Decca Australia signs Gurrumul, new releases in pipeline

Decca Australia now handles the catalogue and future recordings of late First Nation singer-songwriter Dr. Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu (1971–2017), known universally as Gurrumul.

Decca and Universal Music Australia undertook the signing with Darwin-based Skinnyfish Music, its managing director Mark Grose and creative director Michael Hohnen.

Both managed the artist since 2008, and used a creative way of breaking a non-mainstream artist whose works combined his Yolngu language and English.

They targetted selected musical influencers and columnists, and sympatico radio networks including the ABC managed to break him in Australia where his debut went triple platinum and through Europe and the US where he toured until his illness.

He is estimated to have sold half a million records globally.

Gurrumul’s angelic voice connected with fellow musicians Elton John, Quincy Jones, and Sting, and he has performed for The Queen of England and former US president Barack Obama.

Hohnen, says of the new deal: “Mark and I at Skinnyfish Music are extremely proud of our close and personal relationship with this incredible artist and his community and what we have been able to achieve over the past 21 years.

“We now look forward to working with a major international partner and help bring this story and body of work to a much broader audience”.

President of Universal Music Australia and New Zealand, George Ash, adds: “At Universal Music Australia, we are very proud of our diverse roster of Australian artists, one which embraces a variety of musical genres and cultures, values tradition and looks to the future.

“The arrival of Gurrumul to the fold is a deep and genuine privilege for all of us at UMA, and we are excited to nurture his legacy and share it with the world.

“I also know that without the support and guidance from Gurrumul’s extended family of Yolngu people, and that of Michael and Mark at Skinnyfish, he would not have been able to achieve such a prolific body of cultural and artistic work.

“We look forward to taking this to a much broader audience and helping develop the unfinished body of work that already exists.”

Forthcoming releases from Gurrumul on Decca Australia include limited editions of coloured vinyl, a box set of his complete recordings, collaborations with vocal, electronic and instrumental artists and an orchestral album among a slate of projects.