Human Nature charts winning course - music group - Brief Article

Business Asia, May 19, 2000

Outstanding Achievement in the Arts and Entertainment Industry

With album sales surpassing 130,000 units in Asia alone, Human Nature has firmly made its mark on the region's pop music scene.

Toby Allen, Phil Burton, Andrew Tierney and Michael Tierney -- the four members of Human Nature -- are this year's winners of the Outstanding Achievement in the Arts and Entertainment Industry category.

Their current album, Counting Down, has rocketed up the charts here and in the Asia-Pacific region.

The album has so far sold 100,000 copies in Asia (80,000 in South East Asia and 20,000 in Japan). Their previous album, Telling Everybody, sold over 30,000 units in South East Asia in 1997.

A gruelling promotional tour last year helped cement Human Nature as one of Asia's favourite Australian groups. The band is now sold and promoted in Taiwan, Singapore, Hong Kong, Malaysia, the Philippines, South Korea, Indonesia, Thailand and Japan.

The group also visited India for the first time last year, which resulted in the establishment of a solid fan base in the world's second most populous country.

The quartet began life as 4Trax in 1989 after Andrew Tierney started a singing ensemble with his brother Michael and school friends Phil Burton and Toby Allen. The young group scored a major coup in 1995 when it signed a deal with Sony Music after an impromptu acapella performance with Sony Music chairman Denis Handlin.

Some of the group's Asian highlights include performances at major cultural events in Taiwan, the recording of a Chinese-language duet with top local act CoCo Lee, and a successful tour with Celine Dion in Japan.

The vocal sensations have been on the road a lot this year. They have recently been in Sweden recording three new tracks as well as doing some more work on their single, Wishes, to get in line for a European and British release of their new album.

Member Toby Allen says the new songs are slated to be part of a European version of Counting Down. When the band went to Sweden, it worked with the hottest producers responsible for big successes such as Britney Spears and the Backstreet Boys, among others.

The other finalists in this category were:

* Asialink Arts;

* Gallery 4A and the Asian Australian Artists Association;

* Reckless Moments; and

* Sherman Galleries.