From Substance Abuse To International Music Fame: Sia Furler’s Inspiring Hollywood Journey

500

Undeniably the charm of Furler and her vast archive of work (which she has done for others) articulates to a broad demographic of audiences and has fastened her status as a talented artist with a lyrical fearlessness and vision that has inspired many of her peers in the industry. She is today a prominent face of Hollywood’s music industry.

Furler was able to achieve her level of prosperity without corresponding to the pre-packaged artistic standards of the music business and has taken handle of her public representation which has remarkably charmed both the press and fans of her job.

Born originally as Sia Kate Isobelle Furler in Adelaide, South Australia on December 18, 1975, Furler’s musical roots were already present since her birth because both her parents had formative careers.

Her father, Phil Colson, was a composer while her mother, Loene Furler, was a visual artist and art lecturer.

By the time she finished her education, Furler’s admission into music began with her aid as a singer for a local acid jazz band called Crisp, while also delivering her debut album called OnlySee.

She eventually moved to London in 1997 to pursue her music vocation and drew the attention of British trip-hop duo, Zero 7, where she would become the group’s long-term vocalist. Some of Furler’s earliest works with Zero 7 included critically-acclaimed tracks like “Destiny”, “Distractions”, and “Somersault”, where her unique vocal stylings were exposed within the underground and indie music scene of the UK.

Furler would go on to release her sophomore album in July 2001 called Healing Is Difficult, a record that was largely inspired by her struggles with alcohol and drug addiction as a means of coping with the death of her then-boyfriend, Dan Pontifex, who died in a car accident. She continued to collaborate with Zero 7 as a vocalist for their songs and released her third solo album entitled Colour the Small One in January 2004.

A single from the record called “Breathe Me” was subsequently used in the series finale of the award-winning and critically-hailed hit HBO drama show, Six Feet Under, and was the first instance of Furler gaining viral attention in the United States.

Furler’s gradual rise to prominence would prove to have a linear effect on her personal life, and it was reflected in the songs she wrote for her consequent records titled Some People Have Real Problems (released on January 2008) and We Are Born (released on June 2010).

It was during this period where her addiction to prescription drugs and depression spiralled out of control, as well as being diagnosed with having bipolar disorder, that at one point Furler contemplated suicide. Fortunately for her, a friend staged an intervention and Furler was able to turn her life around by committing to a 12-step rehabilitation program and ultimately stopped her substance abuse.

With her health and wellbeing back on track, Furler made the conscious decision to take a step back from performing, hire a new management team to help her focus on maintaining her sobriety and private life away from the spotlight and decided to try her hand at writing songs for other artists behind the scenes. This career move would prove to be a significant milestone in her career as Furler was able to make valuable professional connections with major music stars like Christina Aguilera and Rihanna.

Despite Furler’s decision to step away from the limelight and remain in the shadows as a songwriter, she would ultimately make a massive comeback that would truly make her an international household name. In July 2014, she released her sixth studio album entitled 1,000 Forms of Fear, whose songs primarily deal with Furler’s feelings about the pressures of fame and celebrity life as well as acknowledging her previous battles with addiction.

Also, like the brave woman she is, Furler has been open about her bisexuality in several interviews and was beforehand married to the filmmaker Erik Anders Lang.

She is a devoted agnostic and considers herself as a feminist. Aside from winning several accolades from the Australian music industry, Furler’s work has accumulated repetitious awards and nominations ranging from the Grammy to the MTV Video Music Awards.

It is amusing to note that how she establishes both her personal and public life as an example of benevolence and rises above all despite all odds.