Byron busker Tones and I sweeps 2019 ARIA awards

Tones and I capped a remarkable debut year in Australian music history with four ARIAs.

Toni Watson arrives with a message on Wednesday night. Picture: Getty Images

Pop singer-songwriter Toni Watson capped the most remarkable debut year in Australian music history by walking away with four major ARIA Awards in Sydney on Wednesday night.

Watson, who performs as Tones and I, was named best ­female artist, breakthrough artist and best independent artist, while her song Dance Monkey won best pop release.

READ MORE: The 2019 ARIAs: as it happened

Domestically, Dance Monkey is the most successful single since ARIA began calculating charts in 1983: it has held the No 1 position for 17 weeks since ­August.

Overseas, it is a tremendous hit too, having topped charts in 19 countries, including Britain, Germany and France.

Lisa and Jess Origliasso of The Veronicas present the best female artist award. Picture: Getty Images

For 26-year-old Watson, who grew up on Victoria’s Mornington Peninsula before finding her distinctive artistic voice as a busker in Byron Bay, it has been a year of record-smashing activity.

Her first music as Tones and I was released only in March, and to date she has published just six songs. It’s an impressive strike rate for an artist whose record-breaking career appears to be just getting started.

Album of the year went to ­another debutant, Sydney pop singer-songwriter Dean Lewis, for his first release, A Place We Knew. He also won best male artist. Melbourne band The Teskey Brothers was named best group, while the blues quartet’s second album, Run Home Slow, won best blues & roots album.

Awards host Guy Sebastian was a big winner in the public-voted categories, with his song Choir being named the audience pick for both song of the year and video of the year.

Adelaide hip-hop trio Hilltop Hoods was voted best live act and US pop singer-songwriter Taylor Swift was voted best international artist. Singer-songwriter Paul Kelly won the best adult contemporary album award for Nature. He was also wrongly named as winner of the best independent release, with presenters Veronica and Lewis, from Triple J, having been handed the wrong envelope.

Australia’s music stars showed their support on the red carpet for the Your Right To Know campaign. Among the glitz and glamour, Sebastian, recording artist DJ Havana Brown and Triple J Hottest 100 winners Ocean Alley all displayed T-shirts supporting the press freedom campaign which saw media companies across the country unite in an unprecedented action.

Award-winning singer-songwriter Katie Noonan also backed the campaign for more personal reasons. “My dad is a journalist, so I’m all for it,” she said.