Missy Higgins: Here is why she deserves her spot in the ARIA Hall of Fame – Missy Higgins’ ‘wildest dream’ is finally coming true
The crowd hushed as her voice rang out, its rich melody and timbre belying her years.
It was 2003. A young Melbourne singer named Missy Higgins was sitting behind a piano in a small room within Sydney‘s famed Metro Theatre. Her set list was just four songs.
From the first piano chord and first lyric, she silenced the swarm of gathered music journalists and industry types who had moments earlier milled in their own hubbub.
Tonight, more than two decades on from her EP launch, Higgins will again take the stage. There will be no hushed crowd as she is inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame.
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Higgins is joining a prestigious group of Australian artists in the hallowed list. Since 1988, ARIA has inducted 81 acts. Higgins is just the thirteenth female inductee.
When the 41-year-old takes the stage tonight, she will be the first female inductee since Kasey Chambers back in 2018.
For those familiar with the Steer singer’s work, her name deserves to be on the list. For the unfamiliar, here’s why.
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ARIA Awards Hall of Fame inductees over the years
Teenage dream
Higgins has been a mainstay on the Australian music scene since she was 16.
Her music career was launched when she was still in high school after her song All For Believing won national youth radio Triple J’s Unearthed competition.
By age 17 she had a manager and inked her first record deal, though was unaware of the wave of popularity she would soon wade into.
“I was really excited, but I think I was a little bit overwhelmed,” she told ABC’s Australian Story in 2024 of her sudden fame.
“So it took me quite a long time to be able to write for the first album.”
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That album was The Sound of White, a record she once described as focusing on the troubles and happiness of growing up.
It debuted No.1 on the ARIA Album charts in 2004 and remained there for seven weeks.
Higgins’ entry into the Australian music scene was much needed.
That year, commercial radio stations had pop darling Delta Goodrem, US one hit wonders or Australian Idol winners on high rotation. Higgins’ sound was fresh and fans couldn’t get enough.
Tour dates that were initially scheduled as a small run of shows were rapidly expanded. Both locally and quickly internationally. She spent months touring across America.
Higgins was in hot demand. Fans were not just drawn to her music but her authenticity.
Walked her own line
She deliberately shunned the ideals of a pop star looked, acted or sounded like. She had no interest in gimmicks to sell her music. She kept her accent and let everything else go.
“So the hair came off, the shoes came off. I didn’t give them anything to work with,” Higgins told Australian Story.
The decision gave Higgins a renewed sense of freedom and paid off professionally.
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In 2004, she was nominated for five ARIAs and took home Best Pop Release for her single Scar.
A year later, she was nominated for five awards and won them all. She won Album of the Year ahead of Ben Lee, Evermore, Keith Urban, and Sarah Blasko.
As she accepted the award she famously jumped into the arms of guest presenter, US actor and singer David Hasselhoff.
Yet, for others, Higgins freedom to express herself became a fixation.
Questions soon shifted from her music to her personal life, namely her sexuality.
It would result in Higgins having to navigate her private life in the public eye.
Unlike today, a musician coming out as queer in the 2000s was considered taboo.
“It was pretty different 20 years ago,” she told Abbie Chatfield on LiSTNR’s It’s A Lot with Abbie Chatfield.
“And also, I think I was still discovering it myself at the time.”
Under pressure
Higgins said she and her first girlfriend, tour manager Emma Goodland, were still figuring out their sexuality as journalists continued to question it.
Adding pressure to the situation, Goodland had not come out to her family.
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“It was new for both of us,” Higgins said.
“I didn’t want to be talking to f—ing journalists about something that I was still, like, I was like, ‘Am I gay, am I bi? Should I even put a label on this at all?
“It just felt very sacred in a way and not something that I wanted to talk publicly about yet.”
During her career, Higgins has released six studio albums to date. She has sold more than two million copies.
Her sophomore album, 2007’s On A Clear Night, also went straight to number one on the local charts. It earned her the Best Female Artist ARIA that same year.
What’s so impressive about the longevity of her career is that Higgins suffered from crippled with writer’s block. At one point it was so bad, she even quit.
She was drawn back into music in 2010.
Her idol, Canadian singer-songwriter Sarah McLachlan, personally invited Higgins to perform as part of the Lilith Fair, an all-female music festival in America.
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She couldn’t refuse. It would change her life and renew her purpose in music.
After a six year absence from the charts, Higgins released her third album The Ol’ Razzle Dazzle in 2012. It won her another ARIA.
Around this time, Higgins spent her downtime in Broome in Western Australia. It was there that she met Melbourne playwright Dan Lee.
They had met at a friend’s wedding. After a reported whirlwind eight month romance, they were engaged.
Higgins released her fourth studio album Oz in 2014, and four years later Solastalgia. Both charted top three of the local album charts.
Lee soon left his adopted home of Broome to live with Higgins in Melbourne.
In January 2015, they welcomed Samuel, their first child together. By March the next year, Higgins and Lee exchanged vows in a low-key wedding on a farm in Melbourne.
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They welcomed their second child, Luna, in August 2018.
Then, in June 2022, they went their separate ways. The singer shared the difficult personal news in a post on her social media.
She has made little secret of the pain her marriage breakdown caused her.
Sweet surrender
She has attempted to answer any questions of her children through song, with her latest and sixth studio album The Second Act.
It’s proved a return of sorts for the singer.
“I wrote all those songs on the first album when I was in my late teens when I never thought anyone would hear them, so they were very personal, like I was writing my secrets in a diary”, the 41-year-old said.
“I did less of that on later albums for lots of reasons but lately I realised I’d gone back to that confessional mode of songwriting. I guess it’s been my way of dealing with the end of my marriage. So, I feel like I’ve come full circle…”
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Tonight, Higgins will return to the ARIA stage to perform and also be celebrated. She will be inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame.
“I never imagined in my wildest dreams this would happen,” she told told Dylan Lewis on Double J Mornings earlier this year.
“It’ll be funny to see what the reaction is. I wonder if anyone will go ‘What!? She doesn’t deserve that!'”
The 2024 ARIA Awards will broadcast from Sydney’s Hordern Pavilion live on Stan.
The live stream will be followed by a special presentation on Channel 9.
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