Career
Lee Kernagha’s first public performance was on the Chickadees radio singing "Two Little Boys" by Rolf Harris in 1969. The years rolled by and in 1975 Lee, his brother Greg and friend Glen Simpson formed the band "The Blue Devils." He won the prestigious Starmaker quest in Tamworth as a youngster but it wasn't until 1986 things started shaping up. He had just performed at Fanfair in Nashville and Through songwriter Reece Kirk-Lee met with Garth Porter and the two become lifelong friends and work mates. Garth managed to rope a bit of money from Warner Chappell and they recorded his first solo LP.Played in pubs until he was 15.
The release of “The Outback Club” in 1992 was a defining point in Lee's music career, not only beginning his long career but also reviving the dream he had given up in the Christmas of 1990. As Lee recalls "I’d given it the last ten years of my life, pretty well full on and I was doing shows like the Carriers Arms in Wodonga and nobody turned up. Not a soul.” Lee's mate had real estate agency and Lee traded his R.M. Williams for a suit tried to settle down. He was nearly 27 years old and borrowing money from his Dad. After co-writing "Boys from the Bush" with Garth he went back to Albury while Garth looked for a deal. Many turned Lee down, one saying the song was too sexist. Finally ABC signed him.
By the end of the 90’s Kernaghan had spent the last eight years of his life recording and touring at a heavy pace. He entered the new millennium with his retrospective Rules of the Road album that featured his reworking of the Coster/Dusty classic Cunnamulla Fella and posthumous duets with the legendary Tex Morton and Buddy Williams. By 2002 Kernagha was ready to rock and released Electric Rodeo, which topped the Australian Country Chart and debuted #4 on the ARIA Top 50 Album Sales Chart. Electric Rodeo was released in tandem with Kernaghan’s performance as The Balladeer in the hit stage production “The Man from Snowy River Arena Spectacular” which won him his third ARIA Award for Best Musical Soundtrack. 2006 saw the release of his Album of the Year The New Bush, which was certified Platinum by ARIA and in 2007 the companion album Spirit of the Bush featured the Vocal Collaboration of the Year with Adam Brand and Steve Forde.
On November 6, 2009 Kernaghan releases his latest collection of songs, Planet Country. Two years in the writing and producing, Planet Country may very well be his finest album to date. Recorded in Sydney and Nashville with what Lee describes as “some of the best musicians in the world”, Planet Country reveals enormous depth, masterful songwriting and maturity in Kernaghan that can only have come from experience. The latest album has a giant beating country heart and an innovative approach to the music production.