Aleyce Simmonds

Aleyce Simmonds (born 6 December 1986 in Port Macquarie, New South Wales) is an Australian country music recording artist and singer-songwriter. Simmonds' accolades include the Telstra Road to Tamworth Winner in 2004. As a part of her prize Aleyce visited Nashville and recorded a successful single, "Mighty, Mighty Love". Simmonds also won an APRA Award, in 2017 for Country Work of the Year, with her song "Greatest Companion".[2]

Aleyce Simmonds
Aleyce Simmonds in 2016
Background information
Born	6 December 1986 Port Macquarie, New South Wales, Australia
Origin	Tamworth, New South Wales, Australia[1]
Genres	Country, Country pop, Country rock
Occupation(s)	Singer-songwriter
Instruments	Vocals, guitar
Years active	2001–present
Labels	Capitol Records Nashville, Sony BMG, Universal Music Australia
Associated acts	Amber Lawrence Christie Lamb Dianna Corcoran Paul Costa Lachlan Bryan & The Wildes Dean Perrett Ryan Sampson Tommy Emmanuel Graeme Connors
Website	www.aleyce.com

She won Australian and National Duet of the year winner with Paul Costa for "The Way You Make Me Feel" in 2007.[3]

Simmonds received her 7th Golden Guitar (Country Music Awards of Australia) nomination in 2017.[4][5] In 2014, Simmonds won Female Artist of the Year at the Australian Independent Country Music Awards for 2014. In October 2015, Simmonds was named Australian Independent Artist of the Year, Female Vocalist of the Year and awarded Best Country Single of the Year.[6]

Music career

Simmonds released her debut album in 2011 and 4 subsequent radio singles and music videos for "The Keeper", "When I Say Too Much", "The Healing Hands of Time" and "Bondwood Boat". All singles except "Bondwood Boat" achieved chart positions inside top 20.

Simmonds was nominated for three Golden Guitar awards at the Country Music awards of Australia, The Healing Hands of Time, written with the album's producer Rod McCormack (Beccy Cole, Adam Harvey, Amber Lawrence, Paul Kelly) being nominated for Female Artist of the Year and New Talent of the Year and "Bondwood Boat" written with Graeme Connors being nominated for Heritage Song of the year. She performed the song with Connors at the Golden Guitars.[7]

Simmonds was a finalist at the 2016 Golden Guitar Awards for APRA AMCOS Song of the Year with her song "Joshua", about her stillborn baby brother.[8][1] "Joshua" was awarded the No. 1 spot on the 88.9FM Tamworth Country Music Top 20 charts for 2015. Aleyce also secured No. 12 with "It Finds Us Anyway" and No. 14 with "The Greatest Companion" on the local station's countdown.[9]

At the APRA Music Awards of 2017 Simmonds won the category, Country Work of the Year, with her song, "Greatest Companion";[10] it was inspired by being in the studio with Luke Bona on 2UE.[11][12] It's about how important overnight radio is to so many people. Aleyce was blown away by the amazing callers Bona receives throughout the night and how important the radio is to them.[13]

Personal life

Aleyce Simmonds was born on 6 December 1986 in Port Macquarie, New South Wales and moved when she was age 12 to Tamworth. At age 13, Aleyce entered her first talent quest but did not win. Then at the age of 16 she entered the Country Capital Music Association's (CCMA) Talent Quest. She was voted the best overall artist under the age of 16 and won $1,000, with which she brought her first guitar.[14][7] She started writing songs and found she had a natural country sound, and by age 15 she was playing gigs in pubs around Tamworth. While Simmonds still tours regularly, she is currently living on her parents' hundred-acre property outside of Tamworth, where she spends weekdays writing songs before hitting the road to tour on the weekends.[1]

Simmonds is the host for BalconyTV Tamworth.[15] An online music show that features bands, musicians and other variety acts on balconies around the world.[16] Tamworth is the only city in Australia that is not a Capital City that has BalconyTV. It is in association with the Tamworth Country Music Festival.[17]

Discography

Studio albums

List of studio albums, with Australian positions

Title	Details	Peak chart positions
		AUS [18][19]
Pieces of Me	Released: January 2011[20] Label: Aleyce Simmonds Formats: CD, DD	-
Believe	Released: September 2013[21] Label: Aleyce Simmonds Formats: CD, DD	-
More Than Meets the Eye	Released: January 2017[22] Label: Aleyce Simmonds Formats: CD, DD, streaming	25
Here & Now'	Released: 17 January 2020[23] Label: Aleyce Simmonds Formats: CD, DD, streaming	64

Awards

APRA Awards

The APRA Awards are held in Australia and New Zealand by the Australasian Performing Right Association to recognise songwriting skills, sales and airplay performance by its members annually.

Year	Nominee / work	Award	Result
2017[24]	"Greatest Companion"	Country Work of the Year	Won

Country Music Awards of Australia

The Country Music Awards of Australia (CMAA) (also known as the Golden Guitar Awards) is an annual awards night held in January during the Tamworth Country Music Festival, celebrating recording excellence in the Australian country music industry. They have been held annually since 1973.[25][26]

Year	Nominee / work	Award	Result
2018	More Than Meets the Eye	Female Artist of the Year	Won
2021	"True Blue" (Amber Lawrence, Aleyce Simmonds, Kirsty Lee Akers and Dianna Corcoran)	Vocal Collaboration of the Year	Won

• Note: wins only

References

1. "Aleyce-Simmonds-from-Tamwort". Traveling In. Retrieved 26 June 2016.
2. "Young dance and pop songwriters dominate the APRA Music Awards". Retrieved 4 April 2017.
3. "Tamworth's sweetheart – Aleyce Simmonds". Tamworth Country Life. Archived from the original on 30 March 2014. Retrieved 22 March 2013.
4. "ALEYCE SIMMONDS NOMINATED FOR SIXTH GOLDEN GUITAR". Retrieved 30 March 2017.
5. "Toyota Golden Guitar Awards Finalists". Archived from the original on 24 November 2017. Retrieved 20 November 2017.
6. "Aleyce Simmonds". Tamworth Country Music Festival. Archived from the original on 13 August 2016. Retrieved 26 June 2016.
7. "The Journey: Aleyce Simmonds". ABC New England North West. Retrieved 22 March 2013.
8. "APRA-AMCOS-Song-of-the-Yea". Archived from the original on 29 February 2016. Retrieved 26 June 2016.
9. "Being Awarded #1 on Yearly Countdown". Retrieved 26 June 2016.
10. "Country Work of the Year". Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA) | Australasian Mechanical Copyright Owners Society (AMCOS). 2017. Retrieved 5 April 2017.
11. "Tamworth's Aleyce Simmonds named 2017 APRA Country Work of the Year recipient". Retrieved 4 April 2017.
12. Craig, Haley (17 March 2017). "Aleyce Simmonds nominated for APRA honour". The Northern Daily Leader. Retrieved 20 March 2019.
13. "Aleyce Simmonds Inspiration for Greatest Companion". Archived from the original on 12 August 2016. Retrieved 26 June 2016.
14. Lee Kernaghan: The Stories, Aleyce Simmonds Part 1. YouTube. 31 May 2011. Retrieved 26 June 2016.
15. "Tamworth shines on the world". Retrieved 30 November 2016.
16. "BalconyTV Tamworth". Retrieved 30 November 2016.
17. "Tamworth to join global TV network". Archived from the original on 30 November 2016. Retrieved 30 November 2016.
18. "ARIA Australian Top 50 Albums". Australian Recording Industry Association. 6 February 2017. Retrieved 4 February 2017.
19. "ARIA Chart Watch #561". auspOp. 25 January 2020. Retrieved 25 January 2020.
20. "Pieces of Me". Apple Music. Retrieved 4 November 2020.
21. "Believe". Apple Music. Retrieved 4 November 2020.
22. "More Than Meets the Eye". Apple Music. Retrieved 4 November 2020.
23. "Here & Now". Apple Music. Retrieved 4 November 2020.
24. "2017 APRA Music Award Winners Announced". Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA) | Australasian Mechanical Copyright Owners Society (AMCOS). 3 April 2017. Retrieved 5 April 2017.
25. "Past Award Winners". Retrieved 2 November 2020.
26. "Fanny Lumsden wins five Golden Guitar Awards despite cancelled Tamworth Country Music Festival". ABC. 23 January 2021. Retrieved 24 January 2021.