2016 has been quite a year for Ella Fence. A graduate of Griffith University’s Bachelor of Popular Music program she recorded her debut EP with Dan Swift (Snow Patrol and Passenger) at Brighton Electric UK – the studios of choice for bands like The Cure, Gomez and Mumford & Sons. That EP spawned the much lauded single Unknown Water, a song that scored big time at the Gold Coast Music Awards, winning both Video of the Year and Song of the Year. Ella has also been embraced by JJJ and Spotify where her music has been added to popular playlists like Femme Fatale.
But appearances can be deceiving. The 25 yr old Gold Coast girl has worked incredibly hard to get to this point and despite the air of confidence she exudes there have been many doubts along the way. On top of her BPM from Griffith, Ella studied Communications at Bond University before landing a marketing job behind the scenes at the Gold Coast Arts Centre. There have been theatrical roles along the way including Jesus Christ Superstar and the lead in La Boite Theatre’s Snow White, but all she ever really wanted was to be a full time musician.
When we meet she’s so disarmingly candid and self-assured you get the feeling she’s exactly where she should be and very much comfortable in her own skin, yet if that was the case why did she feel the need to abandon her real name of Stephanie Pickett and adopt the stage name Ella Fence?
It’s an interesting insight into the mindset of a young artist on the rise and the machinations behind a quickly evolving music market place where major record labels with traditional distribution and marketing deals are now a thing of the past. With new artists increasingly finding that they need to be as savvy at marketing themselves as they are in creating their music Ella’s academic background may prove to be one of her smartest moves yet.
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Very Beautiful. M.