Now since the kids have grown up, he feels he has something worthwhile to write about in his songs, and the awards over the past two years support this. He has been compared to John Williamson, Brooks and Dunn, even Tommy Emmanuel. George’s strong acoustic fingerstyle skills are often in demand to back other artists.
South Coast Country Music Awards
- 2007
- 1st place Songwriting (All I’ll Remember)
- 1st place Instrumental (Crazy)
- 1st place Gospel (The Soldier and the Preacher)
- 2008
- 1st place Songwriting (Father’s prayer)
- 1st place Instrumental (Pub with no beer)
Macarthur Country Music Awards
- 2007
- 1st place Instrumental
- 1st place Senior duo with Cheyne Mastop (“I got a little drunk”)
- 2008
- 1st place Instrumental
- 1st place Australiana (Spinning and Swirling)
Parkes Country Music Spectacular
- 1st place Songwriting
- 1st place Australiana (Spinning and Swirling)
- 1st place Country Rock (I got a little Drunk)
- 1st place Instrumental (Crazy)
- Festival Senior Overall Winner.
2007 NSW ACT Champions Showcase 2nd place
TSA-SEQ National Song Competition 1st Place Comedy section (I got a little drunk) co-written with Cheyne Mastop.
TSA National Song contest semi finalist (Spinning and Swirling)
Tony is an accomplished composer, electric, acoustic (steel, nylon, 6 & 12 stringed) guitarist, bass player on fretted & fretless Instruments and is gifted with a smooth, creamy voice. He is also a Producer and Film composer.
2014: Winner of Best Lyrics of the International Songwriting Awards judged by Tom Waits, Bernie Taupin and Shirley Manson.
2012: "An Eye for an Eye", "If I Could Sing You" and" Song for the Newborn" were all shortlisted in the ASA Awards.
2011: "She kept on swimming" won 'Best acoustic' in the ASA awards
2009: Tony was Awarded Australian Songwriter of the year. He won an unprecedented 3 categories
Billy's Dream for best lyrics; When we're Old in both the open and folk/acoustic categories.
2008: Tyran Parke enlisted Tony to record and produce his debut CD. Tony played guitar with the brilliant Chanteuse, Camille O'Sullivan from Ireland. The Dark Angel played to sell out audiences at The Sydney Opera House.
2006: Tony co-wrote a song with Louise Perryman, Kris Ralph and Bill Risby for Louise's solo album. The song "Genius of Love" won Song of the Year.
2005-2007: Tony released a series of compositions made exclusively from the sounds of wine, wine glasses, bottles, barrels, corks popping and called it The Wine Music. It was the most requested piece of music on ABC Classical FM radio. Tony and Kris successfully launched The Wine Music in the USA and then in Europe. Tony used 100% of proceeds from sales of The Wine Music to build wells in Ethiopia in a project called "Wine into Water".
2001 –2003: Tony continued to produce and co-write with Andrew Strong in Ireland and co-wrote and produced an Album ”The Dream” with Elizabeth Geyer.
2002: Tony went to Ireland to co-write an Album Gypsy’s Kiss with Andrew Strong (of The Commitments) then toured Scandinavia with Andrew’s band in conjunction with the release of the album. It reached the top twenty in Denmark and Sweden.
1997 Full of the Moon, Tony & Kris’ second Album of original songs was reviewed by Drum Media:“Hauntingly Beautiful...Together they have combined their talents to produce a stunning array of diverse songs".
In 1997 Tony composed the score for the Feature film Wanted. Burbank Animation Studios chose Tony to score their series of six Animated Videos beginning with The Secret of Camelot, Mulan, The Three Little Pigs, The Littlest Mermaid and Moses The Prince of Egypt. More projects for Burbank, D4 The Trojan Dog, Silent Night and The Canterville Ghost based on a story by Oscar Wilde and the classic Anna and The King - all of which were screened internationally. Close Contact, tele-movie score written and composed by Tony has been screened locally and internationally.
1995-96 Tony worked with Phil Scott, George Washington, and co-wrote with Gullifer Smith (A Touch of Paradise)
1992: Moonlight Cactus was released and sold out of it’s first pressing by word of mouth.
1991: He won an ARIA for writing the highest selling single.
1987: He wrote the longest running Australian Political radio satire How Green Was My Cactus for which he was nominated for an Awgie for Best Radio Comedy).
KRIS RALPH
Starting at the Riverina Trucking Company for 4 years, she moved to Sydney where she starred in The Department with Tracy Mann and Max Gillies, The Madras House with Peter Carroll and Hugo Weaving, The National tour of Stepping Out with Nancy Hayes, Rowena Wallace and Colette Mann, Willy Russell’s Blood Brothers with Christina Amphlette and Russell Crowe.
Kris formed her own Band The Other Woman with Genevieve Lemon. Although the band’s life was short-lived Kris continued to sing with Genevieve, culminating in performance at the Sydney Opera House in “A Month of Sundays”.
She has co-written songs for Beautifully Mad’s albums, Let Them Fall , Mandarin Sky (Australian Songwriter’s Award in the Inspirational Category).
Kris is an accomplished Singer/Actor who plays guitar, percussion, and paints. Gifted with a mellifluous singing voice, she has been performing on stages all over Australia since she left school.
2007: Kris has been working on original songs and painting commissions for private clients. A major work was commissioned in 2009 for the celebration of the Merimbula Jazz Festival Band, headed by John Cursley. It was 3.2 metres wide x 1.6 metres high.
Kris and Tony won the 2006 Best Song Award in the Open category of the Australian Songwriters Awards with Genius of Love.
2011: "She kept on swimming" won 'Best acoustic' in the ASA awards
The line up is two Spanish guitars and a box drum- but don't let the lightweight set up fool you. Kallidad can rock a crowd from top to bottom, as displayed on their tours all around Australia, plus visits to Japan, Indonesia, Germany, Holland, France, Switzerland, New Zealand and many others.
The group combines influences from flamenco and mariachi music with rock and metal to create a powerful, energetic and uplifting sound that gives the audience no choice but to dance!
The group is proudly independent, and is currently promoting their third album "The Awakening" on a massive tour that include the whole of 2017.
Kallidad shun mainstream media, radio and the music industry, focussing their efforts on their diehard fanbase, who they communicate with on Facebook and Instagram. So far it has worked a charm, with the band outdrawing and outselling many Triple J darlings around Australia, both at the ticket booth and the merch stand. All this with no management, record company or booking agent,. Kallidad is as DIY as they come, and this ethos has allowed the group strict quality control, and a direct link to their fanbase.
Trips to festivals such as Splendour in the Grass, Falls Festival, Rainbow Serpent, Nannup, Wallaby Creek, Palm Creek, Swaggerfest, Nanga, Psyfari and Subsonic and others have helped Kallidad build a strong and loyal fanbase all around Australia.