Joe Camilleri is an Australian legend who given his life to music.
In the mid 80s following the success of his first band, Jo Jo Zep and The Falcons, Joe Camilleri gathered together a group of musician friends and dubbed them The Black Sorrows. The band began playing for the fun of it, recording independent albums and selling them out of the boot of the car.
When radio picked up the classic track, ‘Mystified’, The Black Sorrows really took flight. They signed to CBS and proceeded to release some of Australia’s most successful albums including the multi-platinum sellers Hold On To Me, Harley & Rose and The Chosen Ones.
Over the past 2 decades, The Black Sorrows have toured Australia more times than anyone can remember, played sell out shows across Europe, won the ARIA for ‘Best Band’ and sold more than a million albums world-wide.
Joe Camilleri's songs have become part of our lives. The Sorrows’ string of hits is seemingly endless: Dear Children, Country Girls, Snake Skin Shoes, Harley & Rose. The Chosen Ones, Mystified, Ain’t Love The Strangest Thing, Better Times, Never Let Me Go, Chained To The Wheel, Daughters of Glory, Stir It Up, New Craze... and he’s certainly not done yet.
Look around the world and you have to put Joe in the same company as people like Eric Clapton and Van Morrison - legends, performers whose careers span back decades, transcending all styles and fads, performers who are loved for the fact that they're obviously in it for the music.
The Black Sorrows has always had a very elastic line-up and has been home to 36 talented Australian musicians at different times. The band has acted as a launch pad for the careers of some of our most successful musicians including Vika & Linda Bull and Jen Anderson.
Today The Black Sorrows is James Black on guitar and keys, Joe Creighton on bass, Tony Floyd on drums and Claude Carranza on guitar.
‘The Black Sorrows has always been a family, and I hear that from record to record. You can tell me any track and I'll remember the conversations and the food’, says Joe. ‘It's a joyous thing making music with your friends’.
The Black Sorrows first DVD, Four Days In Sing Sing, will be released in 2009.
