Singer Reigan Derry and DJ Jolyon Petch resolve ‘Dreams’ credit saga

In winning her fight to be credited on an ARIA-nominated track, Australian singer Reigan Derry has inspired other artists to reveal how their voices were stolen.

You’ll know her voice, but perhaps not her name. Aussie singer Reigan Derry says artists need to support one another, so they’re not taken advantage of in the often cutthroat industry.

Derry made national headlines at last year’s ARIA Awards, when she called out Best Dance Release nominee DJ Jolyon Petch for not crediting her vocals on their smash hit cover of Fleetwood Mac’s Dreams.

“Sitting at home watching the ARIA Awards, it’s such a weird feeling ‘cos I should be so excited and proud, but I feel so invisible and powerless,” she said at the time.

Derry was paid just $300 for her vocals on the track that Melbourne-based Petch released through TMRW music, allegedly without her consent, or a signed contract.

As the song blew up into 2021’s most popular dance anthem and TikTok sound, Derry and Petch engaged in a public he-said she-said, and costly legal battle, over its credits and rights.

Australian singer Reigan Derry is currently touring with Eireborne.

A battle Confidential can reveal she won. The collaborators are jointly celebrating Dreams going double-platinum — with her name now front and centre alongside Petch.

“Yes. It’s officially my voice now, and I’m on the contract. I’m so stoked,” the former Australian Idol and The X Factor contestant said.

Reigan Derry took to Instagram during last year’s ARIA Awards to call out ARIA Best Dance Release nominee Jolyon Petch for not crediting her vocals on his track, Dreams.

She has revealed she won her battle.

However, she also revealed, in a statement made to Instagram, that the saga has taken a toll on them both: “Something I never saw coming when all this unfolded was the online threats, abuse, and slander that Jolyon and I had to endure,” she wrote.

“It’s honestly something I wouldn’t wish upon anyone. I’m happy that we can now lay this matter to rest and go back to what we do best, which is creating and performing music.”

Meanwhile, Petch shared an image of the double-platinum certification and in his caption, thanked “Reigan whose amazing vocals brought Dreams to life.”

Being open with her experiences has prompted other singers to come forward.

Jolyon Petch. Picture Rebecca Michael.

Australian singer Reigan Derry.

“I’ve had some really famous singers read about what happened to me, and tell me the same thing happened to them 10 years ago,” Derry said. “There are some big songs, the songs I sing in bands at clubs, that they’ve never been paid for.”

Despite this drama, Derry still loves to sing a cover. For the next month she is travelling Australia with Irish dance rock spectacular, Eireborne. The vocal powerhouse will be performing covers of Irish bands like U2, The Cranberries, Sinead O’Connor, and the Corrs.

“I feel something ancestral when I sing Celtic songs,” she said. Despite cover songs being the radio trend du jour, “I still enjoy bringing my own flavour to something old.”

After that, she’s got a stacked festival line-up with “organic house” band Double Touch, for whom she sings a number of songs. “It’s the kind of thing you’d hear at sunset on the beach in Bali, or Mykonos, rather than at midnight in a club in Sydney”.