unspecified

Three Albums That Changed My Life: Shana Ray from Desert Divas

One of the most important music programs in the country is Desert Divas. Leaving no corner of the Northern Territory untouched, the program looks to shine a spotlight on the voices and stories of young Aboriginal women and giving them opportunities and support in creating and performing music.

With the second Desert Divas compilation album, featuring eight ridiculously talented young women, out today, we asked one of the featured artists Shana Ray to give us three albums that changed her life.

Amy Winehouse – Back To Black

The beehive hair, winged eyeliner and tattoos! Amy was unique and I loved her deep expressive vocals and electric mix of music genres like jazz, soul, rhythm and blues!

Amy was similar to me because she was noted for writing about real life experiences and they were very personal, just like my own lyrics. She inspired me to work on my expressions through my vocal range.

Avril Lavigne – Let Go

When Avril Lavigne burst onto the scene with her guitar and rebellious image I thought “I want to be that girl too!” So I started teaching myself how to play the guitar. This made my granddad really happy because he was a guitarist too and from then on he became my teacher.

Avril was cool and so carefree, I loved her signature look. I started to copy her skater style and in middle school I formed a girl band.

Delta Goodrem – Innocent Eyes

When I was young, I would wake up early in the morning and switch on rage to watch the music video countdowns. I remember when I first saw Delta Goodrem’s video for Born To Try, I was fascinated by her beauty and her inspirational song.

I loved her style at this time, to me she was like fairytale princess.

Delta composed her own music and played an instrument, this is what made her a standout female artist for me and inspired me to take on keyboard lessons.

Desert Divas Volume II is out today.

Image: Supplied