Diana Anaid
| Diana Anaid | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | Diana Gosper |
| Also known as | Diana ah Naid |
| Born |
8 April 1976 Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia |
| Origin | Byron Bay, New South Wales, Australia |
| Genres | Alternative rock, pop rock, post-grunge, dance-pop, acoustic rock |
| Occupation(s) | Singer-songwriter, producer |
| Instruments | Vocals, guitar |
| Years active | 1996–present |
| Labels | Origin/MDS, Shock, Five Crowns, Forola/MGM Distribution |
| Website | dianaanaid |
Diana Anaid (born Newcastle, 8 April 1976) is the performance name of Diana Gosper, an Australian alternative rock singer-songwriter. From 1997 to 2003 she used the moniker, Diana ah Naid. Anaid has issued four studio albums, Diana ah Naid (8 April 1997, her 21st birthday), I Don't Think I'm Pregnant (September 1999), Beautiful Obscene (20 April 2004) and Diana Anaid (2010). Her debut single, "I Go Off" (June 1997), peaked at No. 35 on the ARIA Singles Chart. Another single, "Last Thing" (2004), reached the Top 40 Tracks on Billboard's component chart.
Diana Anaid was born as Diana Gosper, in Newcastle, on 8 April 1976. Her mother died when Anaid was one year old. With her father and two older brothers, she "lived the archetypal hippie commune life, travelling around the northern part of the state". Anaid later recalled "my dad was travelling around the country trying to escape from his inner demons... It was a gypsy lifestyle and it was quite poor." She had "a long childhood involving children's homes, foster parents, charity organisations, food vouchers and freaks – often on the run from authority but with nowhere to go."
By the age of 15 Anaid had settled in the Lismore-Nimbin area, with her two brothers – their father had moved on. She turned to music, "I picked up the guitar... and taught myself how to play"; and performed in "folk / blues clubs and cafes of the region". Anaid undertook a year of education in Canberra, and with her then-partner, returned to Lismore. At the age of 16 Anaid had a son, Stone, and, for three years, she dropped out of the music industry to look after him. She used the moniker, Diana ah Naid, as an almost palindrome, "a reverse of her first name – except she added the letter 'H'" The 'H' was added for numerological effect, as it "represents the number '8' which signifies 'power' and 'forcefulness' and 'infinity'."
Anaid recorded her debut album, Diana ah Naid, in Byron Bay for the cost of AUD$10,000, she had 500 copies pressed and launched it at the Nimbin Bush Theatre on her 21st birthday, 8 April 1997. Her sponsor was a Greenpeace activist from the Netherlands. She sent a copy to Triple J's radio presenter, Richard Kingsmill, who played its lead track, "I Go Off". Anaid signed with Origin Records, an independent Sydney-based label.Graham Bidstrup (of GANGgajang) remixed and, with Anaid, co-produced the album, which was re-released in September. Australian musicologist, Ian McFarlane, described it as "a restless, funky brand of acoustic guitar folk with urgently charged vocals (akin to Ani DiFranco) backed by an emotional, primal energy." Tom Schulte of AllMusic found it was "promising and deserving of attention from those that like hyper-individualist/feminist folk-rock with the emphasis on rock."
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