Bio

Sharon Benjamin cannot be pigeon holed to one particular style ofmusic. Her voice is one that can be wrapped around so many genres.As an artist, there are words that do capture her aura - emotional,versatile, perceptive, warm and talented to name but a few. Thisinspiring woman has been a professional entertainer since she firststepped on stage in a smoky hotel in 1988 - music was always goingbe her life - it was all she ever wanted to do!

From small beginnings in that small town hotel, Sharon has spent her
life learning her craft - from performing, to entertaining, musician toalbum producer, and from singer to song writer - She has taken onall facets of the music industry with as much passion as you wouldexpect from an artist of her calibre.

Her songs have been recorded by a number of independent artists -some even becoming award winning singles in the Australian CountryMusic scene. Sharon has also had a string of independent hit singlesfrom her own hand - "Ghost Train" being her first original song to gain
Australia wide radio interest. More recently, "Jack Of Diamonds" wasthe No.1 most played country song on independent radio in manyCountries including France and The Netherlands.

As a performer - Sharon not only has the experience to read a crowd,
but also the expertise to adapt to just about any musical palette.Not only does she have the voice and the intuition, she also has theextensive repertoire to go with it!!!

Career Timeline

1988 - Performed first 4 hour solo gig at local Hotel - just Sharon, her guitar & a drum machine.
88-92 - Gigging around hotels & clubs working solo
1993 - Release of Sharon’s first recording - a “road” cassette that covered a cross section of popular songs from her live gigs - this album also has 5 of her
original songs.
93-95 - Due to radio interest, Sharon began performing at many country music festivals such as Parkes, Coolamon, Tamworth and Mildura.
1995 - One of Sharon‘s original songs is released by independent artist Craig Giles - ‘Tell Me It’s A Bad Dream‘ becomes very popular at live shows.
95-97 - Heaps of gigs as well as touring with Craig Giles award winning touring band “Ambush” on bass
1996 - Teamed up with bass player (now husband), Mark Hillier
1997 - ‘Strike Two’ album released - recorded in Bowral, the album contains 9 songs penned by Sharon or in collaboration with Mark Hillier.
1997 - Debut Single ‘Ghost Train’ reaches top 5 in the Australasian Radio Airplay Charts
1998 - Second Single ‘Greyhound’ released - the song also charts well in airplay charts across Australia.
98-00 - Heaps of duo gigs at clubs, hotels & festivals
2001 - ‘As The Crow Flies’ EP is released.  The EP is a tribute to her father who passed away in 2000 from cancer.
2001 -  Met Marcus Hooper - who produced Sharon’s forthcoming video clips.
01-02 - Released two airplay charting singles from EP - ‘Hidden In The Lights’ & ‘What Day Is It’ both received video airplay on ABC’s Rage and CMT.
03-04 - Commenced work on new recording project with recording studio in Sydney - Things didn’t work out from a production point of view, so Sharon & Mark pulled the pin on the project.
2005 - Sharon & Mark decided to start their own recording studio - teamed up with Marcus Hooper, Redbak Recording Studio was born.
2005 - Redbak commenced work on Sharon’s new album - ‘Perfect Little World’
2005 - Craig Giles releases ‘Kick-it’ featuring two more of Sharon’s original works - ‘Locked & Loaded’ and his single ‘Who Said Girls Don’t Drive’.  The song became a massive radio hit and the song’s video clip featured in the Top20 Drive Songs on CMC.
2006 - Sharon & Craig also recorded a duet titled ‘West Texas Waltz’ which became a TOP 5 finalist in the National Section of the Victorian CM Awards.
2006 - Redbak Studios record new album for CM legend, Reg Poole - ‘For The Love Of My Country’.  The album goes on to win a swag of awards including an Aria Nomination - not bad for the 2nd album produced by Redbak!!!
2006 - Debut single from Sharon’s ‘Perfect Little world’ album released - ‘High As Heaven’ charted Top 20 in the radio airplay charts throughout Australia, Europe & New Zealand.
2006 - Dec - single ‘Jack of Diamonds’ released to radio. This song goes on to be one of Sharon’s biggest songs to date reaching No.1 on the radio airplay
charts across Europe & top 5 in Australia.
06-07 - ‘Why He Rolls’, ‘Jack of Diamonds’, ‘Going Home’, ‘Love Denied’, & ‘There’s Not Another’ all won song writing honourable mentions & finalist
positions in various song writing competitions including the Unisong, the UK and the John Lennon.
2007 - ‘Heart Of Australia’ recorded at Redbak Studios for Craig Giles.  This album featured yet another song written by Sharon - ‘He Rides Alone’.  This song also scored well in the UK & Unisong S/Writing Comps.
2007 - Reg Poole records 2 songs to be released on a Selection Records compilation - one of which is ‘A Little Piece Of Me’ - yet another example of Sharon’s award winning song writing talents.
2007 - Sharon’s ‘Perfect Little World’ album receives a Top 5 finalist nomination in the Victorian - Horsham CM Awards for “Album Of The Year”
2007 -  3rd single from PLW - ‘Why He Rolls’ is released to an eager radio audience, and also charts well.
2008 - Redbak Produces another album for Reg Poole. The album was instigated after Sharon sent Reg a song titled ‘I’m A Grandad Now’ - a biography of his life in Country Music - the song became the title track and remains extremely popular at Reg’s live shows.  Sharon also gave Reg some lyrics - Reg put them to music and the Collaboration produced ‘A Man Like That’ - also on the album.
2008 - Sharon releases her first ever cover song album - and her first ever album containing no Australian material.  ‘The Picture’ not only became a best
selling album for Sharon, but the title track became a hit radio single Australia Wide!
2008 - Redbak records ‘Down That Lonely Road’ for VIC newcomer Leigh Moneghetti.  The album was extremely well received and gained him many accolades and much recognition as an emerging artist.
2009 - This year saw the release of a second Redbak recording for Craig Giles - ‘This Old House’ contains some great old cover songs.  Due to the 50’s/60’s vibe of the project, Sharon was able to really let her abilities as a harmony singer soar - a real feature to the album.
09-10 - In between gigs, most weekends touring and recording, Mark & Sharon decide to take on a new project - self building their new home!  The new premises is to feature a custom built recording facility.
09-10 - During this period, the Redbak team commence recording a new all originals album for Sharon. The project is ongoing, but 2 world wide charting
singles have been released - ‘Daddy’s Hotel’ and ‘Somebody Someday’.
2011 - Redbak records an album for Bombala based CM artist, Ron Milliner - the Album is released in 2012.
2011 - Sharon & Mark decide it’s time for a new album. They record and release ‘Re-Souled’ - a fabulous collection of country music cover songs with a fine helping of Sharon’s soul dripping over them.
2011 - Team Redbak produces a new album for up-and-coming artist Kinta, 'Top Of The World'- the album is released 2012.
2012 - Redbak takes on a new EP project in a new genre, pop-punk - Leeton based 5 piece band 3 Way Lane - out 2012.
12-13 - Redbak produces new albums for Ron Milliner, Reg Poole and John Battle.  The studio also completes an album for Bec Hance – the album to date has produced multi award winning songs and hit singles – It was a finalist in Tamworth’s Golden Guitars in January 2014, as took out 2 awards at Bungendore including best duo with Bec and Sharon.  The album is also up for 2 awards at the Mildura Independent Awards in Sept 2014.
2014 – Sharon and the Redbak team have just completed work on a new originals album called 'The Latest Thing' to be released in October.
2015 - 'Just One Of Our Mistakes' from Sharon's new album, takes home a TSA (Tamworth Songwriters Association) in the Open Traditional. The song is to be released in March on CRS180 as a single to radio.
2016 - Sharon has just released a brand new all Australian albu, titled "Australia Calling". The debut Single for the album will be released to radio on CRS196 (to be released 30th January). A Little Information about the release :'The Old Man's Gone'

Sharon Benjamin's new CD Australia Calling is a beautiful collection of ballads celebrating life in this country we call home. Opening the album is a wonderful up-tempo song by James Blundell, The Old Man's Gone. This is a powerful and deeply personal ode to James' Pop, Peter Blundell, who fought in World War II before he returned home and struggled to make a living on the land, with the working man's desperation to get ahead despite the soulless forces of bureaucracy lined up against him. James describes his Pops' "roars of indignation at what he saw as a concerted attempt to undermine the ability of any man to get ahead through his own efforts…"

Sharon's gorgeous interpretation of this song brings the story to life for anyone whose parents and grandparents worked hard to eek a living in this unforgiving landscape, especially those that went to war and came back to support a family. It's a beautiful arrangement of dobro, electric guitar and blues harp, over a solid rhythm section that will get people on their feet, despite the serious subject matter. The story of course is brought home by Sharon's famously rich vocal layering, which just gets more impressive with the years of live and studio experience under her belt. It's a great opener for an album that just goes from strength to strength, further cementing Sharon's reputation as one of Australia's finest independent country artists.