Bart Willoughby (b. 1960) is a Pitjantjantjara and Mirning singer/songwriter who is one of the Stolen Generations. Taken away from his family in Ceduna as a three year old, he spent most of his childhood in a children's home. Music was his escape. Known for his distinctive fusion of reggae with traditional Indigenous influences, Willoughby studied at the Centre for Aboriginal Studies in Music at the University of Adelaide where he met musicians Ricky Harrison, Leslie Lovegrove Freeman and John Miller. In 1978, they formed No Fixed Address, Australia's first Indigenous rock band, the first to sign a record deal, and the first to tour overseas. Their reggae rock hit 'We Have Survived' remains a classic protest song. In 1989 he was included in the Midnight Oil tour in America, drumming for Yothu Yindi and Native American musician John Trudell. After the tour he formed the band Mixed Relations. He received the inaugural Indigenous ARIA Australian Lifetime Achievement Award for his Outstanding Contribution to Indigenous Music in Australia in 1993. He currently fronts The Bart Willoughby Band.
Penny Tweedie spent a year travelling around Australia in 2000 photographing and interviewing successful young Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, which resulted in her 2001 book Indigenous Australia: Standing Strong. She photographed Willoughby for this project in Brisbane.
Gift of the artist 2004
© Estate of Penny Tweedie
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