Troy Cassar-Daley, Musician
Troy Cassar-Daley has earned the reputation as one of Australia’s finest country performers, honing his craft over the course of 20 years and 6 studio albums. A child of an Aboriginal mother and Maltese father, he grew up in Grafton, running away to live with his father in Surry Hills, teaching himself to play guitar. By sixteen Troy’s band, Little Eagle, was touring NSW, and while still a teenager Troy made the Top 10 in Tamworth’s Star Maker quest and in 1986 won the Search For A Star competition. Following this success Troy toured the outback for seven months, where he began to develop and hone his songwriting skills. Returning to his home town Grafton, Troy replaced James Blundell as lead singer in country group The Blue Heeler Band.
In 1994 Troy’s debut EP 'Dream Out Loud' was released through Sony Music. The title track raced to the Number 1 position on the country charts and in January 1995 his debut album 'Beyond the Dancing' was released to wide critical acclaim.
Troy went on to win the prestigious 1995 ARIA Award for ‘Best Country Record’, then at the 1996 Country Music Awards in Tamworth, he won the ‘Best Male Vocal’ Award. January 1997 saw the release of 'True Believer' to rave reviews. Then at the 1998 Australian Country Music Awards at Tamworth in January, Troy scooped the pool with three Golden Guitars – Best Male Vocal for his single Little Things, Album of the Year for True Believer and Best Video for Little Things. He has since added a second CMAA Entertainer of the Year Award and two Mo Awards to his ever-growing collection.
Troy’s fifth album Big River, released in 1999, saw him win Best Male Vocal and Song Of The Year for They Don’t Make ‘Em Like That Anymore at the 2000 CMAA Awards.
In 2003 Troy performed at the Opening of the Rugby World Cup and in 2005 Troy released his 6th album, Brighter Day which received 4 star reviews across the board. It features guest backing vocals by luminaries such as Kasey Chambers and Jimmy Barnes. In January 2006 Troy's Brighter Day won four Golden Guitars for Troy at the Australian Country Music Awards. The awards included Best Male Vocalist and Instrumental of the Year.
Troy then toured the USA with Tommy Emmanuel where he received standing ovations from enthusiastic audiences everywhere. He followed that up by taking out 2 Deadly – the prestigious Indigenous achievement awards – Artist of the Year and Single of the Year. In 2006 Troy was awarded Entertainer of the Year by the Country Music Association of Australia – the fourth time he has received this award in the event’s 10 year history and the ACE Award for Best Male Country Performer.
Biography adapted from http://www.troycassardaley.com.au/news.html and http://au.yahoo.com/it-takes-two/couples/bio/troy-cassar-daley/