Melanie Horsnell is a singer-songwriter from New South Wales, Australia. The song "Sometimes" was featured in the Canadian TV program Flashpoint, being used in the Season 3 premiere episode titled "Unconditional Love". She has the distinction of being the only Australian to be featured in Flashpoint during its entire series run, the majority of artists featured on the program being from Canada or the USA.
Biography
Musical career
Horsnell first picked up a guitar at the age of five, learning the classical and flamenco styles of play, and began busking at Manly Beach at the age of ten. By her late teens, she still hadn’t really thought of continuing her music career – she had her heart set on managing Woolworths – until she won a spot on The Northern Composure CD and national songwriting competitions. From there she headed to London for a year, busking on a daily basis and working on her songwriting skills. Back home, Horsnell began her residency at the Excelsior Hotel in Glebe in 2000 and became regarded as one driving forces behind Sydney's blossoming "NuFolk" movement. Over the years at the Excelsior, she performed with some remarkable artists including Paul Greene, Andy Clockwise, Bertie Blackman, peregrine, Tim Ireland and Wesley Carr, while at the same time played host to many emerging artists, most notably Laura Imbruglia. Her residency continued for 4 years, but there were larger things afoot for the young songstress. In 2001, Horsnell independently released her first EP, Don’t Know What to Say, followed the next year her second EP Magic Mirror, which was soon picked up by radio across the country and led to her signing with Shock Publishing worldwide. Soon after, Horsnell was approached to write songs for popular children's show The Saddle Club and to score the soundtrack for the film Love in the First Degree. In 2003, Horsnell began work on her debut album, The Adventures of..., again with Garth Porter behind the desk. Its first single "Birds" earned her high rotation on the Triple J network. In 2004, she signed to Rounder records in Europe, after a demo of The Adventures of... found its way into the hands of Bert Pijpers of Rounder Records. The Adventures Of... was released in The Netherlands, Germany and the UK – in February 2005, the album was released in rest of Europe. Horsnell even did a crash course in French to record the French version of the beatlesque pop gem "I Just Want Some Love" which helped The Adventures Of… wind up as feature album on national radio in France that year. Having made no less than four tours of Europe over the years, she also played to a packed house at The Esplanade in Singapore in early 2005. Her Australian fans were satisfied when they finally saw the release of her album The Adventures of... in September 2005 through Inflatable Girlfriend Records/MGM. Horsnell has also managed many Australian tours, often with her band "the Inflatable Girlfriends", as support for The Frames, Josh Pyke, Bernard Fanning, Lou Rhodes and Jason Mraz. She has supplied vocals for several songs used in television commercials, including McHappy Day, Johnnie Walker, Huggies, Women's Weekly, Bonds and National Grid plc. In addition, Horsnell and Elliot Wheeler came together in the side project "Forever Thursday", with Horsnell as the lead singer on the song "How Can It Be", music for a J.C. Penney advertisement shown during the 2007 Oscars. In 2008 Horsnell went back into the studio with producer Paul Mckercher to lay down 12 new tracks for her album Complicated Sweetheart. The first single from the album features a track "Mary Mary" and two bonus songs, "Christmas in the suburbs" and The Saints song "Massacre", and was released in July 2008. "Mary Mary" received immediate airplay on National Youth Broadcaster Radio Triple J and also FBi Radio, RRR and a number of other stations. The Cloud Appreciation Society, released in 2013, shares heartbreaking songs of small town love and loss, glows with an acoustic stripped-back sound, and is intermingled with Horsnell's quintessential starry-eyed voice, lyrics to die for and a delicate but timeless presence, which has made her so adored on the scene. In 2017 Horsnell went on a six-week European tour with Blue Mountains-based singer-songwriter Steve Appel ; their collaborative album, The World Has A Gentle Soul, was released in 2018.
