Fred Leone

Fred Leone is one of the three Butchulla Song men; the Butchulla tribe through his grandmother's line covers Kgari (Fraser Island), Hervey Bay, Maryborough and the surrounding areas of the Fraser Coast. He is also Garawa on his grandfathers line, Garawa country running across the Queensland /Northern Territory border. He also has Tongan and South Sea Islander heritage. Fred is committed to social change and social justice, particularly applying his skills and knowledge to support the strength, status and development of Indigenous culture. Through his music, language and dance, Fred is also focused on enriching the lives of young people in the areas of positive leadership, self-expression, self-confidence, self-pride and pride in communities and culture. Fred has recieved 12 National Award Nominations including The Deadlys, The National Indigenous Music Awards (NIMAs), The Bump Hip Hop Awards and the Queensland Music Awards (QMAs). He also won the Urban category of the QMA’s with Hip Hop outfit Impossible Odds, under the label of the same name Impossible Odds Records which was the first distributed Indigenous record label in Queensland, launched in 2009. In recent years, Fred has given Indigenous cultural input into the following major public and internationally broadcast events: Australia vs Great Britain and Irish Lions, G20 World Leaders Summit Welcome to Country, G20 Cultural Program Opening and the Commonwealth Games Torch Relay. He was also the Artistic Director of Black Arm Band’s renowned stage show DIRTSONG and toured internationally to the UK, USA, Brazil, Singapore, Taiwan, Canada and Malaysia. In 2016 Fred toured his first play 'Gunyal *Scar' to Glasgow funded by the National Theatre of Scotland. Fred is a Board Member of both the Australian Live Music Business Council and the National Independent Music Awards.