Leah Flanagan

She is a timeless beauty and an exceptional talent, and while she’s been hibernating of late working on her next album, Leah Flanagan is planning a special show at the Lorne Arts Festival to welcome in the springtime and showcase her new tunes.
“I’m so happy that I’ll have finished recording my next album by the time I get to Lorne!” Leah smiles.
“This time I’m working with Niall Anderson – he’s producing the record and he’s an amazing musician. I’ve got a great band that features Jonathan Schwartz on double bass, Adam Pringle on guitars and Jim Moginie from Midnight Oil playing guitar. I’ve even got people like Benny Walker and Ursula Yovich singing on my record. We’ve worked together a lot – we’re like family these days. It’s my all-star band. I’m very spoilt.
“And I’ll be playing new stuff at Lorne but in a different way,” she continues, “because most of the music I’m writing at the moment is heavily electric guitar driven – but at Lorne I’m playing with Melanie Robertson and she is a beautiful cellist. Melanie and I have arranged the new songs in a way so that the core is still the same, but they sound amazing with the cello.”
Leah has Italian, Irish and Aboriginal ancestry. She was born and raised in the Northern Territory, and was inspired by the music around her at a young age.
“I grew up in a household with lots of music – my parents had loads of records and I was really heavily influenced by them. In Darwin there were lots of community events, and whilst there wasn’t a great deal of places for people to play live, and there wasn’t as many people living there when I was young as there is now, there was still a nice little community of artists that I’d go and see – and when I began performing they’d support me.”
Determined to pursue her passion for music Leah left friends and family to study a Bachelor of Music at Adelaide’s Conservatory of Music, majoring in Classical Voice.
“Studying at the Conservatory gave me some really great foundations for being an artist. It’s made me a better singer – I’m more in control of my voice and it made me appreciate the art of song writing.
“To me, song writing is an evolving art,” she continues, “and while I like to think that I have moments when the art comes naturally to me, I know as I’ve gotten older and decided that making music is what I want to do as my career and for the rest of my life, it’s something I have to make time for, and practising every day is the key.”
Listening to other artists keeps Leah’s love for song writing ever present in her mind.
“I would kill to work with Neneh Cherry and I’m a massive Tom Waits fan – they both inspire me to work harder and be better, and that’s why I believe that it’s crucial for people to go out and support local musicians and bands In their community,” she says.
“People really want to support others, and now more than ever they do it by watching reality TV shows. If they actually channelled that into what’s happening in their own backyard and around them, every town would be thriving with arts,” Leah explains.
“The passion is there and people do care, and I know we will see it at the Lorne Arts Festival. It’s an incredible event and a beautiful place.”
When & Where: Lorne Arts Festival, various locations – August 28-30
Written by Natalie Rogers