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Adrian Eagle is a world away from where his life began in the southern suburbs of Adelaide.
Now touring with the Hilltop Hoods in the US, Eagle says it’s been a whirlwind ride since joining the industry.
It was only four years ago that he decided to give singing a shot.
“It wasn’t until I was 26 that I got over my fear of singing to people, so I hope I inspire some folks out there, you know it’s never too late, just follow your journey,” he said.
Eagle’s story is a compelling one, and not one he is shy of sharing.
His song Housing Trust, charts his early years living in Adelaide’s southern suburbs in SA Housing Trust homes with his mother.
“I remember days sleeping on the floors, Mama cleaning the toilets, no ARIA awards,” are among the striking lyrics of the song.
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His other music muses on collecting cans for money and his mental health struggles.
At 17, he weighed 270 kilograms and was in dangerous territory, which he described as a “subconscious killing” of himself.
While his religious beliefs stopped him from taking his own life, it did not stop destructive behaviour.
“… I would definitely put toxic things into my body on an absolute constant basis,” he said.
“I’m sure a lot of us are subconsciously killing ourselves, but for me it was pretty extreme, I was mentally in prison, I didn’t want to leave the house and I was absolutely in a bad way.”
Now, he hopes to push positive messages through his music.
His single A.O.K was nominated in the Best Soul/R&B Release category in this week’s ARIA awards.
The song is all about overcoming negative thoughts and the “demons” that were chewing his life away.
He said while it was “awesome” to be nominated, as he fondly remembered watching the awards growing up, his loss to fellow artist Kaiit had a silver lining.
The soul singer — who took out the category for her song Miss Shiney — is also his partner.
He described her as one of Australia’s “greatest soul exports” and said her song really was the best soul song of the year.
“… She deserves to be celebrated, she’s literally one of the greatest artists in the world,” he said.
Eagle still has a lot to boast about though, winning Best Solo Artist and Best Release for A.O.K at the South Australian Music Awards earlier this month, and being nominated for the triple j Unearthed Artist of the Year award.
He also has an ARIA to his name alongside the Hilltop Hoods for the 2018 hit Clark Griswold.
When he isn’t touring, the soul singer splits his time between his hometown of Adelaide and Melbourne.
While he is still on the road with the Hilltop Hoods ahead of a national tour in 2020, Eagle said he was working away on some new songs.
“I’m just putting together beats and melodies for the next project and taking my time with what I want to talk about,” he said.
“I’m looking forward to just getting the canvas out and painting the next one.”
External Link: AOK by Adrian Eagle
Topics: music, arts-and-entertainment, dance-music, music-awards, music-industry, event, awards-and-prizes, adelaide-5000, melbourne-3000, vic, sa, australia