From the archives: Stung’s infamous [D/DN] testimonial …

Never a stranger to adventure either in realms of soul or song, Davey Dreamnation – performer, chanteuse, character, chameleon and social commentator rolled into one jump suit – has been having a year of new beginnings. In many ways, Davey’s life has been completely transformed. While Sting is sixty years old, for example, Davey has just turned 15.

Certified triple platinum in the United States and nearing worldwide sales of 7 million, Davey’s first single “Hot Soup Girl” has remarkably received ARIA Awards for Best Pop Album and Best Pop Female Vocal Performance and continues to weave its spell.

Of late, Davey’s performed at the VFA Grand Final, was awarded a star on Longreach’s Walk of Fame, and been nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Song for “Don’t Cry for Me, Kemblawarra” from Tetris Dreaming, his brother Jason’s film that’s just crossed the $100 million mark in box office sales. Davey’s activism as well as his art has been recognized; for his work on behalf of human rights, he recently received an award from the Kiama Shire Council.

“My strategy is to be optimistic, naive maybe,” says Davey’s confidante Scaramouche, “but maybe that’s Davey’s job.”

Davey’s creative approach to “Hot Soup Girl”, for example, typified his desire to test himself.

“He composed, finessed and even sequenced the music before he’d even written a word,” Scaramouche says of his best-selling friend.

A native of Dubbo, site of the Western Plains Zoo, this former milkboy, flugel horn player and dishwasher has made of his art a perpetual quest.

The Jet Ski Parts, of course, established Davey Dreamnation as a world-renowned songwriter and singer: together with his brother Jason and close friend and rival Stung, he penned many of the hits of his generation – including “The Skillet Racket”, “I Won’t Tell if You Don’t Yell”, “Who Died?”, “Crow Peck” and “Chinese Burn” – and the trio assumed the vanguard of contemporary music throughout the late 90s and early 00s.

On his own, Davey has never ceased taking chances. “Catch Me I’m Falling In Love With Whitney Houston”, “Did You Know That Sting Is 60”, “… Nothing Like a Couple of Beers to Get That Taste Out of My Mouth”, Live at Budokan, “I Dream of Jeans”, “Can You Cope” and now “Hot Soup Girl” achieve a truly distinctive synthesis of personal expression and universal meaning.

A complete communicator, Davey explores both sound and image; he’s acted in films from Indiana Jones and the Muddle-headed Wombat to Stung Is 60 to Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Penguins and appeared on Broadway in Les Miserable Shits.

About the remarkable range of Davey’s energies, Scaramouche has wryly commented: “No one’s yet been able to come up to him with a limit. They’ve tried, but he’s always been able to duck and weave, and he’s still doing that.”

STUNG, Camp Davey (2003)