Archie Roach
| Archie Roach AM | |
|---|---|
Archie Roach (right) with Ruby Hunter at the 2009 Tamworth Country Music Festival
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | Archibald William Roach |
| Born |
8 January 1956 Mooroopna, Victoria, Australia |
| Genres | Alternative rock, world music, roots |
| Occupation(s) | Musician, songwriter |
| Instruments | Vocals, six-string guitar |
| Years active | 1980s – present |
| Labels |
Mushroom Records Liberation Music ABC Music |
| Associated acts | The Altogethers Ruby Hunter |
Archibald William "Archie" Roach, AM (born 8 January 1956, Mooroopna) is an Australian musician. A singer, songwriter and guitarist, he survived a turbulent upbringing to develop into a powerful voice for Indigenous Australians, a storyteller in the tradition of his ancestors, and a nationally popular and respected artist.
Roach's debut solo album Charcoal Lane was released in 1990. It featured the song "Took the Children Away", which was added to the National Film and Sound Archive's Sounds of Australia registry in 2013. Also in 2013 he won a Deadly Award for Lifetime Contribution to Healing the Stolen Generations as well as for Album of the Year. Along with fellow Deadly winner Pat O'Shane, he called for an end to the Northern Territory Intervention.
In 2015 Roach announced the release of a remastered edition of his classic debut album Charcoal Lane, to celebrate its 25th Anniversary. The release was accompanied by a national tour in November and December 2015.
Archibald William Roach was born on 8 January 1956. According to Roach, "My name is Archie Roach and I represent 'Nature's gifts' because my song Took the Children Away won a human rights award. My lyrics draw attention to the hardship and humiliation suffered by many Indigenous Australians"; "I was born in Mooroopna, way there by the river bend...". Mooroopna is named after an Aboriginal word referring to a bend in the Goulburn River, near Shepparton in central Victoria.
In 1956, Archie Roach's family, along with the rest of the area's Indigenous population, were re-housed on Rumbalara mission. Roach and his family subsequently moved to Framlingham, where his mother had been born.
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