Biography
Leanne Bugat, or otherwise known as Lee, was born in
Melbourne, Australia, into a musical family with her father being known as
Australia’s Roy Orbison back in the 50’s & 60’s. It comes as no surprise
that Leanne was born with music in her veins.
During the
last 20 years or so, live performances have been a big part of Leanne's
life. She began by learning to play the clarinet, saxophone and then taught
herself to play the guitar. This combination of instruments allowed Leanne
to perform in school productions. There are many venues that Lee has
performed in such as pubs, clubs, community events, festivals, parties,
weddings, choirs and she has also been know to have busked.
At the age of 18 Leanne and her
sister were chosen to do backing vocals for Diana Trasks' national
Australian tour. Unfortunately due to circumstances out of Leanne’s control
the Tour was cancelled. This would have been a great jump start for
Leanne’s career but was not forthcoming.
Leanne has performed in many venues either solo or in cover bands over the
years singing mainly rock & roll and classic hits. Leanne really enjoyed
singing covers and performed them with passion and full voice. However, it
didn’t really fulfil her in the way that she would have liked. Leanne
began writing her own songs in her early 20’s as an outlet for her emotional
pain. Singing the occasional original song at gigs or functions would
please her but it saddened her that people would yell out “sing us something
we know”.
Years had passed and Leanne had started to obtain a larger repertoire.
Leanne moved back to her home town, Warburton where she grew, both as a
person and as a performer. Leanne started busking and only performed her
songs. Shortly after, she was approached to join a band and agreed to do
so.
Leanne gained a great deal of exposure throughout the Yarra Valley
performing in the band, Jukebox Jackaroos. Lee performed at many functions
outside of the band and continued to appear at open mic sessions. This is
where Leanne gained the courage to perform her original music and started to
become more arrogant. When Leanne got behind the microphone it was her
performance and she was the one telling the story.
Leanne demanded the crowd’s attention and they would listen. If anyone
dared to say, “Sing us something we know” Leanne would start singing nursery
rhymes such as "twinkle, twinkle little star", or "baah baah black sheep".
Once again Lee gained both the respect and love from her audiences, by using
her extremely cheeky sense of humour. Somehow Leanne still manages to get
away with it because of the warmth that she projects.
The inspiration for her songs doesn’t come from one or two artists as her
musical influences come from a wide range of music. Most of all, Leanne’s
music is written from the heart and inspired by books, conversations,
dreams, movies, and her own experiences.
Leanne’s greatest ambition was to record her work but could not afford to do
so. Leanne’s partner loved her voice and had complete faith in her ability
as a performer that it was decided that something had to be done. They came
up with a solution and Leanne finally accomplished her long time dream.
This is Leanne’s passionate debut album and she brings it to all who have an
open
ear.
