Megan Washington

Megan Alexanda Washington (born Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea, 7 January 1986) is an Australian musician and songwriter who has worked mononymously as Washington.

Originally performing jazz music, her style shifted to indie pop and alternative rock.

Megan Alexanda Washington was born on 7 January 1986 in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea to Australian parents.

She grew up with her father, Rick Washington, a part-time DJ for "weddings, parties and balls"; her mother, Karen Amos, and an older sibling.

The artist started primary school in Port Moresby and, in 1996, the family moved to Brisbane, where she attended a private all-girls school Moreton Bay College and completed her final two years of secondary education at Sheldon College.

Washington developed a stutter just before primary school and explained that "The way that I speak is idiosyncratic because it's based on 20 years of 'loopholing', of avoiding words that trip me up. The only thing I still (she pauses briefly) have trouble with is sustained syllables – like s's and ts and fs together."

Later she attended the Australian School of the Arts where she continued her interest in music.

She studied for a Bachelor of Music degree at the Queensland University of Technology and then jazz voice at the Queensland Conservatorium of Music.

Washington, with jazz instrumentalist Sean Foran, recorded her six-track debut extended play, Nightlight, in April 2006 for the Newmarket Music record label.

She supplied lead vocals, with Foran on piano, John Parker on drums, Chris Pickering on guitar and Sam Vincent on double bass; Pickering recorded and mixed the tracks.

Washington's music style moved from jazz when she backed a blues and roots musician, Old Man River, as keyboardist and harmony vocalist from 2006, including touring internationally in support of his debut album, Good Morning (March 2007).

She also worked as keyboardist and backing vocalist for indie pop artist Ben Lee.

She followed with a second EP, Bennetts Lane, a collaboration with pianist Paul Grabowsky, which appeared in 2007.

She acknowledged Grabowsky's assistance, "[I wrote] the lyrics while he wrote the music. He treated me as an equal – it was amazing."

In January that year Washington had relocated to Melbourne and worked in a bagel shop and recalled that "It was not a good or glamorous time. And the irony is, across from the shop counter there was a huge plasma TV playing Australian film clips – so I'd see all my friend's clips all day and I'd be going, 'Would you like more cream cheese on your f---ing bagel?'"

In early 2008 she sang an acoustic cover version of Ross Wilson's "Bed of Nails" (1989), which was used as the theme song for three seasons of the ABC1 TV drama Bed of Roses (2008, 2010–2011).

In late 2008 the artist launched her mononymous band, Washington, with backing members John Castle on guitars, drums and bass guitar, Lance Ferguson (the Bamboos), Ross Irwin on vocals, Ryan Monro (the Cat Empire, Jackson Jackson) on bass guitar and Des White.

The band released her third EP, the four-track effort Clementine, in January the following year.

In November they were announced as Triple J's Unearthed winners and performed at the Melbourne leg of the Big Day Out.

It was re-released in June 2009 and appeared on the ARIA Albums Chart at No. 53 in October that year.

Washington followed with a five-track fourth EP, How to Tame Lions, in September 2009; its lead track "Cement" and title track, received high rotation on youth radio Triple J. She provided vocals, piano, glockenspiel, synthesiser and guitar and was joined by Castle on guitar, bass guitar, drums, loops, tambo and autoharp.

Castle engineered and mixed the work and co-produced it with Washington.

Following appearances on Spicks and Specks in October and November that year, Washington attracted the attention of a wider audience.

She observed that "You might think that most people get their information from the charts or something like that but I had so much great feedback after being on those shows."

The EP reached the ARIA Charts top 100.

In December 2009, Washington won the inaugural Vanda & Young Global Songwriting Competition for the track "How to Tame Lions"; it is sponsored by the Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA) and the Australasian Mechanical Copyright Owners Society (AMCOS).

In that month she backed Sia on guitar at the Palace Theatre and a few days later performed a duet with Keith Urban during his Rod Laver Arena concert in Melbourne.

"Cement" was listed on the Triple J Hottest 100, 2009.

She has released three studio albums, I Believe You Liar (July 2010), There There (September 2014) and Batflowers (August 2020).

Both I Believe You Liar and There There reached the top 5 on the ARIA Albums Chart and Batflowers peaked in the top 25.

She has won three ARIA Music Awards with two in 2010 for I Believe You Liar, Best Female Artist and Breakthrough Artist – Release.

On 30 July 2010, Washington released her debut album, I Believe You Liar, on Universal Music Australia, which peaked at number three on the ARIA Albums Chart and, by the end of 2011, received platinum certification by ARIA for shipment of 70,000 copies.

Three of its singles, "Rich Kids" (May 2010, also title track of an EP), "Sunday Best" (August) and "The Hardest Part" (October), were described by Australian musicologist, Ian McFarlane, "Although not chart hits, [they] were insistent and infectious, and when combined with her flamboyant, quirky stage presentation, heralded a major performer."

All three tracks were listed on the Triple J Hottest 100, 2010.

In October 2010, Washington performed live during YouTube Play, curated in partnership by YouTube and the Guggenheim Museum.

At the ARIA Music Awards of 2010 she won the Best Female Artist and Breakthrough Artist – Release for I Believe You Liar.

She received further nominations for Album of the Year, Best Adult Alternative Album and Engineer of the Year (John Castle) for I Believe You Liar and the Single of the Year award for "How to Tame Lions".

After Washington's commercial success, in early 2011 the track was released as a single by Ruby Entertainment.

Her music was described on I-D Vice as "sexy synth-laden pop" and in 2019 The Sydney Morning Herald's Anna Rose said of her intimate tour run, that "Washington's impressive command of her relatively small stage gave proof her music can work anywhere, anyway, any time."

The other win was Best Cover Art for Batflowers in 2020.