Artists:Martine Locke

Elvis has Colonel Tom Parker, the Beatles had Brian Epstein. Martine Locke has...well, Martine Locke. This Australian singer/songwriter/guitarist is a one-woman operation: publicist, manager, booking agent, record label owner, visionary, producer and artist.

Dividing her time between the US and Australia, Martine has toured with Ani DiFranco and rocked the stage with The Cowboy Junkies, Arlo Guthrie and Luka Bloom. In a scene that is packed with unoriginal four chord flops, Martine reaches well outside with a more independent, passionate perspective on music. While the Ani comparison is there, she also shares vocal qualities with Melissa Etheridge or the Indigo Girls.

Musically she travels far in the folk-rock world. Some tunes will remind you of Counting Crows and others will bring in that Alanis Morissette association, with a sting of Carol King sneaking in here and there. She also applies do-it-yourself ethics with all the work she churns out. In 1996 Martine started a highly respected acoustic duo called The Velvet Janes. They released four albums on Martine's record label Passionfruit Produce, which have sold more than 80,000 copies to date, toured the world, won song writing competitions around Australia and the US and continue to tour Australia every year to appreciative audiences around the country.

After touring Australia for 8 years, Martine has spent the past two years solidly touring the U.S and Australia promoting the successful release of her 2003 debut CD Fly. Performing at festivals such as: Willamette Valley Folk Festival, Iowa Women's Music Festival, Portland Pride, Midwest Women's Autumnfest and Bethlehem Musikfest, Port Fairy Folk Festival and Michigan Women's Music Festival with The Velvet Janes. 2005 brings the release of Martine's new CD On the Verge, showcasing 10 new original tracks, this is Martine's most sophisticated work to date.

In the 30 months that Martine Locke has been touring the United States solo she has released two albums, played over 300 shows including music festivals, colleges, clubs, pride festivals and living rooms and maintained a sense of fun, passion and independence...indeed, maintained her decidedly wicked Australian sense of humor along the way.

--taken from bio page on artist's website

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