Gabriella Cilmi-Lessons To Be Learned-2008

Gabriella Lucia Cilmi is a multi ARIA award-winning Australian singer and songwriter. She is best known for her debut single "Sweet About Me", released in March 2008.

Cilmi was born on 10 October 1991 in the Melbourne suburb of Dandenong. Of Italian descent, she lives with her parents Paula and Joe (whose origins are in Calabria) and her brother Joseph.

At an early age Cilmi developed an interest in a wide range of musical styles including Nina Simone, Led Zeppelin, Janis Joplin, The Sweet, T.Rex and Cat Stevens. Despite her natural aptitude and vocal talent, she was told that she lacked the discipline necessary to pursue a singing career. Idolising Janis Joplin, during this time she sang with a band performing cover songs by Led Zeppelin, Jet, Silverchair and others.[3] Cilmi recorded original songs with writer/producers Barbara and Adrian Hannan of The SongStore.

In 2004 Cilmi captured the attention of Warner Music executive Michael Parisi whilst giving an impromptu rendition of the Rolling Stones' song "Jumping Jack Flash" at the Lygon Street Festa, a community festival in Melbourne. At the age of thirteen Cilmi travelled to the US and UK with Adrian Hannan and was offered four major US deals. She eventually signed a contract with Island Records UK.



The tracks "Don't Tell Me" and "Sorry", co-written with Barbara and Adrian Hannan, appeared on the soundtrack of 2005 Australian film Hating Alison Ashley.

Cilmi shares a manager (Cassandra Gracey), writer/producers (Xenomania) and UK record label (Island) with the Sugababes, and supported former Sugababe Mutya Buena at the Jazz Café in London in 2007. She made her UK TV debut on 14 December 2007 when she sang her new single "Sweet About Me" on Later with Jools Holland. In December 2007 Cilmi's song "Sanctuary" featured in the film St Trinian's and on its soundtrack.

Cilmi has also sung on the theme to UK TV Series Echo Beach which aired in early 2008 on ITV1. It is a cover of "Echo Beach" by Martha and the Muffins.

In February 2008 she supported the Parisian band Nouvelle Vague on their UK tour.

Cilmi's first album Lessons To Be Learned was written and recorded with hit production team Xenomania and was released on 31 March 2008 in the UK. She has been compared to Amy Winehouseand also Macy Gray, because of the occasional fracture in her voice.

The single "Sweet About Me" debuted on the UK Singles Chart at number sixty-eight (9 March 2008) and rose to number fifty the following week. The single rose again to number twenty several weeks after the physical CD was made available. Despite then falling back to number twenty-three, it re-entered the top twenty at number nineteen on 18 May, the single reached its highest position of number six, on the chart dated 15 June 2008, and it reached number seventeen in the Irish Singles Chart. It debuted at number thirteen in Australia on downloads alone, and peaked at number one. She won six Aria awards in Australia, taking out Best Female Artist, Breakthrough Artist: Single (Sweet About Me), Breakthrough Artist: Album (Lessons to be Learned), Best Pop Release (Lessons to be Learned), Highest Selling Single (Sweet About Me), and Single of the Year (Sweet About Me). Perhaps part of her success has been linked to her song, “Sweet About Me”, being used to sell the deodorant Sure/Rexona around the world this year. The song also got to number 6 in the Dutch top 40, in September 2008.

She performed "Sweet About Me" on the Australian breakfast news program Sunrise on the Seven Network on 1 April 2008 and again on the talk show Rove five days later. She also performed this single on Ireland's chat show The Late Late Show on Friday 23 May 2008.

From March to May 2008 she supported the Sugababes on their UK Change Tour, as well as supporting Nouvelle Vague. She also opened for James Blunt on his June 2008 Australian tour. Finally, she participated at the MTV Greece concert in Greece on 4 October 2008 alongside R.E.M. and Kaiser Chiefs.

After Sweet About Me dropped to number two for several weeks on the Australian ARIA Charts, she reclaimed the number one spot on 19 May 2008. On 9 July, Cilmi's second UK single, "Save The Lies", was exclusively premiered on The Sun's website. On the 13th, the "Out Of Office Remix" was premiered on the Fresh40 chart show. Cilmi's second UK single did not show as much success as "Sweet About Me", peaking at 33 in the UK. During the release of "Save the Lies (Good To Me)" in the UK, there was a subsequent release in Australia. "Don't Wanna Go to Bed Now" did not show as much success as "Sweet About Me", peaking at 28 on the charts.

On 1 October she announced that "Sanctuary" was the fourth single. It was released on 10 November 2008 but failed to chart. Her 2008 Christmas song was a cover of a Connie Francis song Warm This Winter, which is currently featuring on the Co-operative's Christmas adverts.