Aussie stars celebrate major music milestone of Mushroom Records turning 50
Ross Wilson and new talent Wilsn will join Aussie music legends celebrating the 50th anniversary of the record label that brought us Jimmy Barnes, Paul Kelly, Kate Ceberano and many more.
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Michael Gudinski would approve.
His mate Ed Sheeran singing the Hunters and Collectors anthem Throw Your Arms Around me.
The legendary Ross Wilson revving up Skyhooks’ timeless Ego Is Not A Dirty Word.
And modern soul artist Wilsn taking on Heading In The Right Direction from Australia’s late queen of soul Renee Geyer.
The spirit of Gudinski, the late Australian music champion, looms large as his family and team put the finishing touches on Mushroom 50 Live concert, a celebration of the iconic independent institution’s 50th anniversary.
The big gig serves to remind us of the illustrious rollcall of great music and artists who have called Mushroom home over the decades with Jimmy Barnes, Paul Kelly, Kate Ceberano, Missy Higgins, Ian Moss, Christine Anu, Deborah Conway and Willy Zygier, Diesel and Vika and Linda also performing.
Wilson’s presence at Mushroom Live acknowledges his role in producing the first three Skyhooks records, which helped bring the then struggling indie back from the brink of collapse in the mid 1970s.
Now in the sixth decade of his career, Wilson is now signed to the Mushroom group, releasing his new EP called She’s Stuck On Facebook All the Time on the Bloodlines label.
“With Skyhooks, the music was great, the timing was fabulous and they had all the infrastructure you needed at Mushroom and they just went for it. Living In The Seventies broke Daddy Cool’s record of having the highest selling, Australian-produced rock album,” Wilson said.
“It was such a burning thing for him to make Australian music big.”
The “50 Songs for 50 years” concert will also shine a light, as Gudinski did with his pandemic live music television show The Sound, on the next Mushroom wave.
The bill also features the Mushroom artists who have made their marks on the Australian soundtrack and global stages in recent decades, including Dan Sultan, The Temper Trap, The Teskey Brothers, Amy Shark, Bliss N Eso, DMA’s, The Rubens and Gordi.
Singer songwriter Wilsn is one of the freshest talents on Ivy League, one of seven Mushroom Group labels, which launched Jet and The Vines to the world.
She was signed just two weeks after Gudinski died in March 2021, as Matt Gudinski took the helm of the group and signalled it was business as usual, as his father would have wanted it.
“I wanted to sign with them because they are independent, they’re doing it for the music, not just for the money. A lot of other labels aren’t doing it for the love of music,” she said.
“I feel like sometimes people focus on the TikTok views or how many social media followers and that’s not actually got anything to do with the music.”
The Mushroom 50 Live concert will be broadcast on Seven and 7Plus from 7pm. The Mushroom: 50 Years of Making Noise (Reimagined) album is out now.
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