Courtney Barnett

Courtney Melba Barnett, born on November 3, 1987, in Sydney, Australia, developed an early interest in music. Her childhood involved growing up in Sydney’s Northern Beaches area before her family relocated to Hobart when she was 16. Barnett attended St Michael’s Collegiate School and the Tasmanian School of Art. Her early musical influences included American bands, later expanding to Australian singer-songwriters like Darren Hanlon and Dan Kelly, which inspired her songwriting. During her initial pursuit of a music career, she worked as a pizza delivery driver, a period that informed some of her later lyrical content.

Barnett’s professional career began in the early 2010s. From 2010 to 2011, she was involved with the Melbourne grunge band Rapid Transit. She also recorded early material with Courtney Barnett and the Olivettes, later shortened to the Olivettes, and was a member of the Australian psych-country band Immigrant Union from 2011 to 2013. A significant turning point came in 2012 when she established her independent record label, Milk! Records, and released her debut EP, *I’ve Got a Friend Called Emily Ferris*. International attention followed with *The Double EP: A Sea of Split Peas* in 2013, a compilation that earned critical acclaim for tracks like “Avant Gardener.” This success led to partnerships with Marathon Artists and Mom + Pop Music for wider releases.

Her debut album, *Sometimes I Sit and Think, and Sometimes I Just Sit*, released in 2015, garnered widespread critical acclaim. This album earned her four awards at the 2015 ARIA Music Awards, including Breakthrough Artist and Best Female Artist. She received a Grammy nomination for Best New Artist in 2016 and a Brit Award nomination for International Female Solo Artist. Barnett continued her prolific output with various projects, including the collaborative album *Lotta Sea Lice* with Kurt Vile in 2017, and her second solo album, *Tell Me How You Really Feel*, in 2018. Her third studio album, *Things Take Time, Take Time*, was released in 2021. In 2023, Barnett announced the closure of Milk! Records after 12 years, with the instrumental album *End of the Day*, scoring the 2021 documentary *Anonymous Club*, being its final release.