Vanessa Amorosi was once the darling of the Australian music industry.
She rose to fame with a string of hit songs to her name, finding popularity early in her career thanks to her performances at both the opening and closing ceremonies of the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney.
She was still a teen when she had her first hit and over the next decade, her songs became the anthems for a generation thanks to her soaring vocals before she disappeared, only to re-emerge for a court battle.
Despite once penning a song called Kiss Your Mama!, Amorosi took her own mother to court over a property dispute she eventually won.
Today, the singer-songwriter lives in the US with her husband and young son, and is preparing for her 25th anniversary tour.
Vanessa Amorosi was born in Melbourne on August 8, 1981, to Frank and Joyleen. She has two younger sisters, Mellissa and Natasha.
As a child, she attended dance and rap classes at a studio run by her uncle, and by the age of 12, had was performing in shopping centres and at local concerts.
She also appeared on an episode of the TV show Young Talent Time.
READ MORE: Hollywood rocked by another shock marriage split
READ MORE: The vast fortune and property portfolio at stake in stars’ divorce
READ MORE: She was the highest paid actress in Hollywood before disappearing
Her parents separated when she was a child, and her mother went on to remarry.
When she was in her mid-teens, Amorosi was performing at a Russian restaurant in the Melbourne suburb of Carnegie when she was discovered by producer and artist manager Jack Strom.
She was subsequently signed to music production company MarJac Productions, which he co-owned with Mark Holden, who rose to fame as a judge on Australian Idol.
After recording a promo CD, Get Here, she was signed by independent record label Transistor Music Australia.
In 1999, Amorosi released her first single, Have a Look, which she co-wrote. It reached Number 13 on the Australian singles chart.
It was followed by another single, Absolutely Everybody, which was released on November 15 of that year.
It quickly raced to number six and remained in the Australian charts for six months initially.
Hit album
With two hit singles under her belt, Amorosi released her debut album, The Power, on April 3, 2000.
It contained 13 tracks, including her first two hits, as well as a ‘Latino mix’ of Absolutely Everybody and new songs, including Shine, which was released on May 15, 2000.
The song, which unlike Absolutely Everybody, Amorosi co-wrote, became an unofficial anthem, racing up the Australian charts, where it peaked at number four.
Song’s ‘dark’ history
But the song almost didn’t become an anthem of hope at all.
Amorosi had actually written the lyrics about a high school friend who had committed suicide, and included the line, “Everyone you see, everyone you know is gonna die”.
But Holden did not like the word ‘die’, finding it too dark, and was certain the song would not work as it was.
“He thought it was just wrong,” Amorosi revealed during an interview with Melbourne Community Voice.
“We were all sitting around trying to find a substitute and we were all stuck on the word ‘try’.
“But Mark came up with the idea of changing it to ‘shine’ and it all came together.
“That’s Mark’s magic. He knows exactly what makes a hit. I think it was a good outcome, because something that was tragic became positive.”
Worldwide audience
Worldwide fame was right around the corner for Amorosi, who despite still being a teen with a couple of hits to her name, was chosen for the star-studded line-up for the opening ceremony of the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney alongside the likes of John Farnham, Olivia Newton-John and Tina Arena.
She performed a song she wrote herself, Heroes Live Forever, for a global audience of 3.7 billion.
She was also chosen to perform Absolutely Everybody at the Games’ closing ceremony.
Off the back of the Games, the song was released in the UK and Europe, where it entered the top 10.
She was also chosen to sing Shine at the opening ceremony of the 2000 Sydney Paralympics, leading to its release in Europe the following year.
Shine was also chosen for what ended up being the final advertising campaign for Australian airline Ansett before its financial collapse.
The song has also been used in a number of other advertising campaigns throughout the world and was Australian radio’s most played song in 2001.
Height of fame
The album brought two more hit songs, The Power and Everytime I Close My Eyes.
She produced a compilation album Turn to Me, and two more studio albums, Change and Somewhere in the World, the latter producing Kiss Your Mama! and the 2008 mega hit, Perfect, which Amorosi co-wrote.
It peaked at number four in the Australian charts, going platinum, and becoming the most played song on Australian radio that year.
Like Shine, it was chosen for a number of lucrative advertising campaigns.
By then, she had parted ways with her former managers and record label and had signed a new deal with Universal Music.
A fourth studio album Hazardous was released in 2009. Its debut single, This Is Who I Am, became her first number one hit in Australia. It also produced another hit song Mr Mysterious.
Another album, V, followed in 2011 and produced two hit songs.
Life in LA
By then, Amorosi was living and working in the US, which is when she says problems started occurring back in Australia with regards to her property.
She left Universal Music in 2012 and started collaborating with Dave Stewart of Eurythmics fame.
Amorosi did not release another album until 2019’s Back to Love.
She has since gone on to release three more albums between 2020 and 2023.
Court case
According to 60 Minutes, Amorosi used her earnings to buy her first house, a semi-rural property in Narre Warren North, Victoria, for $650,000, with both her name and her mother’s on the title.
For a daily dose of 9honey, subscribe to our newsletter here.
It was bought via a trust, which was at first managed by her mother, Joyleen Robinson.
After moving to the US in 2011 and buying her dream home in California, Vanessa said she was told she could not afford to keep the new house.
Nine.com.au is not suggesting misappropriation or mismanagement of the trust.
During a long-running legal battle in the Supreme Court of Victoria, her mother told the court that Amorosi had gifted her the house where she had lived since 2001.
But in August 2024, Supreme Court Justice Steven Moore ruled in favour of Amorosi, although she was ordered to pay almost $870,000 in restitution to her mother, from whom she has now been estranged for a decade.
Her mother was ordered to move out of the property, which Amorosi has since sold for $2.6 million.
Marriage and family
During the trial, the court heard Amorosi’s mother heard her daughter was expecting her first child through a third party.
Amorosi has been married to martial arts trainer Rod Busby since October 2017 and the two live in California.
In 2016, they welcomed their only child, son, Killian.
Amorosi, now 44, is currently preparing for a tour to mark her 25th anniversary in the music industry.
It will start in Europe in November 2025, before heading to Australia next April.
If you or someone you know is in need of mental health support contact Lifeline on 13 11 14, Men’s Helpline on 1300 78 99 78. In the event of an emergency contact Triple Zero (000).
FOLLOW US ON WHATSAPP HERE: Stay across all the latest in celebrity, lifestyle and opinion via our WhatsApp channel. No comments, no algorithm and nobody can see your private details.
