Rochelle Pitt Is A 'Church Girl From Cairns'

You may recognise Rochelle Pitt as a finalist in 2014's The X Factor Australia, but her musical history goes far beyond the reality show.

The soul, roots and blues singer is "a church girl from Cairns with a strong connection to the urban Indigenous culture and community," who started singing aged 23 and was "supported to do this by the Brisbane Indigenous community at NAIDOC events and festivals." Her EP SoulMumma was recorded at Pegasus Studios in Cairns: "It is in my home town and Nigel Pegrum, the owner, is a fantastic audio technician. Will Kepa - also a prominent Indigenous singer-songwriter and producer from Cairns - was available for the production of my album.

"My overall theme was that of a strong Indigenous Australian woman with roots in culture and family all tied up with love, faith and hope. I was inspired to keep doing this as although I'm in my 40s, I realised that even though it's been over 16 years since my last attempt at an EP, just my being there in the studio inspired me to keep doing it again and again. There is definitely room to mix it up with my songs. I love to have fun with them [live] because they are living and growing pieces of art."