Australian celebrities you didn’t know are singing stars too

Daniel Ricciardo and Silvia Colloca are just two of many Aussie celebrities who have managed to keep their musical talents under wraps – until now.

Actress Silvia Colloca who has an Opera album coming out, Sing Like An Italian. Picture: Tim Hunter.

She became a household name thanks to her skills in the kitchen, but Silvia Colloca is hoping to hit a high note of a different kind.

Before she discovered her operatic talent, Colloca fronted a heavy metal band.

“I loved singing anything by Metallica. But that’s when I should have realised the clean, open sound of my voice was more suited to musical theatre and opera,” the celebrity cook said.

Colloca spent four years studying to be an opera singer in Milan, and after graduating toured throughout Italy during her 20s in theatre productions.

The singer and actor shifted her base to London in the mid 2000s and in between running from one audition to the next, was offered the opportunity to record her debut album of Arias.

Colloca excitedly engaged an entertainment lawyer to strike the deal with a major label.

Silvia Colloca releases her debut album Sing Like An Italian on October 14. Picture: Tim Hunter.

“It was so close that I could touch it and then it didn’t happen, it just disappeared. I was devastated because I thought ‘I’m in my 30s, that’s it,’” she says.

Falling in love with Australian actor Richard Roxburgh inspired her next move, with the pair settling in Sydney.

Colloca found it next to impossible to get work either as an actor or a singer for the first few years in her new home as she also juggled raising their first son Raphael. She and Roxburgh have since had another son Miro and daughter Luna.

While she recently starred in the critically acclaimed film Little Tornadoes and the Foxtel drama series The Twelve, she said Australia was yet to embrace diversity on its big and small screens when she first arrived, becoming a citizen in 2013.

“It was hard to get work then … and it wasn’t 2022; I was told I didn’t look like a leading actress or supporting actress, I didn’t look like anyone you would see on TV,” she said.

“The culture has changed now – just look at the cast of The Twelve – and also I worked my arse off to prove to myself that I could still do something that was creatively fulfilling, whatever that may be.”

She found herself with an accidental career as a television celebrity cook, launching her first series with SBS called Made in Italy with Silvia Colloca in 2014.

And at the same time, she was hustling for opera gigs, landing roles in a production of Gluck’s Orfeo ed Euridice in 2015 and as the wicked Queen in the Opera Queensland new work Snow White in 2016.

Colloca has starred in opera productions including Snow White. Picture: Tim Hunter.

“I did my first production here, in Carmen, two weeks after Miro was born! I was cast as Mercedes when I was five months pregnant and I thought it would be fine, it’s not the lead role, I’ll be fine. We started rehearsals when I was eight and a half months pregnant, then the baby’s born and I didn’t show up at rehearsals for two weeks,” she says, laughing.

“This was how desperate I was to get going over here. And I didn’t want to miss an opportunity because they’re hard to come by.”

Even as Colloca made her way into Australian homes via our television screens, and was showered with rave reviews for her operatic roles, she didn’t dare to reignite her hopes of recording an album.

Until a year ago when Cyrus Meher-Homji, Universal Music Australia’s senior vice president of Classics, offered her a record deal with the legendary Decca label.

Filming commitments and a looming deadline for her latest book The Italian Home Cook meant she only had time to record four songs, including the evergreen Con te partirò (Time to say Goodbye).

She has filled out the album titled Sing Like An Italian with a collection of her favourite operatic performances from Andrea Bocelli, Patrizio Buanne and Luciano Pavarotti.

“I’ve been trying to do this for a billion years … I think this record is more about saying ‘Don’t give up.’ Things don’t have to happen when you’re 25 or 35, things can still happen for you as long as you’re alive,” she says.

Sing Like An Italian by Silvia Colloca is released on October 14.

SECRET CELEBRITY SINGERS

Alan Fletcher

The Neighbours stalwart dropped his Dispatches EP, a collection of Americana and country covers and originals, in late Juneas diehard fans counted down to the iconic show’s final episodes. It features a duet with another Neighbours star and beloved Sale of the Century co-host Alyce Platt.

Suki Waterhouse

The English model released her Lana Del Rey-channelling debut album I Can’t Let Go earlier this year and follows up with the Milk Teeth EP next month. Waterhouse is currently on tour through North America and then Europe.

Gorgi Coghlan

Former The Project panellist now has SINGER in caps on her Insta bio after absolutely flooring Australia with her stellar pipes as Monster on the first season of The Masked Singer in 2019.

Joe Keery

Stranger Things star Joe Keery released his second album DECIDE last month under his artist moniker DJO. Keery has pursued music alongside his acting career for years, kicking off in the Chicago garage rock band Post Animal before launching his solo project.

Daniel Ricciardo sings on the latest Gang Of Youths album. Picture: Supplied.

Daniel Ricciardo

Could the champion racing driver get a gig with Australian rockers Gang of Youths if he doesn’t land a new Formula Onehome? He already has a credit as a backing vocalist on their chart-topping record Angel in Realtime.

Michael and Michelle

What started as casual jam sessions between scenes on the Downton Abbey set became the new musical entity Michael and Michelle. The show’s stars Michael Fox and Michelle Dockery bonded over their love of music and formed a duo, signing to Decca Recordsand releasing the debut EP The watching Silence in May.

Originally published as Australian celebrities you didn’t know are singing stars too