Christie Lamb, Adam Harvey & More Join Monday’s KIX Live Christmas Special

On Monday, December 19 at 7pm, the KIX Live Christmas Special will feature performances from Adam Harvey, Amber Lawrence, Kirsty Lee Akers, Christie Lamb, Hayley Jensen, Amy Sheppard, Sara Berki, Ella & Sienna and Brittany Maggs.

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Adam Harvey

Adam Harvey has built a landmark career – half a million album sales, Gold and Platinum albums, 9 x Golden Guitar awards and a CMA Global Country Artist award. In addition, his recent number one ARIA album, Songs from Highway One took home the gong for ‘Traditional Country Album of The Year’ at the 2022 Golden Guitar awards.

He is also currently working on a book titled, Tales from The Road, which features a collection of stories from Harvey and his country music mates chronicling some of the funny, inspiring, and downright scary things that have happened on tour over the years.

He recently teamed with Beccy Cole for the duets album, The Great Country Songbook Volume 3 and national tour of the same name. The pair previously collaborated on The Great Country Songbook Volume 2 in 2017, which debuted at #6 on the ARIA Charts and features covers of iconic songs. It also featured Troy Cassar-Daley, who joined Harvey on The Great Country Songbook in 2013.

Amber Lawrence

Amber Lawrence is a five-time Golden Guitar winner, scoring her most recent statue for her poignant and stunning collaboration with fellow country artists Dianna Corcoran, Aleyce Simmonds, Kirsty Lee Akers on their rendition of John Williamson’s True Blue. She has released 7 studio albums, 3 acclaimed children’s albums (including an ARIA-nominated The Kid’s Gone Country II), an award-winning collaboration album with Travis Collins, a live album and a live DVD to date.

She has performed for the troops both aboard and in Australia and toured with the likes of Adam Harvey, Lee Kernaghan, The McClymonts, Melinda Schneider, The Sunny Cowgirls and more. Her highly anticipated seventh album, Living for the Highlights, was released on July 22.

Kirsty Lee Akers

Proud of her Indigenous heritage as a woman of the Wonnarua people (Hunter Valley), Kirsty Lee Akers was born in the small town of Kurri Kurri, NSW. She first performed in public at three-years-old and recorded her first EP at 16. Akers is the only artist in history to have won three of the major prizes in Australian country music – Telstra Road To Discover (2006), Toyota Star Maker (2007) and a Golden Guitar Award (2008).

The CMAA Academy of Country Music (2004 and 2005) graduate had success with her albums Little Things (2007), Better Days (2009), Naked (2011) and Burn Baby Burn (2016), and, in 2018, she released her fifth album, Under My Skin – her most successful album to date.

Last year, Akers took home her second Golden Guitar Award for her ‘Vocal Collaboration of the Year’ rendition of John Williamson’s True Blue with Amber Lawrence, Aleyce Simmonds and Dianna Corcoran. She also formed her own record label, Rider Records, and competed on season 17: Fans v Faves of the Logie award-winning renovation reality series, The Block with husband Jesse Anderson.

Christie Lamb

Described as ‘the full package’, the multi-instrumental and award-winning singer-songwriter was awarded the CMC Awards for ‘New Oz Artist of the Year’ in 2015 and ‘Female Artist of the Year’ in 2018 and was the recipient of the 2016 Golden Guitar Award for ‘New Talent of the Year.’

In 2019, Christie Lamb released her third studio album, Broken Lines which debuted at #1 on the iTunes Country Album Chart and #1 on the ARIA Country Album Chart. The first single Hot Hot Kiss debuted at #1 on the iTunes Country Charts. The remix also debuted at #1 on the iTunes Dance Charts, making Christie the first Australian artist to have #1 hits on both iTunes charts.

Lamb has been a part of national tours with Lee Kernaghan for years, opening the show and playing piano and mandolin as part of his band. Earlier tours have included two years with Aussie legend Jon English on ‘The Rock Revolution’ tour, ‘The Girls of Country’ tour with Amber Lawrence and Aleyce Simmonds, plus ‘This Crazy Life’ tour with The Wolfe Brothers.

Hayley Jensen

Hayley Jensen has spent the best part of two decades honing her craft and collaborating with the best in the business from across the globe. She became a household name after becoming a finalist on Australian Idol, and later The Voice in 2014, where she was described as ‘the whole package’ by coach Kylie Minogue.

After self-releasing her first #1 iTunes Country album Past Tense & Present Peace in 2007, Jensen released her ARIA #3 Australian Country Album, Turning Up The Dial in 2018. The LP was the 3rd highest selling Australian Country Album according to ARIA, and the 2nd highest selling digital album on iTunes Country charts.

In 2021, Jensen released her third album, Breakin’ Hearts, which peaked at #1 on the ARIA Country Albums Chart and #25 on the ARIA Top 50 Albums Chart, and features the hit singles Breakin’ Hearts, Fireworks, Just Gonna Party, Karma, Better Than That, Shake My Bones and Four Boots, co-written with Canadian country acts Dan Davidson (with whom Jensen featured on the duet Really Shouldn't Drink Around You) and Clayton Bellamy (of Canadian trio, The Road Hammers) who also features as guest vocalist .

Amy Sheppard

Inspired by her country music upbringings, listening to the likes of The Chicks, Shania Twain, Faith Hill and LeAnn Rimes, Amy Sheppard decided to packed up her pop stylings and fused them with country influences for her debut solo EP, Nothing But Wild, released on September 16.

She spent the past three years writing and building towards this debut solo release, which features the title track, which peaked at #3 on the Countrytown Hot 50 Country Airplay Chart, and follow-up single, Blue Guitar, which peaked at #2 and currently sits at #12 after 16 weeks on the chart.

While definitely not her first foray into the genre, previously already a Golden Guitar Award winner for her vocals on Lee Kernaghan’s Spirit of the Anzacs, Sheppard has previous experience writing and singing with artists like Kasey Chambers and The Wolfe Brothers.

She also appeared in body-image advocate Taryn Brumfitt’s documentary, Embrace: Kids, alongside other celebrities like Celeste Barber, Alex Noble, Jameela Jamil, and Electric Fields.

Sara Berki

Brought up on artists like Cat Stevens, Fleetwood Mac, AC/DC, Carol King, Frankie Valli and the 4 Seasons and more, Sara Berki has been singing, playing guitar and writing music for herself from a tender age, making appearances everywhere and anywhere she could gig. However, it wasn’t until March 2021 that Sara decided to record her original music. Teaming up with producer, Simon Johnson, she released her debut single, Fallin’ Off The Heartline and follow up Good Enough. 

Towards the end of 2021, Sara was announced as a Top 10 Finalist for a performance spot at Groundwater Country Music Festival in a competition supported by KIX Country. More recently, she toured with powerhouse duo, McAlister Kemp. Her latest single, Drinking For Free is a fiery and sassy track which delivers a punchy country hook which will have live audiences singing along.

Ella & Sienna

Persistence has certainly paid off for Ella & Sienna who this year were finalists on The Voice Australia and were crowned winners of the 2022 Groundwater KIX-Start competition. The sisters from Adelaide Hills, South Australia are only 19 and 16 years old respectively and they're already making waves in the country music scene.

With diverse influences from artists including Missy Higgins, Fleetwood Mac and Taylor Swift, the multi-instrumentalist siblings have formed a pop/country/folk sound that is all their own. Ella & Sienna's voices alone command the crowd, and their harmonies weave deeply heartfelt lyrics with such effortlessness that they never fail to leave a lasting impression.

Their latest track, The City In June, follows on from the success of their two previous singles, Next To Mine and Saved, which featured on radio stations across the country and airplay and sales charts. Their debut single, Next to Mine, spent an impressive 8 weeks in the Countrytown Hot 50 Country Airplay Chart, peaking at #32. Both singles were added to high rotation on ABC Country Radio, and the music video for Saved has been recently added to high rotation on CMT.

Brittany Maggs

A country girl at heart, emerging country singer-songwriter, Brittany Maggs grew up in Sydney’s North West and loves spending time on the family property with her horses. After spending four years in Los Angeles developing her sound, Maggs decided it was time to come home to Sydney, where she has since been working on her original music. Earlier this year, she performed at the Tamworth Country Music Festival and opened for the McAlister Kemp Tour.

Her current single Carefree follows the release of her earlier singles, Reasons (2019), Lazy Boy (2019) and Underneath The Sheets (2020). The 23-year-old has gained an impressive following on social media, boasting more than 40 million views on YouTube and more than 380,000 fans on TikTok.