Kate Ceberano is one of Australia’s most accomplished and recognised music industry talents, with a horde of award winning albums in soul, jazz and pop genres, Kate continues to dazzle audiences with her soulful voice and generous spirit. Her latest album Bittersweet, a collaboration with renown trumpet player Mark Isham could see Kate win her biggest awards yet. 3008 spoke exclusively to Kate as she celebrates 25 successful years in the music industry.

You have recorded 22 albums, including five platinum and four gold which is an amazing accomplishment, what do you attribute your staying power in the music industry to?

I probably attribute it to the fact that I'm a "true romantic" in the truest sense of the phrase. I don't imagine myself "finishing up" as an artist, "retiring ".... that’s kind of oxymoronic isn't it? I see my life as an artist, flexible and malleable like clay. I don't set goals like being the most famous, the richest, or the hippest (I wish), I dream of ways to entertain, provoke, instill dreams and imagination through music and performance.

You have just produced Bittersweet, a jazz collaboration with Mark Isham, how did Bittersweet come about?

I feel like I dreamed it up a long, long time ago as a teen in fact. I had started singing with a jazz trio at 16 and I used to laugh and introduce myself as a 70 yr old black woman. I was convinced it was reincarnation, why else would a teenager from the burbs have such a taste for bourbon in dark clubs singing lushlife and stormy weather?

Twenty years later and I'm in LA trying to establish some alternative work like film soundtracks and voiceovers to supplement my pop career and I met Mark! Grammy award winner, Oscar nominee and one of the most respected film composers in the country and a hot trumpet player to boot!
He invited me to perform at the opening of the Sundance Film Festival and hanging out I told him about my early incarnations as a jazz singer, he got interested and we started to trade favorite songs and by accident we discovered we loved virtually the same repertoire. We started to perform these at a few charity events and we struck a chord with the audience and with each other. We made a promise that the first opportunity we had to record together we would.... And we did!

We recorded traditional style, all live, all together, all thinking and breathing as one. Heady stuff!

Also, with some of the most powerful jazz names in the world! I was speechless when I wasn't singing!

Which album would you say has reflected you most accurately
over the years and why?

I am yet to make that one! I feel like Stanley Kubrick or Sophia Coppola; I follow where my heart goes and my head either follows or gets left behind. This process allows room for failure but compensates with a speedy recovery. I have yet to define myself in music; ironically, it'll probably when I'm 70 or something.

What has been the highlight of your career to date?

I really enjoyed the experience of the Superstar (Jesus Christ Superstar) Concert. I was thrilled nightly by being in front of sixteen thousand people and communicating as intimately as if it were my lounge room. It gave me a sense of what could be. How to imagine more than you can compare!

Tim Rice is powerful, intelligent and truly one of the most insightful storytellers of my generation. Of course Andrew Lloyd Webber's music is like working in
a tempest, wild and passionate. I loved every minute of it. The cast and crew
were also unforgettable.

But hey, that's just one highlight! There's almost too many to mention, for instance don't get me started on Dancing With The Stars....!!!!!!

How has the Australian music industry changed in your opinion over these past 25 years?

I wouldn't know, I almost feel like a satellite to it, I’ve never really known where I fit with "the scene" and I don't believe it knows where I fit in either.
I'm like a Liza Minnelli or Midler or MacLaine, sort of an all rounder, not quite cinema, not quite music, not quite theatre but a little bit of everything. I'm glad to be an anomaly, there's room for error and improvement, room for life to be artful without too much scrutiny! We love that!

Has motherhood changed the type of songs you want to sing?

I cry more when I sing sad songs and I ache in my soul when we're apart, so songwriting definitely improves when I'm on the road. Also I have a necessity to stay busy and make a decent living to afford schooling and a lifestyle that traditionally artists have never been able to afford.

My father is the highest ranked martial artist in the world in his style outside of Japan but that didn't make it any easier for him to make a living. It certainly drove us all mad to see him struggle but he is a living legend, but it is still tough.

I've made a career out of changing fixed conditions. With my daughter driving my necessity, my creativity, I am inexhaustible!

Which artists do you enjoy listening to?

I love Nora Jones, Eva Cassidy, Katie Noonan and ACDC! I love Led Zeppelin, Nina Simone, Stevie Wonder and Beck. I love Leonard Cohen, Bob Dylan, Fleetwood Mac and Sia. Mika and Madonna..... It’s too mad, too mixed!

I love all music if it's good!

You have recently been in Los Angeles, what were you doing there and do you have any hot gossip?

Nothing major as yet but it could turn into something amazing! Mark and I want to get a nomination for a Grammy this year. It's an impossible dream, crazy and absurd but we’re giving it a red hot go!

I just did a charity gig for the Grammy foundation and they want us back for a gig in New York... so just like Josephine Baker, I’m with fingers, eyes and knees crossed.... Wish us Bon chance!