Five Massive Australian Artists You Didn't Know Were From Melbourne

Ask just about any Australian music fan and they’ll likely point to the frequent tagline that Melbourne is the country’s music capital. It’s easy to see why, too.

With so many amazing artists, venues, gigs, songs, and festivals that have originated in Victoria, it’s clear that Melbourne has long been one of the most fertile grounds for creativity in Australia.

But for every massive name like Nick Cave and Kylie Minogue, there’s countless others who get forgotten or overlooked by the music-going public. Often, too, there are many artists out there who rise above their station and end up finding levels of success so wild that we can occasionally forget where it all started for them many years ago.

That’s why we’re taking a look at some of those famous names that you likely recognise, but didn’t realise originally called Melbourne their home.

Some of these names will be familiar as favourites you very well may have rubbed shoulders with back in the day, while others may simply be a reminder of how great local music is and how it manages to stand tall on the global stage.

Airbourne

To kick things off, we’re focusing on Warrnambool’s favourite sons, Airbourne. Formed as Airborne in 2001, the teenaged rockers drew influence from the likes of AC/DC, Rose Tattoo, and other Aussie rock legends as they slowly grinded away on the local scene before moving to Melbourne in 2005.

Soon enough, their rock sound found a fervent audience, and within a matter of years you could find them supporting names like The Rolling Stones, Iron Maiden, and much more.

Their debut album, 2007's Runnin' Wild, managed to chart globally, and their next two albums saw them even crack the top 100 in the notoriously-difficult US market. While Australia is still their home turf, it's the likes of America, the UK, and Europe where Airbourne have now played the most shows, with the group often found as a staple of the international festival stages – a far cry from those early gigs in Warrnambool.

Flea

Arguably one of the most successful rock bands of the last 40 years, the Red Hot Chili Peppers have long been an inescapable part of pop and rock music ever since they burst onto the LA music scene in the early ‘80s.

While their mainstream success really kicked off toward the end of the decade and into the ‘90s, there was nary a radio station or live stage they couldn’t be found on throughout the final years of the century. But rewin a few decades and you’d find part of that story beginning in suburban Melbourne.

Back in 1962, a young Michael Balzary was born in Burwood, living in Mount Waverley until the age of four. After some time spent in New York, he returned to Australia, this time heading to school in Canberra, before eventually moving back to the US and settling in Los Angeles, where he met future bandmate Anthony Kiedis.

As they say, the rest may be history, but if you ever catch Red Hot Chili Peppers playing in Melbourne, you can count down the minutes until Flea reps his hometown in some capacity.

Helen Reddy

In an era when Australian musicians were overlooked on the global stage, and female musicians were often overlooked in general, Helen Reddy was a pioneer.

Born in Melbourne in 1941 to a family of entertainers, Reddy’s early years were spent crafting a future as a showbiz star, but it was at the age of 25 that she got her big break, with the local show Bandstand awarding her a trip to New York to audition for Mercury Records. Ultimately unsuccessful, she stuck around in the US to attempt a career as a singer.

Her gamble paid off, and following her debut single One Way Ticket in 1968, she released debut album I Don't Know How To Love Him in 1971. Her career trajectory is hard to sum up succinctly, but within a few short years, she'd gone from being an unknown to storming the charts – ultimately placing higher in the US than in her native Australia.

With numerous chart-topping singles, it was the Grammy Award-winning I Am Woman that set her apart, with the track becoming a feminist anthem the world over.

Dubbed ‘the Queen Of ‘70s Pop’, Reddy’s career began to wane in the ‘80s, and though her albums became more sporadic, her legacy and influence remained following her 2002 retirement. Sadly, Reddy died in 2020 at the age of 78, but it’s hard to image what popular music in the ‘70s would look like without her.

Dead Can Dance

Arguably one of Melbourne’s most influential musical scenes was that of St Kilda’s Little Band Scene, which spawned groups such as The Jetsonnes (who would turn into Hunters & Collectors) and Primitive Calculators, and influences names like The Birthday Party and more.

One of the bands who arose from this short-lived scene was Dead Can Dance, formed by members of Microfilm and Marching Girls. Dark, ethereal, and post-punk in their sound, they were perfect for St Kilda’s Crystal Ballroom, where they played a farewell show to Australia in 1982 (having formed the year earlier) ahead of their move to England.

For the next four decades (save a 13-year split between 1998 and 2011), Dead Can Dance have always comprised the musical stylings of Lisa Gerrard and Brendan Perry, becoming critical favourites, though they’ve rarely achieved much commercial success in Australia.

Regardless, they’re highly influential around the world, and though their sporadic tours rarely include an Australian stop, they’re still regarded highly by those who recall the earliest days of the band.

Axiom

On one hand, it’s a little difficult to not realise Axiom were from Australia (let alone Melbourne) given its membership, but it’s their short-lived timeframe that often sees them forgotten in the grand scheme of things and their hits attributed to others.

See, Axiom were often called something of a supergroup thanks to the inclusion of The Twilights' Glenn Shorrock, The Groop's Don Mudie and Brian Cadd, and members of The Valentines and Cam-Pact, and after forming in 1969, they released a debut single with an album arriving the following year.

In 1970, they left for London, and new single A Little Ray Of Sunshine went gangbusters on the airwaves both at home and abroad. However, after another album the next year, the group split in 1972 and its members went onto bigger and better things.

But it’s this short-lived aspect of their history that has seen them often forgotten by the larger musical community, with the likes of A Little Ray Of Sunshine often being mistaken for being by other artists of the era, and their successes occasionally forgotten.

Speaking of which…

Honourable Mention: Little River Band

We’re cheating a little bit here, but the Little River Band is an odd duck in Aussie music history. Formed in 1975 after Glenn Shorrock had spent time as a member of The Twilights and Axiom, the Melbourne group were a surprising US success throughout the ‘70s and ‘80s thanks to hits such as Reminiscing, Lonesome Loser, Cool Change, and The Night Owls (though their John Farnham era sadly brought that success to an end).

But that’s not the part where we forget they’re a Melbourne band. After all, we love to champion Aussie success, right? Rather, it’s the state of the band today that we’re focusing on.

Following the inclusion of American Wayne Nelson into the band in 1980, Little River Band has slowly become a musical Ship Of Theseus, in which all of its original members have departed and replaced by a lineup of Americans.

No original members have been in the group since drummer Derek Pellicci vacated the kit in 1997. Is it still the same band? Well, in name only, and in fact the disdain between Australia and the Little River Band has reached boiling point a few times, with no signs of a cool change coming.