Brisbane’s Hope D takes out Carol Lloyd Award

A rising Brisbane star has taken out the 2020 Carol Lloyd Award, a $15,000 grant awarded to a female-identifying Queensland musician to record and tour an EP.

Rising Brisbane star Hope D is committed to following Carol Lloyd’s lead in pushing for women’s unapologetic involvement in the music industry.

After taking home the inaugural QMusic Emerging Artist Award in March, the singer was last week named the winner of the 2020 Carol Lloyd Award, a $15,000 grant awarded to a female-identifying Queensland musician to record and tour an EP.

Cairns-based alternative blues and roots artist Leanne Tennant wins the 2018 Carol Lloyd Award

Ditching ‘professional’ job options to follow an artistic route isn’t easy

Music identity Carol Lloyd farewelled at Brisbane funeral service

“I remember doing a gig one day and I looked around and realised I was the only female in the line-up,” Hope D said.

“I thought, ‘That’s insane’, and that’s when it clicked for me that it is a male-dominated industry. It sucks to say that we aren’t always taken seriously.”

“To be shown in the same light as Carol Lloyd, who was so groundbreaking and unapologetic, and put my voice and opinion out there, that’s what I want to do.”

Hope D took up guitar when she was 13 and was inspired to start looping her sounds after watching Ed Sheeran.

Brisbane singer Hope D has been announced as the winner of the $15,000 Carol Lloyd Award for 2020. Pics Tara Croser.

After years of performing solo, she recruited four of her female friends to form a band last year, wanting to ensure she was supporting other women in the industry.

The $15,000 grant will be life-changing for the singer, who relied on JobKeeper to fund her EP during the COVID-19 lockdown and then put recording on hold to get a job working in reception.

She got the phone call to tell her she’d won the award while she was at work.

“It (the pandemic) was terrifying. I’d never thought of something that would come about that would mean musicians could not make money,” she said.

“Now I can work less, go straight in and record and put my music out. That’s my ultimate goal. Music has made life better and easier so I hope to affect other people in that way.”