Australian blues rock artist and former child star Nathan Cavaleri has reflected on his early days in the entertainment industry, sharing a video with fans last week.

Cavaleri started playing the guitar at the age of five and continued to play after he was diagnosed with leukaemia at the age of six. By 1993, he was in remission. At the age of nine, he played guitar with Dire Straits’ Mark Knopfler.

He was regarded as a child prodigy, and ended up taught by and later touring with B.B. King at the age of 13.

He released his debut single, Little Egypt, a cover of the 1964 Elvis Presley song, in May 1992. In between music and being in remission from cancer, Cavaleri made his film debut in 1994, portraying Steve in the movie Camp Nowhere. He also starred in the television series Baywatch Nights before taking on his final film role as Zac in Paws in 1997.

Responding to a fan’s comment that expressed their love for Cavaleri, describing him as an “Aussie icon”, the musician asked himself why he had such a different perception of himself versus how other people saw him.

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“What things happened in my life to lead me to be embarrassed by my name and achievements?” he pondered. The first thing that happened, he said, was returning from a Hey Hey It’s Saturday episode at age ten or eleven to find the large fence outside his family home graffitied. “Ain’t no Hendrix,” the message read.

Cavaleri continued, “As a kid, I had troubles rationalising, so I just thought that was the opinion of my local community. It was echoed in the schoolyard thanks to a teacher of power, who just kept cutting me down.

“She had the tall poppy syndrome thing going on, and she felt like I had enough attention, so she needed to single me out to embarrass me over and over again,” he recalled, adding that he was going through leukaemia and sought all the support he could find.

“She was later caught binning my student votes for council and all that type of stuff. I felt like I was on the back foot when I went to high school,” Cavaleri said, as he was due to start high school the following year. On his first day, a kid three years older than Cavaleri pushed him to the ground and hit him.

Cavaleri noted that his early experiences led to issues with reclaiming his personal identity, as he had adopted negative visions of himself from the bullying. He later realised those were the opinions of the minority and learned a lesson in not allowing other people’s insecurities to affect his self-worth.

You can watch the video below.

Earlier this year, Cavaleri performed at the Cronulla Jazz & Blues Festival. In late 2024, he was named an ambassador of Ausmusic T-Shirt Day alongside Missy Higgins, Tony Armstrong, Ayesha Madon, and many others.

In mid-2023, Cavaleri unveiled a track-by-track of his EP, Miracles, with Pilerats – you can check out the in-depth discussion here.