Darren Percival Tickets

Recently I found myself in my backyard in Coolum Beach where my wife Amanda & I, with
our two young children Cash Jackson & Willow Rose, are enjoying the Sunshine Coast.
There I was a world away from the road, touring with my band and having just completed
recording an album I have been dreaming about for over twenty years, I realised it was time
to write the linear notes for A Tribute To Ray Charles. I put the jug on and it didn't take
long for the words to take shape as that delicious cuppa slowly formed the mood of my
recollection.

If you were sitting next to me in the middle of the third row at The Lincoln Centre in New
York City back in 2000 there would be no doubt how much I was, and continue to be
inspired by Ray Charles. That performance is my favourite for so many reasons. People toss
around the term 'genius' so often in these times. For me it means 'one who can transform
the complicated into the simple'. On that particular night the music flowed effortlessly, I was
transported and Ray Charles changed my life. He makes me smile and I sing the way I do as a
result of learning from him. The songs on this album were selected for the story they tell
and the impact they have had on my life and I imagine, on your lives too…There have been
innovators and those who emulate but only a handful of originators. This tribute is a dream
of mine since I started to sing. These melodies have accompanied my entire life and I am
honoured to share my versions of these classic songs with you at this abundant time. I
enjoyed the ride…

My life has been filled with music. I haven't had a choice. My neighbours balanced out my
parents love for Neil Diamond and Glen Campbell with a healthy dose of Michael Jackson,
ABBA, Dragon, KISS, AC/DC, Cold Chisel and The Band. It was like a dream. Growing up in
the 70's near Parramatta made my life real and when we moved to Mexico in the early 80's,
the spontaneous nature of the local musicians set my love for singing on course, it was
around the fireplace that harmony and ancient melodies reigned with such delight and I knew
not of the rules…. it was only when we returned to Australia in 1984 and I started at a local
North Shore High School in Sydney that my understanding of learning how to play songs
moved to a piano. The next few years were the foundation of my career. I didn't stop.
Everyday learning how to perform and sing and play… it was a very inspiring time. After
graduating in 1989 & not achieving the marks I needed to attend the art course I was
interested in, I joined a local jazz band and started singing the standards. They were the songs
I knew from my childhood and at the same time Harry Connick Jnr was making a name for
himself around the world, I met Australias' jazz legend James Morrison, we started to work
together and before I knew it we were touring Australia and the world, performing live and
making albums.

After over a decade of touring, I made my way to the studio and brought my original
material to a band I had started. There were various incarnations during this time and all the
while I was teaching vocals, singing on jingles and other artists albums as a backing vocalist. It
was time to take a moment and catch my breath. Walking on stage alone was not something
I thought I could do, but I wanted to feel what it was like. I studied in NYC with Bobby
McFerrin in 2004 to focus on my vocal looping ideas and returned to Australia to pursue a
solo career. Since 2003 I have released 3 solo albums, they have been recordings to
accompany my live concerts as Mr Percival, my looping artist alter ego. The music I have
made represents the artist I have become… original, soulful and filled with joy.

My time on The Voice Australia Series 1 could only have come about by having all of my
experiences so neatly packaged before me to delve into and dwell upon. It has been a long
road. But now it all seems like it was worth it - the empty venues, the lost luggage, the
missed flights, the unpaid gigs, the fight….the ride….it has all been worth it. To sit here
tonight and write this is very humbling for me. They say life begins at 40…nobody told me it
was all going to take place all at once…BOOM…2012. A Gold album in Happy Home,
featuring the songs Keith Urban chose for me to sing, on what became the biggest TV show
in Australia. Runner up no less! I haven't stopped. I don't plan to either.