Casey Barnes

Biography

Casey’s music has made an impact around the world. He’s had hits in Europe, written and recorded in America, appeared in a top-rating TV show in Australia, and played alongside many international stars including Mariah Carey, Lady Antebellum and Bryan Adams.

Casey started his singing career in his home state of Tasmania before relocating to the Gold Coast, which he now calls home. Casey’s songs are honest and heartfelt. The emotions are genuine. This was evident on his 2012 release ‘Jet Trails’, which spawned a string of well-received singles. This album was Casey’s first association with Aussie hit-maker Rick Price (Not a Day Goes By, Heaven Knows) after a chance meeting in Nashville led the pair to become life long friends and songwriting partners.

Writing with Rick Price continued into 2014 with Casey’s EP 'Flesh & Bone', which was recorded in Nashville. This EP was produced by Price and mixed by Grammy Award winner Jason Lehning and saw the release of four singles, ‘Valentine’, ‘Flesh and Bone’, 'Waiting On The Day and 'Hard Times, all receiving regular radio airplay nationwide. In addition, all four music videos were featured extensively on Foxtel’s CMC and all singles charted well in the All Australian Top 20 Countdown and CMC Country charts.

2016 has seen Casey sign with independent record label, Social Family Records, to release his next album, ‘Live As One’, due out at the end of August, after spending time earlier in the year writing with good friend, Rick Price, and recording in Nashville at Sound Emporium Studios. It’s an album of fan-favourites plus some new and exciting songs, including Casey’s last single, ‘The One You Love’, which was produced by ARIA award winning producer Nick Didia. Nick has been responsible for working with such music heavy weights such as Bruce Springsteen, Pearl Jam, Rage Against the Machine and Australia’s own Powerfinger and Kasey Chambers. The album’s title track, at radio on 1 August, is also a powerful song with an even more powerful accompanying video clip, featuring well-known Australians along with national and international sporting identities holding up #LiveAsOne signs. It was written by Casey and Rick Price, and conveys a positive message at a time where hope is needed more than ever. Other tracks on the album include ‘Just Like Magic’, with Casey teaming up with powerhouse songwriters Michael Paynter and Michael Delorenzis for what will be a modern country smash. Eddie Spear (responsible for working with the likes of Jack Johnson, The White Stripes, Willie Nelson, Neil Young, Norah Jones, Sheryl Crow and more recently Chris Stapleton) also lends a hand, engineering and mixing the title track, ‘Live As One’, ‘Saving All My Love (feat Michelle Barnes)’, and ‘Say That You Love Me’. The fan favourites include ‘Flesh & Bone’, ‘Valentine’, ‘The Crossing’, ‘Waiting On The Day’, and ‘Michelle’.

The last 3 years have seen many great achievements for Casey with shows in New York, Nashville and Los Angeles. He has also been fortunate to perform at gigs and festivals around Australia including main stage at one of Queensland’s premier events the ‘Caloundra Music Festival’ (twice) and the very popular 'A Day On The Green'.

Another highlight was participating in Perth’s Channel Seven Telethon in 2013 and again in 2015. A seasoned television performer, Casey has performed numerous times on such shows as Sunrise, The Morning Show, and the Marngrook Footy Show.

In July 2015, Casey won People’s Choice Award at the Gold Coast Music Awards and followed this up with a win in September 2015 at the NCEIA Dolphin Music Awards for the second year running. Last year Casey won ‘Best Male Vocal’ for his single ‘Hard Times’.

Australians got to know Casey’s story when he was a top 12 finalist in the final series of Australian Idol. But Casey already had a career well before appearing on the show, having released three albums, played alongside Bryan Adams (for A Day On The Green), Eskimo Joe and Vanessa Amorosi and had a number one hit in Europe, singing Marco Demark’s remake of Elton John’s Tiny Dancer.

Casey has gone from strength to strength with a special guest appearance as support to US superstar Mariah Carey for A Day on the Green. He also has performed on premier music events such as Broadbeach Country Music Festival and Urban Country Music Festival.

In June 2016, Casey travelled to California to perform at major US music festival Country Summer. An annual event, held at Santa Rosa, it featured the likes of Lady Antebullum, Craig Morgan and The Band Perry. Casey also made his US television debut performing on CBS morning show ‘Good Day Sacramento’.

With a new record label and management behind him, 2016 sees Casey Barnes continue as one of Australia’s premier performers with a career truly on the rise.

2006–08: Casey Barnes

In April 2006, Barnes released a new single titled "What The Hell Are You Waiting For?", the lead single from his self-titled second studio album. The single was selected to be on The Whiteroom 10, a site set up in the UK designed to unearth unsigned artists and bands on a major level. Barnes did a five-week tour in the Americas and Europe to promote the album. The cities included San Francisco, Chicago, New York, London, Paris, Prague and Singapore. Barnes' self-titled album, Casey Barnes, was released in 2007. The album was also released digitally on iTunes on 1 August 2007. In November, Barnes recorded a song with Connor Maclean, titled "How Good It Would Be", through Sony BMG. It was released digitally on iTunes and on Barnes' website. The single was featured on a Christmas album released by Connor. All proceeds of the single and the album went to the Westmead's Children's Hospital.

In 2008, Australian DJ-producer Marco Demark released a version of Elton John's "Tiny Dancer" featuring Barnes. The track reached number 1 on most of the dance charts in the UK, and then went on to reach the top 5 on most of the dance charts throughout Europe, including one in Italy, followed by five Australia. The track was also added to the daytime play lists of the biggest radio stations in the UK: Radio 1, Capital, Kiss FM and Galaxy.

2009: Australian Idol

In 2009, Barnes entered the seventh series of Australian Idol. He auditioned at the Brisbane auditions. He received great feedback from the judges and went on to compete in the semi-finals. Barnes performed in the second week of the semi-finals, in group 2, but lost the advance to the top 12 to Ashleigh Toole and Nathan Brake. It was announced that he would be a contender in the wildcard show alongside fellow contestant Lauren Street. On the wildcard show, Barnes lost the public vote to the top 12, but made it through the judges' picks. He was eliminated in the top-11 show on 20 September 2009.

2010–present: Red Lion Motel EP

In May 2010, Barnes digitally released an EP titled Red Lion Motel. Barnes released a single from the album titled "I Promise", released digitally on 5 May 2010. A video for the single was shot in April 2010 and was released on 9 May 2010.

2013 was a rewarding year for Casey. He continued to promote his then current album release Jet Trails with shows in New York, Nashville and Los Angeles. He also performed at gigs and festivals around Australia, including the main stage at one of Queensland's premier events, the Caloundra Music Festival.

Writing with Rick Price continued into 2014 with Casey's EP Flesh & Bone, which was recorded in Nashville was released in June. This EP was produced by Price and mixed by Grammy Award winner Jason Lehning, and has so far seen the release of three singles, "Valentine", "Flesh and Bone' and "Waiting on the Day", all receiving regular radio airplay nationwide. In addition, both clips have been featured extensively on Foxtel’s CMC. Previous single ‘Flesh and Bone’ reached #6 on the All Australian Top 20 Countdown and #34 on the CMC Country charts.

Casey has received international recognition with Flesh and Bone reaching the finals of two prestigious US based competitions, International Songwriting Competition and Unsigned Only. The International Songwriting Competition alone had over 20,000 entries worldwide this year.