Amy Louise Billings (born 14 May 1986), known professionally as Amy Shark, is an Australian indie pop singer-songwriter-guitarist and producer from the Gold Coast, Queensland. During 2008 to 2012, her early solo material was released and performed under the name Amy Cushway. Her 2016 single "Adore" peaked at number 3 on the ARIA Singles Chart and was also listed at number 2 on the Triple J Hottest 100, 2016. Her album Love Monster (July 2018) debuted at number 1 on the ARIA Albums Chart. Shark has won 8 ARIA Music Awards from 29 nominations, including winning Best Pop Release three times: in 2017 for her extended play, Night Thinker, 2018 for Love Monster and 2020 for "Everybody Rise".
Early life
Amy Shark was born on the Gold Coast in Queensland on 14 May 1986. Her mother, Robyn, remarried and raised Shark on the Gold Coast with her stepfather David Cushway and a younger half-sibling. She is of Hungarian and English descent. She attended Southport State High School, where she performed in theatre, studied film, and played guitar in an all-female punk-band. She described her first group, Dorothy's Rainbow and Hansel Kissed Gretel, as "'quite thrashy', though it fell apart when its members splintered. 'I kept going, kept writing songs on my acoustic guitar'." Her first job was selling T-shirts at a souvenir shop, Gone Troppo. Shark entered a singing competition in 2007 at the behest of her then-boyfriend Shane Billings. She subsequently performed under various names, including Amy Cushway, Amy Billings, and as Little Sleeper.
Career
2008–2013: Amy Cushway
Amy Shark recorded and performed as Amy Cushway from 2008 to 2012. Her first solo gig was at Burleigh Bears Rugby League Club, where she performed cover versions. Initial solo performances had her singing to an acoustic guitar. In June 2008 Cushway supported gigs by Brianna Carpenter at The Globe and at The Red Brick Hotel, Brisbane. She released her debut extended play, I Thought of You Out Loud, which included the track, "Take Time Take Me", in mid-2008 and performed the EP at solo gigs from July. She later described this EP, "[it] was me not knowing any chords but so emotionally drained that I needed something to lift me up and get my blood flowing again." The singer-songwriter made the finals for the 2008 Q Songs Awards in August with "Take Time Take Me" for the alternative category. She reflected on her writing style, "It's so much easier and more enjoyable to start from scratch with a song and write it exactly how you want. It sounds selfish, but it's just reality [...] I definitely write songs that the typical ear hasn't heard before, the lyrics are honest and relate to all ages. I'm not trying to write songs solely for radio … I want hard hitting pop rock songs that can be played on radio, whilst having the potential to be blasted through stadiums." She derived inspiration from Tegan and Sara, "they find different ways to deliver the meaning of a song with lyrics that don’t necessarily spell it out." In November the artist backed Rhiannon Hart at Island Vibe Festival, South Brisbane.