Introduction
Lou Bennett is an Indigenous Australian musician and actor.
Early life
Bennett is a Yorta Yorta/Dja Dja Wurrung woman from Echuca, Victoria, Australia.
Career
Bennett started her musical career with her uncle's band "The Shades", before later joining Richard Frankland's band "Djaambi", where she met Sally Dastey and Amy Saunders—Bennett, Dastey and Saunders later formed the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) Award-winning band Tiddas.
After Tiddas disbanded in 2000, Bennett performed with a new band Sweet Cheeks and has worked as a stage actor—the latter has included an autobiographical show Show Us Your Tiddas!. Show Us Your Tiddas! follows Bennett's life as she recounts a series of stories that include the occasion when she revealed her sexuality to her family, her first live performance, moving into an urban environment and her time with Tiddas.
Bennett was a member of The Black Arm Band, a project that she was an artistic director, composer, vocal supervisor and performer for. Bennett also contributed vocals to the 2012 Australian film The Sapphires, following her involvement with the 2004 Melbourne stage production.
Theatre projects
- Magpie (2000) – Melbourne Workers Theatre
- Conversations with the Dead (2001) – Ilbijerri Theatre, Playbox, La Mama
- Yanagai! Yanagai! (2003) – Melbourne Workers Theatre, Playbox
- The Sapphires (2004) – Melbourne Theatre Company
- Show Us Your Tiddas (2007) – Melbourne Workers Theatre
- Our Home Our Land (2011) – Boites 2009 Millennium Chorus