Sia


 * "Suppose I never ever saw you" — Regina Spektor

Sia Kate Isobelle Furler (born 18 December 1975), referred to mononymously as Sia, is an Australian singer, songwriter, voice actress and director.

Background
Sia started her career as a singer in the local Adelaide band Crisp, with their album Word and the Deal being her first. Following its disbandment in 1997, she released her debut studio album, OnlySee, on Flavoured Records in Australia. Upon its release and subsequent failure due to lack of promotion, she moved to London and provided the lead vocals for the British duo Zero 7.

In 2001, she released her second studio album, Healing Is Difficult, on Sony Music's sub-label Dance Pool. In 2004, she signed to Go! Beat and released her third studio album, Colour the Small One. In 2005, she relocated to New York City and began touring around the United States. Two years later, in 2007, Sia released her first live album, Lady Croissant, on Astralwerks. In 2008, she released her fourth studio album, Some People Have Real Problems, on Hear Music and Monkey Puzzle. 2010 saw the release of her fifth studio album, We Are Born, on Inertia, RCA and Monkey Puzzle, which was very successful. In 2014, Sia released her sixth studio album, 1000 Forms of Fear, on Inertia, RCA and Monkey Puzzle. It was the album that earner her greater recognition and she garnered critical acclaim for the top-ten lead single "Chandelier". Her seventh album, This Is Acting, was released in early 2016, and her Christmas album Everyday Is Christmas was released in late 2017 on Monkey Puzzle and Atlantic Records. She joined forces with Labrinth the singer and Diplo the DJ to form the musical supergroup LSD, which stands for Labrinth, Sia, Diplo. Their debut album came out in 2019 after having issues with the original release date.

Sia's vocal style includes hip hop, funk, and soul as a base. Her music has received several accolades, including ARIA Awards and MTV Music Awards.

1975—97: Early life, career beginnings and OnlySee
Sia was born on 18 December 1975 in Adelaide, South Australia, to musician Phil Colson and art lecturer Loene Furler. She is the niece of actor-singer Kevin Colson. She considers Men at Work's lead vocalist and a family friend, Colin Hay, as her "fake uncle." Her early influences include Aretha Franklin, Stevie Wonder and Sting, all of whose vocal styles she imitated as a child. At 11, she visited Colin Hay in the US, where she met Stevie Wonder at a restaurant.

Sia admits to have smoked cannabis as a child, once believing it to be the cause of a bipolar disorder. At 15, she went to Italy as an exchange student. At 17, she went back on a trip to Italy, before going back to Adelaide High School to finish her degree in Italian, Politics and Drama. At a karaoke bar in an Italian discoteca, she performed "Lean On Me" by Bill Withers. There, she met a DJ who asked her to feature on a song for £50, which she agreed to. On returning back to her university in Adelaide, she lost interest from having spent a year out of school and soon quit, with her mother's approval. In the mid 1990s, Sia met with Sam "Muskrat" Langley, someone she used to go out with at 15, who at the time was getting a band together. She asked if the band needed a singer and lied she was one when told so. She began her career as a singer in local acid jazz band Crisp, participating in their 1996 album Word and the Deal and their 1997 EP Delirium. After Crisp disbanded in 1997, she went to Tokyo and worked as a hostess for some time, making OnlySee in the interim. She describes the album as "the worst trip-hop shit you'll ever hear."

1997—2006: Zero 7, Healing Is Difficult and Colour the Small One
During her three year stay with Crisp, Sia and the band toured the world, including England, where Sia met her first romantic interest, Dan Pontifex. Following the band's disbandment, Sia decided to move to London to pursue her relationship with Pontifex. Several weeks later, while on a stopover in Thailand, she received a call from her mother about Pontifex's death, who was hit by a taxi in Kensington High Street, London. She attended his funeral in Adelaide and was invited by Pontifex's friends in London to stay with them. In London, Sia performed as a background vocalist for British band Jamiroquai. She went to a club with one of her cousin's friends and sang a song there, which got her a manager.

In 2000, Sia managed to land a recording deal with Sony Music's sub-label Dance Pool and released her debut single, "Taken for Granted", which peaked at number 10 on the UK Singles Chart. Her album Healing Is Difficult was released six months later in 2001, and lyrically discusses her dealing with Pontifex's death. The album spawned two other singles, "Drink to Get Drunk" and "Little Man". The latter peaked at number 82 in the UK, while "Drink to Get Drunk" failed to chart. Due to lack of promotion and the time gap between the release of the first single and the album, Healing Is Difficult was considered by Sia herself as a "flop." Her manager, who played football with Sam Hardaker and Henry Binns of Zero 7, managed to get two tracks for her to write, and eventually provide vocals, for the duo's debut album Simple Things: "Destiny" and "Distractions". She then "left and forgot all about it", thinking her career was over, but a year later Simple Things was released and became successful, resuscitating her career. She also provided vocals for two tracks of the duo's second second studio album, When It Falls: "Somersault" and "Speed Dial No. 2". She also worked on their third album, The Garden, and is hence regarded as the unofficial lead singer of Zero 7.

In 2004, Sia signed to Go! Beat, which "bought her from Long Lost Brother Records", and released her third studio album, Colour the Small One. The album spawned four singles: "Don't Bring Me Down," "Breathe Me," "Where I Belong" and "Numb." "Breathe Me" was the most comercially successful single off the album, peaking at number 71, 19 and 81 in the UK, Denmark and France, respectively. The night Sia wrote the song was a hard night, in which she tried to kill herself with vaccines, something she regrets to this day. "Where I Belong," originally scheduled to be included on the soundtrack of Spider-Man 2, was withdrawn at the last minute owing to a record label conflict. Dissatisfied with the album's poor marketing and struggling to connect with a mainstream audience, Sia relocated to New York City in 2005. Around this time, "Breathe Me" was played in the series finale of HBO television series Six Feet Under, which helped increase Sia's fame in the US. Her manager thus set up a tour across the country to support her career. Sia has stated several times that the episode "resuscitated her career", which would have otherwise ended as she herself was ready to settle down in New York City and focus on dog rescuing.

2007—09: Some People Have Real Problems
Following the success of "Breathe Me" in the US, Sia toured the country and released her first live album, Lady Croissant, in 2007, which contained "Breathe Me" and songs like "Don't Bring Me Down", "Pictures" and "Numb". It also featured two of her Zero 7 hits, "Destiny" and "Distractions", and songs that would be included on her next album, Some People Have Real Problems: "Lentil" and "I Go to Sleep". A year later, she left Zero 7 on friendly terms, being replaced by Eska Mtungwazi as the band's vocalist. On January 8th, 2008, she released her fourth studio album, Some People Have Real Problems, which peaked at number 41 and 26 in Australia and the US. The album was certified gold in Australia by the ARIA.

Some People Have Real Problems spawned four singles: "Day Too Soon," "The Girl You Lost to Cocaine," "Soon We'll Be Found" and "Buttons". "Day Too Soon" was released on November 7th, 2007, and peaked at number 27 on the US Hot Dance Club Songs. "The Girl You Lost to Cocaine" was released on March 27th, 2008 and peaked at number 8, 11 and 12 in the US, Netherlands and Spain, respectively. In May 2009, Sia released her first video album, TV Is My Parent, which includes a live concert at New York's Hiro Ballroom, four music videos and behind-the-scenes footage. At the ARIA Music Awards of 2009, the album won the Best Music DVD category and Sia received a nomination for Best Breakthrough Artist Album for Some People Have Real Problems.

2009—13: Songwriting career, We Are Born, touring and worldwide recognition


In June 2010, Sia released her fifth studio album, We Are Born, which peaked at number 2 and 37 in Australia and the US, respectively. The album's release was preceded by that of its lead single, "You've Changed," in December 2009. The song peaked at number 31 and 95 in Australia and the Netherlands, respectively. The album's second and most commercially successful single, "Clap Your Hands," was released in June 2010 and peaked at number 17, 10, 12 and 27 in Australia, the Netherlands, Belgium and Switzerland, respectively. "Bring Night" was released as the album's final single in September 2010 and peaked at number 99 in Australia. In general, the album was very successful, but that stressed her out. Sia wanted to have a private life, she said. Once, while a friend was telling her that they had cancer, a random person interrupted asking Sia for an autograph. These effects of her popularity began to deteriorate her mental health, one of her 2010 tours being cancelled because of it. Around that time, she planned her death in a hotel. She left instructions to her dog walker and even left suicide notes to the hotel manager: "Please don't come in. I am dead inside. Please," "I've killed myself and I don't want you to suffer seeing my dead body". She locked herself in her room an tried to kill herself, but fortunately, a friend interrupted her plan and made her re-evaluate it by calling her and answering the way Sia used to: "Squiddly-diddly-doo!" She then managed to do a 12-step recovery that helped move away from her struggles and cheered her up again. Yet she became close to retiring from singing altogether and starting a songwriter career. She wrote songs for Rihanna, Beyoncé, Flo Rida, Jessie J, Katy Perry, Carly Rae Jepsen, Céline Dion, Marina Kaye, Lea Michele, etc. Most of the songs were hits. Sia wrote "Titanium" for Alicia Keys, who passed it to David Guetta, who recorded a version of the song with Mary J. Blige that went unused. Sia had recorded her version of the song as a demo for Guetta, not expecting that he would use her vocals for the final release without her permission. She would continue to write songs for other artists over the years, such as "Alive" for Adele, some of them being rejected, as in the latter case.

2013—14: Breakthrough with 1000 Forms of Fear
In October 2013, Sia released "Elastic Heart" (featuring the Weeknd and Diplo) for the soundtrack of American film The Hunger Games: Catching Fire. In July 2014, Sia released her sixth studio album, 1000 Forms of Fear, which debuted atop the US Billboard 200 with first-week sales of 52,000 copies. As of December 2015, the release had sold 374,000 copies in the United States. The record peaked at number one in Australia and reached the top ten of charts in numerous European regions. It was certified silver by the British Phonographic Industry and gold by the Australian Recording Industry Association.

1000 Forms of Fear 's lead single, "Chandelier", was released in March 2014. The song peaked at number 8 on the US Billboard Hot 100, becoming Sia's first entry on the chart as lead artist. Elsewhere, the song experienced similar commercial success, charting within the top ten of the record charts in Australia and numerous European regions. As of January 2015, the single has sold 2 million copies in the United States. "Eye of the Needle" and "Big Girls Cry" were released as the second and third singles from the album, respectively, in June 2014. In January 2015, Sia released a solo version of "Elastic Heart" as the fourth single from 1000 Forms of Fear; it eventually reached the top 20 on the Hot 100. At the 57th Annual Grammy Awards in 2015, Sia received four nominations for "Chandelier": Record of the Year, Song of the Year, Best Pop Solo Performance and Best Music Video.

For live performances of songs from 1000 Forms of Fear, Sia chose not to show her face, either looking away from audiences or hiding it behind over-sized platinum blonde wigs. In videos for the singles "Chandelier", "Elastic Heart" and "Big Girls Cry", Dance Moms star Maddie Ziegler danced wearing similar wigs. The three videos have received a total of more than 3.5 billion views on YouTube. Sia explained to Kristen Wiig in Interview magazine that a need for privacy and desire for a non-celebrity lifestyle motivated her to conceal her face: "I'm trying to have some control over my image. And I'm allowed to maintain some modicum of privacy. But also I would like not to be picked apart or for people to observe when I put on ten pounds or take off ten pounds or I have a hair extension out of place or my fake tan is botched. Most people don't have to be under that pressure, and I'd like to be one of them."

In 2014, Sia contributed to the soundtrack to the 2014 film adaptation of the Broadway musical Annie. Sia, along with producer Greg Kurstin, wrote three new songs for the film as well as re-worked songs originally from the musical. Sia, Kurstin, and Annie director Will Gluck were nominated at the 72nd Golden Globe Awards for Best Original Song for one of the film's original songs, "Opportunity".

2015—17: This Is Acting and Everyday is Christmas
In an interview with NME from February 2015, Sia revealed that she had completed the follow-up to 1000 Forms of Fear, entitled This Is Acting. Furler said that 1000 Forms of Fear was released so she could be freed from her record deal and simply write for other artists, but the album's success spurred her to continue writing her own music. On 12 May 2015, Sia's cover of The Mamas & the Papas' "California Dreamin'" was released on the soundtrack of the movie San Andreas. The same month, alongside the digital deluxe release of 1000 Forms of Fear, she released a mobile game, Bob Job.

At the 72nd Venice International Film Festival, in early September 2015, Sia announced that her new single "Alive" from This Is Acting was co-written by Adele and had originally been intended for the latter's third album. On 3 November 2015, Sia released another song from the album, "Bird Set Free", on Vevo. She released "One Million Bullets" on 27 November 2015, with "Cheap Thrills" and "Reaper" as subsequent promotional singles for the album. On 21 January 2016, eight days prior to the release of This Is Acting, "Unstoppable" was released on Vevo and other platforms. It is the album's fifth track and served as the final pre-release promotion single for the album. The single "Cheap Thrills", featuring Sean Paul, went on to reach No. 1 on the US Billboard Hot 100.

On 17 April 2016, Sia gave a widely-acclaimed performance at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival that went viral online. Her performance was labelled "incredible," "already legendary," "one of the greatest moments in Coachella's 17-year history," and was consistently ranked on lists of the best performances from the 2016 festival. The performance was her first full concert since 2011.

Following Sia's Coachella performance, she went on her first tour since 2011: the Nostalgic for the Present Tour. Between September and November 2016, Sia toured across North America, performing 16 songs, and the following year continued the tour with four shows in Dubai and Australia.

Sia's eighth studio album, Everyday Is Christmas, was released on 17 November 2017. Greg Kurstin co-wrote and produced the album, which consists of 10 original Christmas songs. On 1 November, 2018, three new songs were added to the tracklist on iTunes.

2018—present: LSD and Music
Sia teamed up with Diplo and Labrinth to form LSD, and they released four singles in 2018. The group had intended to have their debut album out on 8 November 2018, but the final release date was 12 April 2019.

Sia's ninth album, Music: Songs from and Inspired by the Motion Picture, would be released in February 2021, in connection with the limited IMAX release of her film, Music. Sia plans to release her tenth album, Reasonable Woman, in 2022.

Discography

 * Main article: Sia discography

Videography

 * Main article: Sia videography

Filmography

 * Main article: Sia filmography

Accolades

 * Main article: List of awards and nominations received by Sia

Official accounts

 * Sia on Instagram
 * Sia on Twitter
 * Sia on Facebook
 * Sia on TikTok