Iva Davies

Iva Davies AM, (born Ivor Arthur Davies, 22 May 1955), is an Australian singer, songwriter, composer, multi-instrumentalist, and record producer. He came to prominence in the early 1980s as lead singer of the rock band Icehouse.

Musical career

Davies has worked with such notable musicians as David Bowie, Brian Eno, Peter Gabriel, Bryan Ferry, Roxy Music, Yukihiro Takahashi, John Oates, Elvis Costello, Simple Minds, Peter Tosh, Robert Palmer, XTC, The Psychedelic Furs and Nik Kershaw.

1970s

Davies first performed as a 16-year-old musician with the "Lucy Fields Jug Band"^[1] led by Lindsay Campbell around 1971. Three floors down in the YMCA Basement in Sydney was a regular folk and acoustic music venue which featured artists such as Bob Hudson, Mike McClellan, Al Ward, Pat and Geoff Drummond, Al Head, Marion Henderson, Margret Roadknight and Graham Lowndes. Davies is famous for his vocal style, which was influenced by David Bowie, Bryan Ferry and Marc Bolan.

Davies played oboe with the Sydney Youth Orchestra and was a member of the Epping Boys High School Band where he also played Euphonium. The Lucy Fields Jug Band secured a recording contract with M7 records but the company was soon to change hands and the band's album was never released.

In late 1977, Davies, a former oboe and composition student at the New South Wales Conservatorium of Music joined with bass guitar player Keith Welsh to form a band called Flowers. In 1979 Davies re-established an old acquaintance with Cameron Allan, the director of Sydney-based independent label Regular Records, to whom Flowers signed in early 1980.

1980s

In 1985 Davies and fellow Icehouse member Bob Kretschmer worked on the ballet Boxes with the Sydney Dance Company. In addition to scoring the ballet, they also co-wrote the script with Graeme Murphy. Boxes opened at the Sydney Opera House in December, and Davies performed in an acting/singing/dancing role to sold-out crowds for three weeks straight.

1985 also saw Davies win an APRA Music Award for "Most Performed Australasian Music For Film" for Razorback.^[2]

In 1988, Davies and co-collaborator John Oates won an APRA Music Award for the Icehouse song Electric Blue (from the Man of Colours album) in the "Most Performed Australasian Popular Work" category.^[3]

On 25 January 1988, Icehouse performed "Electric Blue" at the Royal Command, New South Wales Bicentennial Concert in front of the Prince and Princess of Wales at the Sydney Entertainment Centre.^[4] Davies performance was notable for his stage-fright and, due to his being greatly affected by nerves, singing off-key and out of tune.^[5]

1990s

The Sydney Dance Company worked on creating a ballet which became Berlin. As well as recording the score to the ballet, Davies performed these songs live with Icehouse at each show. He was an intrinsic part of the ballet, in a role similar to the one he played in Boxes. He was successful in creating a translation from the dancers to the audience. Berlin was an instant success and ran for two seasons.

2000s

In 2003, Davies travelled to Los Angeles to record the soundtrack to the Peter Weir film Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World with Christopher Gordon and Richard Tognetti. Together, they won the 2004 APRA/AGSC Screen Music Award in the "Best Soundtrack Album" category.^[6] In 2005 Davies scored the mini-series The Incredible Journey of Mary Bryant. On 6 November 2006, he won the 2006 APRA/AGSC Screen Music Award in the "Best Music for a Mini-Series or Telemovie" category.^[7] From 15 June 2008, Davies was a judge on Seven Network TV series Battle of the Choirs;^[8] his band Icehouse performed "Great Southern Land" on the grand final show won by University of Newcastle Chamber Choir.^[9]

Awards

Achievements

Personal life

Davies currently lives in Whale Beach, New South Wales.

References

External links

• Spellbound – Icehouse News, interviews, discography, photo gallery
• Iva Davies at the Internet Movie Database
• Flowers – Icehouse The new official website as of April 2011