The Indigenous icon will be celebrated at this year's ARIA Awards.
Beloved Australian songwriter Archie Roach AM will be recognised as one of the country’s all-time greatest acts at this year’s ARIA Awards.
Roach, who was also recognised as the 2020 Victorian of the Year, will be formally inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame on Wednesday November 25, joining the likes of Yothu Yindi, INXS and Kylie Minogue in the hallowed Aussie canon.
This year also marks the 30th anniversary of Roach’s seminal debut Charcoal Lane, which established him as an advocate for shedding light upon the Stolen Generations and rallying for community justice.
“It’s a great honour to be inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame,” said Roach in a statement circulated today.
“Whilst it’s been thirty years since I recorded my debut album Charcoal Lane, I do recall receiving two ARIA awards for that album.
“Through the years writing and recording my songs as well as touring has helped me to heal and connect to audiences around the country.
“To be inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame is validation that no matter where you have come from and the struggles that you had to overcome through the years, that you can achieve great things if you set your mind and heart to it. Your achievements are only as good as the people around you and I have been blessed with a great team.”
ARIA CEO Dan Rosen also noted the importance of Roach’s induction into the Hall of Fame, describing him as “an artist of enormous integrity, writing songs of deep personal honesty that resonated all around Australia.
“He told stories that no one else was telling, and brought these issues to the forefront of the Australian psyche. His thirty-year career on-stage is enough for him to be a legend, but it is matched with his off-stage activism and his tireless work to give back to the communities around him.
“He’s a man who has made the world a better place, and he rightly takes his place as a giant of Australian music.”
Find out more about the 2020 ARIA Awards here.
