For the best part of two decades, Roz Pappalardo has been shaking things up, challenging perceptions and very much forging her own direction through the music landscape. There have been rock records, folk tunes, country albums, and more recently a successful move into musical theatre.
In total, she has released more than 10 records in various guises, perhaps the best known though with her much-loved duo, Women in Docs. It was ‘The Docs’ that brought Roz’s incredible voice and song-writing smarts into the spotlight and a band that has seen her tour the country and the globe more times than she can remember.
Now based in Cairns, the one constant through Roz’s career has been a drive to do her own thing and consequences be damned. Nowhere is that more apparent than on her striking new solo album, Won’t Be Quiet, due out early 2021.
“Writing and recording the album was a deeply personal process for me, driven by a simple desire to hold nothing back, to be brave and put out the record that I’ve always dreamed of”, says Roz.
Single three, Life’s Like That, due out on Friday 29 January 2021, is a nod to resilience, rolling up your sleeves, digging in for the long haul and inspirational people who do it all the time. Surrounded by strong people all her life, Roz comes from a first generation immigrant Sicilian family, who toiled on cane fields in Far North Queensland when they first arrived in this country in the 40s. Working through tropical summers, with severe rainy seasons, cyclones and untold pestilence – no one gave up. The entire family, the women, men and children kept pushing through what would seem like the impossible at the time, because Life’s Like That. Today is a good day. We’re still here, reflecting and appreciating, with a smile. And good food.
COVID-19 has also seen Roz launch a live-stream show called The Kitchen Sessions. This series has activated a team of regional technicians and artists across many genres to present a weekly variety show, spotlighting regional arts and arts businesses. It has been exciting work for Roz that not only take her out of her comfort zone, but reinforces her deep commitment to the power of music and the arts to create change. An approach also evident in her work on The Soldier’s Wife – a major song-writing project that supports military families.
As she returns to venues, whether online or in reality, to perform her new solo record, Roz’s legion of loyal fans will find an artist full of the gutsy passion she is known for – but with a sense of confidence and a willingness to lay it all bare.
