Born on April 13: Julia Stone, a family affair with her brother Angus

Julia Natasha Stone was born in Sydney, Australia in 1984. Her partnership with her younger brother Angus since 2006 is well-known but an older sister is also part of the family.

As a child, her first band formed around her family circle. Mum and Dad, surrounded by their three children, seized every celebration to show their progress to uncles, aunts, cousins and other close friends. At the time, in front of this carefully selected supportive audience, Julia inherited the trumpet. Unfortunately (or fortunately, who knows?), no known recordings of these first steps exist.

In August 2006, brother and sister quietly released a first EP titled "Chocolates And Cigarettes". The career of Angus & Julia Stone, steeped in folk, dream pop, and Indie rock was launched. In 2010, the extraordinary success of their second album "Down The Way" in Australia allowed them to begin exporting around the world. Angus' captivating compositions certainly invite daydreaming and meditation, but with her hints of a sulky little girl, Julia's unique voice adds an extra soul that makes all the difference. Listen to "Black Crow" or "Big Jet Plane", their first hit, to see for yourself. Together, brother and sister have recorded six studio albums. "Cape Forestier", the latest one, was released in May 2024.

In parallel, Julia also leads a more discreet solo career with three records under her name: "The Memory Machine" (2011), "By The Horns" (2011), and "Sixty Summers" (2021), featuring a few touching love songs ("This Love"), dreamlike explorations, and also a divergence from her brother for "We All Have" with Matt Berninger, the singer of The National. Although she also found it worthwhile to deliver a personal rendition of Christmas classics ("Everything Is Christmas"), it's her surprising cover of the prophetic "Beds Are Burning" by Midnight Oil (1987) that's notably featured on the charity album "Songs For Australia", recorded in response to the devastating fires in the continent in 2019.

Two little anecdotes to conclude. Her brother Angus, two years her junior, will also celebrate his birthday in a few days on April 28. "After numerous concerts in France, I literally fell in love with the French language," she says. "So I wanted, perhaps a bit clumsily, to adapt one of my songs into French". It’s called "Dance" and features in both English and French on the album "Sixty Summers".

(MH with Stéphane Soupart - Photo : © Music Belgium Photos)

Photo : Julia Stone with her brother Angus on the stage of the Cirque Royal in Brussels (Belgium) on 3rd June 2024