On the strength of two strong rock anthem singles and the group's vivacious dreadlocked teenage female singer, Killing Heidi emerged as the act dominating the Australian sales charts at the turn of the new Millennium. Like every "overnight sensation," Killing Heidi arrived with an important gestation period.

Singer Ella Hooper and her guitar-playing older brother Jessie grew up in the small Violet Town (population approximately 2,000), a good day's drive from both Melbourne and Sydney. They spent their formative years listening to their drama and music teacher parents' record collections (Bob Dylan, Van Morrison, Joni Mitchell). The local radio offered few meaningful alternatives. As adolescence set in the national government-run youth network, Triple J had arrived in the area, exposing Ella and Jessie Hooper to a world of new sounds. Jessie discovered Nirvana and Smashing Pumpkins. Ella gravitated towards Hole and Veruca Salt. American Thighs was the first CD she bought.

Brother and sister started jamming at home, and in 1996, the pair played an acoustic gig on the city lawns at the Violet Town arts festival. Ella was 13, Jessie 15. Their performance, including two songs Ella had written, made an impression on a local studio owner who offered the Hoopers free studio time. With school friends acting as rhythm section, they recorded those originals and submitted the results in a Triple J-sponsored competition seeking to unearth new talent. They won their section.

With their song Kettle gaining national (non-commercial) Triple J airplay, Ella and Jessie juggled with attending school and beginning to play serious gigs. Producer Paul Kosky was inspired by hearing Kettle on the radio to check out the group at an outdoor festival. Working on records by Clouds, Kate Ceberano, and Crowded House (Woodface), Kosky had become frustrated with watching the music leave his studio and disappear in the hands of record companies. He wanted to find an act to manage as well as produce. He decided on Killing Heidi.

The first mainstream single didn't appear until August of 1999. By then the experienced rhythm section of Adam Pedretti on drums and Warren Jenkin on bass had been installed, months had been spent developing the music in the studio, and the band had been signed to Roadshow Music, the independent Australian home of Savage Garden. That first single, Weir (a tale of life after high school), was still charting nationally three months later when the second single, Mascara (about self-image), leapfrogged it into the national number one position, which Mascara held four weeks. The debut album Reflector entered the charts at number 1 and went double platinum in Australia. The third single Superman Supergirl also went top 10.

Reflector eventually sold 300,000 albums in Australia earning 5x platinum status and Killing Heidi won four ARIA awards in October 2000. However, the momentum halted when a cyst was discovered on Ella's vocal cords and she underwent an operation in 2001. Her voice was slow to recover.

The band recorded its second album Present despite Hooper's continuing problems with her vocal cords. The second album Present was an obvious testament to the band's growth as a unit and as indivuals, and its singles, Heavensent which reached the top 30 in early 2002 and Outside of Me which reached a peak of #12 later in 2002, were testament to that. With Ella's rawer vocals and the progression in their style, it was still the flavour that Killing Heidi fans were still looking for.

The band went over to Los Angeles in late 2003 to record a comeback album and rented a house in the San Fernando Valley while the album was recorded. The songs were written both in Violet Town and in Los Angeles. The third self-titled album was released in late August 2004. The first single I Am, was released in July 2004 and debuted at #16 on the Australian singles charts. It was also featured on the Australian version of the Spider-Man 2 soundtrack. It was followed by the second single release, Calm Down.


Sources: Every Star Fall, All Music, Wikipedia