District Police Charity Ball.

Drink driving conviction

Noll was arrested for driving under the influence in December 2004, after attempting to drive home from his local pub. He was disqualified from driving for nine months after pleading guilty. Regarding the incident Noll stated: "It was a stupid mistake...I'm disappointed in myself. It's a silly thing to do but, you know, you learn lessons through life". When asked what his advice would be to other drivers he said, "Don't drink and drive."

Discography

2004: ''That's What I'm Talking About''

2005: ''Lift''

2007: ''Turn It Up''

2008: ''No Turning Back: The Story So Far''

2009: ''What Matters the Most'' (UK debut album)

Awards and nominations

ARIA Music Awards

2004: Nominated - Highest Selling Single - "What About Me"

2004: Nominated - Highest Selling Album - "That's What I'm Talking About"

2006: Nominated - Highest Selling Single - "Shine"

2006: Nominated - Best Pop Release - "Lift"

ARIA Number 1 Chart Awards

2004: Won - Number 1 Album - "That's What I'm Talking About"

2004: Won - Number 1 Single - "What About Me"

2004: Won - Number 1 Single - "Learn To Fly"

2005: Won - Number 1 Album - "Lift"

2005: Won - Number 1 Single - "Shine"

MTV Australia Awards

2005: Won - Best Male Artist

2005: Nominated - Video of the Year - "Drive"

2006: Won - Best Male Artist

2005: Nominated - People's Choice - "Shine"

2007: Won - Best Male Artist

APRA Awards

The APRA Awards are presented annually from 1982 by the Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA). |- | 2007 || "Lift" - Adam Reily, Bryon Jones, Shannon Noll, Andrew Roachford || Most Performed Australian Work ||

Nickelodeon Australian Kids' Choice Awards

2004: Won - Favourite Australian

2004: Won - Favourite Song - "Drive"

2007: Won - Best Male Artist

References

External links

Official Website

Official Forum

Official MySpace

Category:1975 births Category:Living people Category:Australian country singers Category:Australian Idol participants Category:Australian male singers Category:Australian musicians Category:Australian pop singers Category:Australian television actors Category:Idol series runners-up Category:People from New South Wales

name	Greg Rowe
birth date	1964
occupation	Film actor
yearsactive	1976 - 1982
website	}}

Greg Rowe (born 1964) was a child actor starring in Australian films such as ''Storm Boy'' (1976) and ''Blue Fin'' (1978), both based on novels by Colin Thiele. His last film was ''Freedom'' (1982), directed by Academy Awards Nominee Scott Hicks. He now lives with his wife and two children in Toronto, Canada.

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Category:1964 births Category:Australian child actors Category:Australian film actors Category:Living people