Collette Roberts
{{Short description|Australian singer}}
{{for|the American electronic dance musician who also recorded under the same first name|DJ Colette}}
{{Use Australian English|date=June 2020}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2015}}
{{Infobox musical artist
| name = Collette
| image =
| image_upright =
| image_size =
| landscape =
| alt =
| caption =
| birth_name = Collette Roberts
| alias =
| birth_date = {{birth year and age|1968}}
| birth_place = Christchurch, South Island, New Zealand
| origin = Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
| death_date =
| death_place =
| genre = {{flatlist|
}}
| occupation = Musician, model, actor, stylist, make-up artist
| instrument = Vocals
| years_active = 1988–1995
| label = CBS
| associated_acts =
| website =
}}
Collette Roberts (born 1968), who performed mononymously as Collette, is a New Zealand-born, Australian-based model turned disco, pop singer during the late 1980s and early 1990s. She had a top five single on both the Australian and New Zealand singles charts in 1989 with her cover version of Anita Ward's "Ring My Bell". Collette's rendition was certified gold in Australia by ARIA. Sometimes considered a one-hit wonder, Collette had two other top 40 Australian hits in 1989 with "All I Wanna Do Is Dance" and "That's What I Like About You". She retired from her music career in 1995 to focus on her work as a stylist and make-up artist.
Biography
Collette Roberts was born in Christchurch, New Zealand.{{cite news | url = http://natlib.govt.nz/records/20656652?search%5Bpath%5D=items&search%5Btext%5D=%22Collette+Roberts%22 | title = Cool, Calm and Collected | Items | via = National Library of New Zealand | last = Steel | first = Gary | work = RTR Countdown | pages = 22–25 | volume = 3 | issue = 4 | date = February 1990 | accessdate = 1 April 2017 }} She became a fashion model and relocated to Melbourne.McFarlane, [https://web.archive.org/web/20040419103142/http://www.whammo.com.au/encyclopedia.asp?articleid=214 'Collette'] entry. Archived from [http://www.whammo.com.au/encyclopedia.asp?articleid=214 the original] on 19 April 2004. Retrieved 1 April 2017. In 1988 she started working with Guy Gross in Sydney to co-write material for her proposed solo career.{{cite web | url = http://mcir.usc.edu/cases/1980-1989/Documents/FULLCASE-CbsRecordsAustraliaLimitedvGuyGross.doc.pdf | title = Full Case – CBS Records Australia Limited v Guy Gross | last = Davies | first = J | work = | publisher = Federal Court of Australia | date = 28 September 1989 | accessdate = 1 April 2017 | archive-date = 1 April 2017 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20170401144534/http://mcir.usc.edu/cases/1980-1989/Documents/FULLCASE-CbsRecordsAustraliaLimitedvGuyGross.doc.pdf | url-status = dead }} They recorded demo tracks, which they took to Tony Briggs of CBS Records Australia; Briggs advised Roberts to attempt a cover version of one of four tracks, which included Anita Ward's 1979 hit, "Ring My Bell". After recording a demo of that track, she was signed to CBS.
Roberts worked with her producers, Peewee Ferris and Kirke Godfrey, on a new version of "Ring My Bell", which was recorded at CBS Studios in East Sydney.{{cite web | url = http://natlib.govt.nz/records/20655701?search%5Bpath%5D=items&search%5Btext%5D=%22Collette+Roberts%22 | title = 'Ring My Bell (Ring-a-ling Mix)' [sound recording]; 'Ring my bell (Ding-dong Mix)'; 'Save Yourself (Survival Mix)'; 'Save Yourself (Pow Wow Mix)' / Collette | Items | via = National Library of New Zealand | publisher = CBS Records Australia | year = 1989 | accessdate = 1 April 2017 }} She co-wrote the B-side, "Save Yourself", with Ferris.{{cite web | publisher = Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA) | title = 'Save Yourself' at APRA search engine | url = http://apraamcos.com.au/search?searchtype=works&keywords=save+yourself | accessdate = 1 April 2017 }} Note: For additional work user may have to select 'Search again' and then 'Enter a title:' or 'Performer:' The single was released in February 1989,{{cite web|url=https://i.imgur.com/h5dr5Sh.jpg|title=Australian Music Report No 761 – 27 February 1989 > Singles: New Releases|publisher=Australian Music Report|via=Imgur.com|accessdate=8 July 2017}} and reached No. 5 on the ARIA Singles Chart and No. 4 in New Zealand.Australian (ARIA) chart peaks:
- Top 50 peaks: {{cite web
|url=https://australian-charts.com/showinterpret.asp?interpret=Collette
|title=australian-charts.com > Discography Collette
|publisher=Hung Medien
|accessdate=4 March 2019
}}
- Top 100 peaks: {{cite book|last=Ryan|first=Gavin|title=Australia's Music Charts 1988–2010|year=2011|publisher=Moonlight Publishing|location=Mt. Martha, VIC, Australia|edition=PDF|page=64}}
- "This Will Be (Everlasting Love)": {{cite web
|url=https://i.imgur.com/DkGCr8v.jpg
|title=Response from ARIA to chart inquiry, received 5 June 2015
|accessdate=9 August 2015
|publisher=Imgur.com
|url-status=live
|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20150605213523/http://i.imgur.com/DkGCr8v.jpg
|archivedate=5 June 2015
|df=dmy
}}
- "You Can Run": {{cite web
|url=https://i.imgur.com/oyPN1pW.jpg
|title=Response from ARIA re: chart inquiry, received 15 July 2015
|accessdate=7 August 2015
|publisher=Imgur.com
|url-status=live
|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20150716153430/http://i.imgur.com/oyPN1pW.jpg
|archivedate=16 July 2015
|df=dmy
}}
- Attitude: {{cite web
|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20151109062955/http://i.imgur.com/KqVcpbl.jpg
|title=Response from ARIA re: chart inquiry, received 9 November 2015
|url=https://i.imgur.com/KqVcpbl.jpg
|archivedate=9 November 2015
|accessdate=9 November 2015
|publisher=Imgur.com
|url-status=live
}}{{cite web|url=https://charts.nz/showinterpret.asp?interpret=Collette|title=charts.nz > Discography Collette|publisher=Hung Medien|accessdate=4 March 2019}} "Ring My Bell" was certified gold in Australia by Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA). To promote the single, Roberts performed in bright fluorescent lycra clothing, especially bike shorts, bras and braces.
In September 1989 a Federal Court of Australia case, CBS Records Australia Limited v Guy Gross with Gross supported by Dr G.B. Hair, Mr Derek Williams and Mr Martin Armiger and CBS supported by Mr R.W. Toop, heard that Gross was counter-suing for a share in royalties and costs associated with Roberts' single; the court determined that "There was nothing unjust in what occurred, no reason why Guy should be remunerated by Collette for his work and no reason why Collette should not retain any benefit she may receive from CBS. The cross-claim will therefore be dismissed."
The artist issued two more singles in 1989, "All I Wanna Do Is Dance" (July) and "That's What I Like About You" (October), and both reached the ARIA Singles Chart top 40. All three singles appeared on her debut album, Raze the Roof (October 1989), which peaked in the top 50 on the ARIA Albums Chart. Roberts and Ferris co-wrote five of its ten tracks, with Roberts writing or co-writing three other tracks.
In 1990 the singer developed a new image of short hair and black clothing; she cast aside the bike shorts look in an attempt for her music to be taken more seriously. Her second album, Attitude, appeared in April 1991, which was produced by Mark S. Berry. The album and its singles, "Who Do You Think You Are?" (August 1990), "Upside Down" (November) and "This Will Be" (March 1991), yielded little commercial success. Roberts appeared briefly as Isabelle Britton on the Australian soap opera, Home and Away, in late 1991.[https://www.bubblingdownunder.com/2022/04/week-commencing-8-april-1991.html 'Week commencing 8 April 1991']. 8 April 2022. bubblingdownunder.com website.
Roberts retired from the music industry in 1995 and pursued a career as a stylist and make-up artist. She appeared on Channel 7's Where Are They Now? in 2006, revealing that she does volunteer work at Sydney's Taronga Zoo.{{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V1f_FKmM79M |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211214/V1f_FKmM79M |archive-date=2021-12-14 |url-status=live|title=Where Are They Now Australia – Collette (pop singer)|publisher=YouTube|accessdate=2 March 2016}}{{cbignore}} She occasionally performs "Ring My Bell" at LGBT interest events, wearing similar outfits to the one she wore in the original music video.
In November 2019, a thirtieth-anniversary edition of the Raze the Roof album was made available for purchase digitally and on streaming platforms.
Discography
=Studio albums=
| class="wikitable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center;" border="1"
|+ List of studio albums with Australian chart positions ! scope="col" rowspan="2" | Title ! scope="col" rowspan="2" | Album details ! scope="col" colspan="1" | Peak chart positions |
| scope="col" style="width:3em;font-size:90%;" | AUS |
|---|
| scope="row" | Raze the Roof
|
|align="center"| 48 |
| scope="row" | Attitude
|
|align="center"| 107 |
=Compilation albums=
| class="wikitable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center;" border="1"
! scope="col" rowspan="1" | Title ! scope="col" rowspan="1" | Album details |
| scope="row" | The Very Best of Collette and Sharon O'Neill
|
|
|---|
=Singles=
| class="wikitable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center;" |
| rowspan="2"| Year
! rowspan="2" style="width:20em;"| Single ! colspan="3"| Peak positions ! rowspan="2"| Certification ! rowspan="2"| Album |
|---|
| style="font-size:smaller;"
! style="width:35px;"|AUS ! style="width:35px;"|NZ ! style="width:35px;"|UK |
| rowspan="3"| 1989
! scope="row"| "Ring My Bell" | 5 | 4 | 93 |
| style="text-align:left;" rowspan="3"| Raze the Roof |
| scope="row"| "All I Wanna Do Is Dance"
| 12 | 21 | — | |
| scope="row"| "That's What I Like About You"
| 31 | — | — | |
| rowspan="2"| 1990
! scope="row"| "Who Do You Think You Are?" | 56 | — | — | | style="text-align:left;" rowspan="3"| Attitude |
| scope="row"| "Upside Down"
| 91 | — | — | |
| rowspan="1"| 1991
! scope="row"| "This Will Be (Everlasting Love)" | 122 | — | — | |
| rowspan="1"| 1995
! scope="row"| "You Can Run" (with The Nation) | 149 | — | — | | style="text-align:left;" rowspan="1"| non-album single |
| colspan="17" style="text-align:center; font-size:8pt;"| "—" denotes releases that did not chart or were not released. |
References
{{refbegin}}
;General
- {{cite encyclopedia|last=McFarlane |first=Ian |authorlink=Ian McFarlane |encyclopedia=Encyclopedia of Australian Rock and Pop |title=Whammo Homepage |url=http://www.whammo.com.au/index.asp |accessdate=5 February 2010 |year=1999 |publisher=Allen & Unwin |location=St Leonards, NSW |isbn=1-86508-072-1 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20040405231007/http://www.whammo.com.au/index.asp |archivedate=5 April 2004 }} Note: Archived [on-line] copy has limited functionality.
;Specific
{{refend}}
{{Reflist|30em}}
External links
- [http://www.myspace.com/colletteofficial Collette] at MySpace
{{Collette Roberts}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Roberts, Collette}}
Category:Australian dance musicians
Category:Australian hairdressers
Category:Australian make-up artists