Biography:

Sia is an Australian singer who works in the styles of jazz, folk, soul and pop. Despite the fact that she is one of the most famous stars of the international stage, fully revealing the meaning of the name – “shining”, the artist prefers to remain in the shadows. For this reason, Sia never stars in her own videos and goes on stage wearing a wig, and for some time now, with a wide bow that hides her face.

Childhood and youth:

Sia Kate Isobel Furler (full name of the singer) was born on December 18, 1975 in Adelaide (South Australia). It is worth noting that an atmosphere of all-consuming creative anarchy surrounded the performer from the first years of her life.

Father Phil Colson lectured on art at a local college, and mother Loan Furler ran a household and raised her daughter. In their free time, the couple performed in cafes and bars as part of the rockabilly band they organized, The Soda Jerx.

As a teenager, Kate was a fan of the works of Sting, classic rhythm and blues singer Aretha Franklin and Stevie Wonder. Sia later admitted that their voices were still mixed in her head and still sound in her thoughts to this day.

In conversations with media representatives, the artist repeatedly said that when her parents went on tour, leaving their beloved child at home, to have fun, she often danced in front of the mirror, imitating the performances of her favorite performers. Many years later, these childhood memories formed the basis for the video clip for the song “Chandler.”

Sia hated school, learning was not easy for her, and she was not particularly popular with her classmates, causing them only ridicule and insults.

At the age of 17, Furler first appeared on stage as a member of the local jazz-funk group The Crisp, but did not stay in it for long. As part of this project, the girl recorded two albums – Wordand the Deal and Delirium. Both records failed commercially, but made it clear to the young singer that it was time for her to pursue a solo career.

Music and films:

In 1997, Sia moved to London, where luck smiled at her. In her youth, the singer performed as a backing vocalist in the well-known group Jamiroquai, then released the album OnlySee, and in 2000 she signed a contract with the recording company Sony Music.

A year later, the debut solo album of the artist Healing Is Difficult appeared on the shelves, the author of the music and lyrics of which was herself. The disc was liked by listeners and was favorably received by music critics. Then they learned about Sia in Britain, but the rest of Europe, like the States, had not yet heard of the talented Australian.

That changed with the release of her third album, Color the Small One. The song Breathe Me not only took first place in the charts of a couple of American radio stations, but also became the soundtrack to the TV series Six Feet Under. The popularity of the song was great, and the producers of the Universal label began to demand that the singer write similar sad tracks. But by that time she had already created a lot of optimistic compositions, so the contract with the record company was terminated.

Later, the same popular song was played at the Victoria’s Secret fashion show, in advertising for Australian supermarkets, during the Beijing Olympics and in the trailer for the popular game Prince of Persia. Four years later, another album was released – Some People Have Real Problems, which took 26th place on the Billboard 200 chart. At this time, the artist began collaborating with the group Zero 7, with whose musicians she recorded the tracks Destiny, Distractions.

In 2010, the singer released a new album, We Are Born. The single “You’ve Changed” became the soundtrack to the film “The Vampire Diaries”. By that time, Sia began creating songs both for herself and for other stars. So, in 2010, she recorded four tracks for Christina Aguilera’s Bionic album, which, according to the performer herself, became the heart of the entire disc.

That same year, Sia announced that she no longer wanted to pursue a solo career. She was diagnosed with a serious disease of the thyroid gland (Graves’ disease), which significantly affected her well-being. However, she continued to create hits for other artists such as Kylie Minogue, Maroon 5, Chris Martin, Celine Dion.

The most famous hit, which the vocalist did not write for herself, was the song Diamonds, performed by Rihanna and topping the charts in more than 20 countries for a couple of weeks. As Sia herself admitted, she wrote this composition in exactly 14 minutes.

Also, at different times, the singer wrote soundtracks for such popular films as “Twilight” (My Love), “The Hunger Games” (Elastic Heart), “The Great Gatsby” (Kill and Run). In 2013, the Billboard chart released a traditional themed magazine with the best performers of the year. The cover showed a girl with a paper bag on her head. The inscription could be peeled off – behind it was a photo of Sia.

Despite the fact that the singer does not appear in her own videos, it is simply impossible to confuse her work with any others. Firstly, Sia has a unique voice, and secondly, almost every video of hers stars young dancer Maddie Ziegler. This girl in a white wig literally became the face of the Sia brand. The singer herself used the image with her face covered with hair, and later at the Venice Festival she even secured a large black bow to create a more shocking look.

In 2014, the artist “blew up” the world stage with her new solo album 1000 Forms of Fear. The main composition of the album, “Chandler,” was nominated for a Grammy Award four times. The Australian star later premiered a cover of the song California dreamin’, which is on Rolling Stone’s list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.

At the same time, Sia and Eminem delighted fans with their collaboration, creating the single Guts Over Fear, which was included in the Shady XV hit collection and was presented as the soundtrack to Antoine Fuqua’s action film The Great Equalizer.

It soon became known that more than a third of Australians surveyed voted for Sia to represent their country at Eurovision. This was the Green Continent’s debut participation in the competition. But, despite this, the commission of the local SBS television channel selected Guy Theodore Sebastian.
In January 2016, the singer’s next album, This Is Acting, was released. In support of him, Sia organized a world tour, the first concert of which took place in August in Moscow.

At the same time, the singer released a video for her joint track with Sean Paul, Cheap Thrills. The video was funny: a dance competition on an old TV show, interrupted by a couple of contestants wearing Sia’s signature wigs.

In September 2017, the songs and videos of Rainbow (the soundtrack to the film My Little Pony: The Movie), Dusk Till Dawn (recorded with the participation of Zayn Malik) and Alive took place. The third track became the lead single in support of the re-released album This Is Acting.

In continuation of their creativity, in April 2018, Sia and French DJ David Guetta released a video for the joint composition Flames. The video was published on the musician’s YouTube channel. Guetta played the role of the evil Chinese emperor. And the image of the kind Japanese martial artist went to actor Danny Trejo, known to viewers from the film “Machete.”

This is the fourth duet song between Sia and David Guetta. In 2011, the musicians presented the track Titanium, which was nominated for the APRA Awards as the best dance work of the year.

In February 2018, the premiere of the third part of the film “Fifty Shades of Gray” took place, for which Sia wrote the soundtrack Deer In Headlights. She also worked for the fairy-tale film “A Wrinkle in Time” – she created the composition Magic.

Among other things, in an interview, singer Celine Dion could not resist and said that her new album will contain three compositions that Sia wrote for her.

Despite her busy work schedule, the artist does not forget about her fans. On her Instagram account (the social network is banned in the Russian Federation; it belongs to the Meta corporation, which is recognized as extremist in the Russian Federation), she regularly posts photos from performances and videos from her vacation. It is worth noting that social networks are not the only resource that tells fans about the latest news from the singer’s life. On Sia’s official website, anyone can familiarize themselves with materials related to her creative biography.

In May 2019, together with the LSD project, the artist presented the album Labrinth, Sia & Diplo present… LSD. It includes tracks from Audio, Thunderclouds and others.

At the end of the year, Sia returned to her solo project and released a new hit, Original. The song was used in the soundtrack of the reboot of Doctor Dolittle starring Robert Downey Jr. Fans of the singer noted that here she moved away from her traditional sound and presented a track in the tropical pop genre.

By September 2020, the artist planned to complete work on the musical, which she began creating back in 2015. One of the main characters in the film is represented by Kate Hudson. But the drama “Music,” in which Ziegler played the second main character on screen, was shown only a year after the expected premiere date. Critics received the film negatively, primarily due to the fact that the character suffering from autism was played by a dancer in good health. The film brought its creators three Golden Raspberries.

Failure in cinema did not prevent Siya from doing her main job – her tenth album, Reasonable Woman, was released the same year.

Appearance and health:

After separating from her husband, Sia began to lead a healthy lifestyle – together with Demi Moore she signed up for yoga classes and became a vegetarian. The singer is in excellent shape – with a height of 164 cm, her weight is 62 kg. At the same time, the artist does not hide the fact that she has repeatedly changed her appearance with the help of plastic surgery. She had liposuction, which she later called a mistake, but the hardest thing was the removal of her double chin, which, as the singer later realized, helped her in singing. Now Sia accepts herself as she is.

Despite the fact that the singer tries not to get caught on camera, she doesn’t always succeed. So, in 2017, she shocked her fans by publicly posting her own photo in nude style, in which she was captured from the back.

The woman found out that the paparazzi had previously photographed her naked while she was swimming in the pool, and bidding for these pictures began on the Internet. Sia asked people to save their money, because the photo can now be seen for free on her account.
Star tattoos deserve special attention. Her hands are covered with children’s drawings, as if kids had painted them with colored pencils.

In 2019, the artist made a confession regarding her health. She told reporters that she suffers from a chronic autoimmune disease, Ehlers-Danlos syndrome. The disease affects the collagen content of the skin and connective tissue, which manifests itself in excessive skin extensibility and joint pain.

The bullying after the release of the singer’s film “Music” affected her mental health. Sia tried to commit suicide. For treatment I had to go to a rehabilitation center. Kathy Griffin made a great contribution to the recovery of the performer. Together, the women began going to a restaurant, chatting, and Sia managed to get out of her depression.

In 2023, the performer said that she was diagnosed with autism. At that time she was already recovering.

Personal life:

The singer’s personal life was quite dramatic. In the early 2000s, the girl met a guy named Dan in London, who became her first true love. The couple went on a trip to Thailand, but due to work, Dan had to return to London before Sia. A week before her arrival, the guy was hit and killed by a car.

After this tragedy, the singer plunged into deep depression, accompanied by uncontrolled use of alcohol and drugs. The desperate girl even tried to commit suicide, but then a friend called her in time and saved her. In 2004, after another nervous breakdown, Sia underwent a full course of rehabilitation, and four years later she openly declared her bisexuality.

In 2009, the singer was recognized as one of the most influential LGBT representatives in Australia. She was in a relationship with J.D. Samson, the lead singer of the band Le Tigre. Sia has said more than once that she dreams of marrying her, but for unknown reasons the couple broke up.

Her unconventional orientation did not prevent the singer from formalizing a relationship with a member of the opposite sex. In 2014, she married American director Eric Anders Lang, but the couple divorced at the end of 2016. They had no children.

In 2020, it became known that Sia adopted a boy. She does not advertise his name, but previously stated that she is ready to take custody of the 16-year-old orphan Desani, about whom the documentary was created. The guy survived the death of his mother at the hands of his father, after which he was forced to live with a relative who subjected him to physical violence. The second boy in the singer’s family was a teenager named Che.

The star does not hide her new love. Her chosen one was the DJ and producer Diplo (Thomas Pentz), with whom she sings in the group LSD. According to the performer, she feels a strong attraction to her colleague, but due to the need to devote a lot of time to raising adopted teenagers, she decided to refrain from relationships with obligations.

The addition to the family occurred during the year of the pandemic. One of the sons made the artist a grandmother, twice. This event did not prevent Sia herself from finding love. True, at first the performer hid her chosen one from the public. In 2023, it became known that the singer and her boyfriend Dan Bernad got married. The wedding took place for six people at the estate of Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana in Portofino, where the wedding ceremony of Kourtney Kardashian and Travis Barker took place a year earlier.

Sia now:

The Australian continues to create, and in 2023, with her participation, the premiere of the song Muddy Feet took place. In addition, the artist does not abandon charity; she talks about events to help those in need on her pages on social networks. Thanks to her grandchildren, Christmas melodies appeared in Sia’s repertoire, the videos for which were created using plasticine.

Discography:

1997 – Only see
2001 – Healing Is Difficult
2004 – Color the Small One
2008 – Some People Have Real Problems
2010 – We Are Born
2014 – 1000 Forms of Fear
2016 – This Is Acting
2017 — Everyday Is Christmas
2021 — Music: Songs from and Inspired by the Motion Picture

Interesting Facts:

The singer, who opposes manifestations of popularity, published the “Antislava” manifesto in Billboard magazine.
Sia often allows herself grand gestures. At the end of 2019, she visited a large hypermarket, where she paid for a number of people’s purchases. The artist wanted to remain unrecognized, but her fans were present in the crowd of buyers.
The hit Chandelier was used by Alexandra Vorobyova at the “blind auditions” of the “Voice-3” project, who later became the winner of the season.