Brianna Carpenter remembers her childhood and the times she used to play Barbies whilst listening to Elton John. Ever since then Brianna has been fascinated by song writing and has developed through other musical influences such as Jamie Cullum, Ben Folds Regina Spektor and Bic Runga. Brianna now creates a mix of Folky Alternative Pop.

Even though she was born completely deaf in one ear this has not stopped Brianna’s drive to compose. Brianna began song writing at the age of 13 and after writing her first real song "The Web" people started to recognize her talent. Her stage pursuits have also stretched into musical theatre, acting and pantomime, which proved to be a great way to gain invaluable lessons in stagecraft. 

Brianna is not from an overly musical background but believes her creative flair has come from her Mother, who is a fashion illustrator and artist. Brianna and her Mother design a lot of the outfits that Brianna wears onstage and work together to create the artwork for her albums and stage design.


In 2004 Brianna traveled to Europe to experience other cultures and take herself out of her comfort zone. She traveled to 13 countries alone at the age of 19.  She was inspired by many crazy characters from her journeys and has been writing and gigging in Australia ever since.

2005 saw Brianna shortlisted into the top 10 of the Australian Spirit of Youth Awards along with Kisschasy, Wolf & Cub and Princess One Point Five. 2006 saw Brianna shortlisted to top 5 for the Queensland RockIt awards and in 2007 Brianna was placed 3rd in the Barsoma Singer Songwriter Search. Later in 2007 Brianna was selected as a member of the Top 12 for popular television show Australian Idol. She was not really “Idol” material but showed the public that she was a songwriter. Her first performance was a version of Regina Spektor’s “Fidelity”. This was unnerving to the judges as most of them had never heard the song. This proved to Brianna that the show and judges were “old”. It was fortunate for Brianna that her song “Jacqueline” was played frequently throughout her time on the programme and the response from the public was fantastic. Brianna made the most of the opportunity and it was delightful to see something new and refreshing on what is generally a television programme with very little originality.

2008 was a busy one for Brianna. After leaving the life of television behind Brianna wanted to continue songwriting and see where it could take her. As a result of this newfound fame she was invited to be the Ambassador for the Statewide Butterfly Appeal Charity Fundraiser for the Hear and Say Centre. The Butterfly Appeal works to raise funds to help profoundly deaf children learn to hear and speak. Brianna wrote a song especially for the Charity called “Hush” as she was so inspired by the work that they do. Brianna’s song “Jacqueline” was also chosen as a finalist for the Qsong “People’s Choice Award” which is a tremendous achievement as the awards are very highly regarded in the Australian Music Industry.  “Black Keys” and “Lies” also saw Brianna through to the final 5 of the Pop category in the 2008 Musicoz Awards.

Now that 2009 has rolled around, Brianna has once again been recognized for her songwriting potential being shortlisted to receive an Apra Professional Development Award. Brianna has also been enjoying arrangement opportunities for choirs in Sydney and has been involved with the Hear and Say Centre once again. This time donating all proceeds raised from the download of “Hush” to the charity. Brianna has also been busy with her newly formed 4 piece band performing in a range of venues including Masterclasses in schools, Apple Instores to the Queensland Poetry Festival. Work on the “Jacqueline” film clip has almost reached completion and the launch of the single will involve a regional tour scheduled for later in the year.

Brianna also just completed her Bachelor of Popular Music degree at the Griffith Conservatorium of Music. To add to the demanding workload Brianna independently funded her debut album “Harlequin”. Her producer, Brendan Anthony has recorded a range of artists throughout his career including INXS, Midnight Oil, Wendy Matthews and more recently George, Wheatus and The Ten Tenors.  The album is the result of almost 10 years of Brianna’s songwriting and she is definitely an artist to keep an ear out for.