Career
Biography Auriel comes from the Arrernte people in Alice Springs. Her skin name is Mbitjana and her totem is the hairy Caterpillar. The youngest of seven children, she started singing at the age of four, and began her professional career in the late 1960s working with Chad Morgan in the Adelaide and Portuguese Lincoln areas, and appeared on live television music broadcasts, including shows hosted by Roger Cardwell, Johnny Mack & Ernie Sigley, and then becoming a regular on Channel Nine’s Heather McKean & Regional Lindsey Show.
In 1973 she moved to Sydney, and toured with Jimmy Little, performing at popular clubs and pubs around NSW. She performed at the Sydney Opera House for the venue’s grand opening, and sang ‘Amazing Grace’ in Pitjantjitjara for Pope John Paul II during his Australian tour.
Auriel’s well known recordings include the country classic ‘Truck Drivin’ Woman’ and Bob Randell’s ‘Brown Skin Baby’. In 2011 she was awarded The Order Of Australia Medal (OAM) for her work as an entertainer and contribution to her communities through charity events.
Her new album "Return To Alice", produced by Gareth Hudson, will be available in 2013 and will include new original songs about her life and childhood.:Order of Australia Medal, 2011.
Foreign contribution to the arts, music and education.
The Deadlys, 2008. Northern Territory Indigenous Music, 2005. Inducted into the hall of fame.
Australian County Music Tamworth Hands Of Fame, 1991.
Andrew grew up in Alice Springs, Northern Territory, leaving for Adelaide, South Australia aged 21 to pursue her music career. She appeared in the Business School documentary "Buried Country: The Story of Aboriginal Country Music" (2000) about Aboriginal country music (associated with the book by Clinton Walker), singing "Truck Driving Woman", and in the 1970s was a regular guest on the Johnny Mac Show, Channel Nine"s Regional Lindsay"s "Country and Western Hour" and the Ernie Sigley Show.
She appeared in 2007 in the show Sorry Seems To Be The Hardest Word written and performed by English artist Christopher Green in the guise of Tina C. at the Adelaide Cabaret Festival.
She has taught Aboriginal culture in classrooms for 20 years, passing on her knowledge in schools in Queensland, the Northern Territory and NSW.
