Amy Shark: I was set to quit music before my gig at the Commonwealth Games

Award winner: Amy Shark spent years doing covers and singing at weddings before she found stardom
Rex Features

Rising singer-songwriter Amy Shark has told how she was “about to quit” music before she finally had her break, as she prepares to represent Australia as part of the Commonwealth Games.

The 31-year-old award-winning music star is widely rumoured to be part of the Commonwealth Games opening ceremony on April 4, and is performing in a free arts festival hosted by Queensland’s Gold Coast ahead of the games.

But the singer, whose real name is Amy Billings, told the Standard that after almost a decade of being a covers and wedding singer she was close to giving up her musical dreams.

She said: “I was gigging for eight or nine years, performing lots of cover tracks of Tracy Chapman, the odd wedding and lots of parties. I wasn’t getting anywhere ... I was very close to giving up on music. I just couldn’t get anywhere.”

When she got an arts grant from the Gold Coast three years ago her career finally took off, with her 2016 single Adore voted the second most popular song in Australia that year. She was nominated for six awards last year, winning best breakthrough and best pop release. Shark — who adopted her stage name due to her love of the creatures — is now touring the world, having appeared on The Late Late Show With James Corden last year and on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon last week.

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“That grant really changed my life,” she said. “I do have to pinch myself, especially as everything has happened quite fast. I am super-grateful for everything that has happened but it is a bit mad sometimes.”

Shark confirmed she was “involved” in the Commonwealth Games but when asked if she was playing the opening ceremony, she said: “I can’t say ... I am ... involved. And I cannot wait to be representing my city. It will be probably the proudest moment of my career.”

Shark has been in London this week, having performed at the Village Underground in Shoreditch on Monday. She said: “My nan is English, so I have been to London a number of times. She is a Pom through and through. She has more pictures of the Queen in her house than of me. She lives on the Gold Coast now, but she will be with me in London in spirit.”

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