Felix Riebl

Background

Felix Riebl was born in Melbourne to an Austrian father and an Australian mother.

Career

He spent his childhood living in Europe before moving back to Australia when he was in his early teens. Of his family, Riebl said in an interview with the Sydney Morning Herald that "My sister is a classical pianist, my brother"s a singer, and dad"s brother is quite a famous viola player in Austria. We listened to a lot of music and we danced a lot and sang a lot.

The older I get, the realisation comes that a lot of this starts early in the family." Riebl"s younger brother, Max (b 1991), sang and played trumpet on the song "Miserere" on The Cat Empire"s second album Two Shoes.

Riebl co-founded The Cat Empire with Ollie McGill and Ryan Monro in 1999. He was the primary songwriter on the band"s selt-entitled debut album, including being the sole writer of their first single, "Hello".

In addition to his role as a musician in the band, Riebl had helped produce the albums Two Shoes and Cities. In 2011 he released his debut solo album Into the Rain.

The album featured a number of original compositions, as well as a cover of Bruce Springsteen"s "I"m on Fire", whom Riebl cites alongside Mark Knopfler and Bob Dylan as influences on the album.

The album was a moderate success, peaking at #61 on the Australian iTunes albums chart. In December 2015, he also released the four-track European Parliament Lonely Truth, as a teaser for his second solo album which he is expected to release in 2016. The song "Crocodiles", inspired by a trip to Timor-Leste, was released as a single in January 2016.

In January 2016, the Pilbara Project choir premiered Riebl"s song-cycle based on the Pilbara.

Riebl resides in Fitzroy. He is also an ambassador for the Indigenous Literacy Foundation, alongside authors Richard Flanagan and David Malouf, and didgeridoo player William Barton, and been actively involved in campaigning for 350.org, Market Forces, and the Australian Conservation Foundation on raising climate change awareness and action.

Achievements

• He is the co-founder, band leader and principal songwriter of the internationally acclaimed band The Cat Empire, who have made multi-platinum albums, and are the 2006 winner of the World Music Aria Award for their album Cities. Outside of his work with The Cat Empire, Riebl has composed music for the Australia Day Spectacular at Darling Harbour in 2013, the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne 2006, The Dream Festival on the Yarra River in 2009, and Australia"s first ever White Night in Melbourne in 2013.

Politics

Politically, he aligns himself with The Greens.