I'm a songwriter who specializes in a wide range of mainstream pop genres, though I was born in Australia and grew up writing country with my family of recording artists - Ray, Lee and Tania Kernaghan. I've written 11 #1 songs and had over 100 songs cut worldwide in a multitude of genres ranging from pop and rock to contemporary country and AC. I've won a few awards including Apra Song Of The Year. Back in the 90's I was signed to ABC/EMI in Sydney and my debut album was nominated for an ARIA Award for Best New Australian Pop Artist.
Looking back, it’s easy to see why songwriting comes naturally. I grew up on tour with dad’s traveling music and variety show and got my start writing songs for my country singer sister, Tania. When I was 18 I co wrote her first #1 single, "I'll Be Gone" and not long after that I signed my deal with ABC/EMI. In recording my own material I took a decidedly different musical direction to my famous siblings. My influences don't really no any bounds and range from Abba to George Strait, Tom Petty, Bonnie Raitt and Pink to Peter Gabriel and Chris Cornell. These days my car radio is most likely tuned to Santa Monica's KCRW!
As I mentioned, music critics seemed to dig my little debut singer songwriter record, "Cypress Grove". Bernard Zuel of The Sydney Morning Herald wrote, "Fiona is one of Australia's best new songwriters... with more potential than ten Sheryl Crows or Lisa Loebs."
It might have seemed like an odd career move at the time but rather than cut a second record in Sydney in the late 90’s I moved to Nashville T.N instead, to work as a staff songwriter for Warner Chappell Music. I had my first cut in the U.S with Mindy McReady on her "Not So Tough" album (Sony), which debuted in Billboard's Hot 100. Life in Nashville was colorful to say the least... I shared a house with Keith Urban's band mates and learned a lot from them and Keith who is still one of my musical heroes. Keith and the band had just signed to Capitol Records when I was living with them and so I got to see first hand what it takes to get that far in the States. I immersed myself in collaborative work with hit producers and co writing partners such as Marv Green (“Amazed”), Vicky McGehee ("Like We Never Loved At All") and Andrew Farriss of INXS as well as working a fair bit as a demo singer. Those were fantastic early days for me in the U.S and I use what I learned back then every day.
I've always really pushed myself to keep growing creatively so around the same time I made lots of writing trips back to Australia and to Europe and studied up on some of my other influences like Irish poet, William Butler Yeats and even Beethoven on a little pilgrimage to Vienna. I also lived in New York for a while, fueling up on all “The Big Apple” has to offer. David Bowie's guitarist, Gerry Leonard, and his wife, singer songwriter Pam Mann, were my N.Y family and turned me on to some awesome stuff that helped deepen my "creative well". Things like The Museum of Modern Art, Jivamukti Yoga, Tibetan Buddhist Meditation and of course all the incredible local music! I worked between N.Y and Nashville for some time until after 9/11 when I ploughed into a physical and emotional burnout. A shrink told me I was clinically depressed. I eventually realized it was an opportunity for me to fine tune my personal and creative direction. I wrote a lot about processing that emotional darkness and rebuilding spiritual and psychological strength on my second album, "Shadow Wine and Truth Lilies".
I found my wings again in the "City Of Angels" where I've been based since 2003. LA is a perfect fit for my personality and an ideal setting for my musical style. And of course it's inspired new songs like "City Of Angels" (which is now part of Russell Emanuel's Extreme Music catalog and for sale on their Girlfriend Pop album on iTunes). A few months after moving to LA I got a call from Marilyn Manson’s guitarist and producer, John Five, asking me to sing background vocals on a session for Garbage. That was cool and just a small sing of more good things to come. Soon after multi platinum selling Sony BMG artist, Tina Arena, included my song,"Take Me Apart", on her "Greatest Hits" CD. Then in 2005 the pioneering indie label, Red Rebel Music, released the compilation CD, "Feeling Fiona” which features 12 various artists including Aussie greats Ross Wilson and Vika and Linda Bull performing previously unreleased songs of mine.
More recently I've been writing for film and tv and placed a bunch of songs in the feature films "Hell Of A Ride" and "My Wife Is A Vampire" and in the hit Lifetime series "Army Wives", on PBS's Summer Pledge Drive concert series cd releases, ABC's "All My Children" and even "The World News with Diane Sawyer".
I also work as a writer/producer team with my rockin' husband, Daniel Kresco. Dan is a recording engineer and film score mixer and is Head Engineer at Hans Zimmer's Remote Control Studios in Santa Monica. His resume and imdb page read like a pop culture almanac! His credits include work with Michael Jackson, Lee Ann Womack, Reba McEntire, Barenaked Ladies, Alicia Keys, Luis Miguel, Limp Bizkit and many more. To bring things full circle, a while back Dan and I wrote and recorded a second album with my sister, Tania. That record, "Livin' The Dream", became one of '09's Top 10 most downloaded albums on iTunes Australia.
At the end of the day, I think it's fair to say I thrive on the creative energy of L.A. It's a great place to call home. AND I've fallen in love with my collaborative work with Hollywood based film composers. Some of whom include Sundance Institute Fellow Kristen Baum (“As High As The Sky”, “Assassins”) and Remote Control Productions’ Bryce Jacobs (“Medal Of Honor”, “Puss In Boots” “Clash Of The Titans”).
Recently I worked extensively with Bryce Jacobs on the gritty and edgy Song/Score for the Zero Gravity produced feature film "Bad Karma" starring Ray Liotta and Dominic Purcell. “Bad Karma” features a wide range of my writing styles as well as my vocals on our end credits song, "Everything". It's a cool example of the kind of film, TV and transmedia work I hope to become well known for!
To talk about licensing, collaborating or writing for your project email fiona@fionakernaghan.com