Interviews We Interview Sarah De Bono (The Voice)
We Interview Sarah De Bono (The Voice)
Today Sarah De Bono from Hit Tv show The Voice popped in to perform her hit single and title track from her debut album "No Shame". Before Sarah and guitarist Zac got busy she sat down with Katie to answer a few questions about the new album and her rise to fame!
Who inspired you to start singing?
From a very young age I always loved to sing and be really noisy, you know always getting into trouble. So when I was in prep at the time we had show and tell, I would sing a song to the class rather than telling them what I did on the weekends. Eventually all the teachers caught on and would ship me round to all the different class rooms and say “Sarah’s going to sing to the class today”, so then it became this special thing and from then on it was basically like “Sarah needs to take singing lessons”. I was then singing from a really young age.
So it wasn’t anyone it particular as such?
No, I grew up listening to Michael Jackson, Aretha Franklin, Whitney Houston, Elvis Presley just to name a few, so I had those amazing great singers to look up to.
What was the first concert you ever attended?
It was probably like Banana’s and Pyjama’s! When I was about 2 years old, but seriously would have been Delta Goodrem’s concert when I was in grade 6 and that was amazing for me because I was a huge fan and I remember how awesome it was.
How was that then meeting her on The Voice?
Going into the show knowing she was on the panel, I was like “Oh my god this is Delta Goodrem who when I was a young girl was absolutely obessed with”. She’s a lovely girl and I have so much respect for Delta, she’s beautiful.
“Beautiful” was the only track on the album written by yourself that peaked at number 4 on the ARIA charts, you were 16 when you wrote this song, where did the inspiration come from?
Yeh I was 16 when I wrote this and I wasn’t popular in my early teen years. I came from a rougher area and I think at that time, you know every teenage girl is trying to find themselves, so it was just a really tough time for everybody and for me. I didn’t give into peer pressure. I didn’t do things just to fit in. So that didn’t help and the fact that I was always singing and always in the newspaper about singing never helped and I just got ripped apart. It really got to me and my self-confidence and when I shifted schools in year 11 it started again and that’s when I wrote Beautiful. I had all these amazing people around me and it was about finding that your beautiful on the inside, it doesn’t matter what you look like or how popular you are, it’s about what’s on the inside and that’s what inspired that song.
Your debut album “No Shame” was released on July 13, how’s the response been so far?
Yeh really well, seeing my own album in stores is surreal, being able to tune into the radio and my songs playing or turning on the TV and there’s a promotion of me, it’s just crazy. I’m really proud of the album, I’ve done a lot of meet and greets to promote it and to meet my fans, that has been fantastic.
For research I went straight to Spotify to stream it, so for you that must be insane to see your music just out there for anyone to listen to it..
Yeh exactly, even just putting Sarah De Bono into Youtube you can see all the covers that people have done of my songs. People take it so personally and they’re so inspired, which means a lot to me.
What was it like working with Eric J Dubowsky, who has worked with artist such as Weezer and Art Vs Science? What did u gain from this experience?
Yeh he’s great, especially being able to work with Universal right through the whole process not just being thrown into a record company that you didn’t know and I worked really well with them and got to know Eric, so by the time I got to record “No Shame” we all knew each other and knew how we all worked together, so it wasn’t a difficult process.
I hear your going to be supporting Kelly Clarkson on her Australian leg of her tour, are you excited about that?
Yeh that’s going to be amazing, I get to go to all the capitals and on a major city tour.
Have you met her before?
I’ve never met Kelly Clarkson before, so I’m very excited. I’ve got so much respect for her and she can really sing. Not only that though her coming out of American Idol, I’m sure she’ll have some advice for me.
Do you have any funny pre rituals before you go on stage?
I should shouldn’t I!
You need to make some if you don’t!
To be honest, I just have a moment before I go on stage. If the performance really matters to me, I’ll just take that moment to really connect with what song I’m about to sing and just be grateful for where I am.
How’s it been performing with a new band?
We’ll they just wanted it acoustic so it will just be my guitarist Zac and I.
And did you know Zac before you started touring?
Yeh, we use to write songs and play together before “The Voice” and so its great he gets to come on tour with me, cause we work really well together and he’s a crazy good guitarist so why wouldn’t I want to work with him.
Last but not least triple AAA’s signature question.. if Sarah De Bono was an animal what would it be??
I love animals! It would either be a bird cause you could fly or a fish because your free. Maybe a dolphin because they’re more organic and I love the water.
Katie Zahra - AAA Backstage
Sarah De Bono Tour Dates
Friday 20th - Wharf Tavern Mooloolaba – Sunshine Coast
Saturday 21st – The Royal Exchange – Brisbane
Sunday 22nd – Surfers Paradise Beergarden – Surfers Paradise
