Paul Dempsey

Paul Dempsey
Dempsey on guitar and vocals, September 2006
Background information
Birth name	Paul Anthony Dempsey
Born	(1976-05-25) 25 May 1976 (age 40) Melbourne, Australia
Genres	Alternative rock, Australian rock, folk
Occupation(s)	Musician
Instruments	Guitar, vocals, bass, keyboards, drums
Years active	1994–present
Labels	Sony/BMG, EMI
Associated acts	Something for Kate, Scared of Horses, Give Goods, T-Rek
Website	pauldempseymusic.com

Paul Anthony Dempsey (born 25 May 1976) is an Australian musician. He is the lead singer, guitarist and principal lyricist of rock group, Something for Kate. Dempsey released a solo album, Everything Is True, on 20 August 2009, which peaked at No. 5 on the ARIA Albums Chart. He has also produced and co-written albums for other artists, including Mosman Alder.

Dempsey has experienced bouts of clinical depression and periods of writer's block, both of which have been publicised. Australian musicologist Ian McFarlane noted that he "has the capacity to lay his soul bare through his music, there is little pretence or adherence to fashionable measures in the band's delivery".

In 2006 he married Stephanie Ashworth (ex-Sandpit), who is Something for Kate's bass guitarist. In November 2014, Dempsey said that his all-time favorite band is Fugazi.

Dempsey was born on 25 May 1976 and grew up in Melbourne. His father, Charlie Dempsey (born 7 November 1937), and mother, Gillian (née Barrington, born 25 May 1944) were recent Irish immigrants when Charlie died in a car accident; Dempsey was one-year-old and "too young to remember". He and his three older sisters, including Gillian "Jill" (born 1964) and Moira (born 1967), were raised by his mother and grandmother.

After initially learning piano from his grandmother, Dempsey switched to guitar when he was eight, and later taught himself to play drums. For his final years of secondary schooling he attended Padua College on the Mornington Peninsula, where he was interested in playing basketball.

In mid-1994, six months after leaving Padua College, Dempsey, on lead guitar and lead vocals, formed Something for Kate in Melbourne, Australia, with schoolfriend Clint Hyndman on drums. They soon recruited Julian Carroll to play bass guitar by advertising in local record stores.

Initially named Fish of the Day, the group were renamed after a gig at the Punter's Club, with Dempsey's Jack Russell dog, Kate, serving as the key inspiration. They played two shows before they released a demo tape in 1995. In early 1996, they were signed to the Sony subsidiary label Murmur Records by A&R representative Chris Dunn—all of the members were 19 years old at the time.