Bio
multi award winning artist
Andrea Marr is a multi-award winning Melbourne based blues and soul singer/songwriter. Previous bands include Andrea Marr Band 1999- present. Andrea Marr & The Funky Hitmen 2012-2018. The McNaMarr Project 2018-present and Urban Praise Gospel Choir 2005-present. Melbourne Blues Appreciation Society Women In Blues Coordinator 2020 -present. Andrea is also a vocal coach and songwriting teacher and has run her own music school in Melbourne Australia since 1996.
Awards
- 2022 Blues Music Victoria Hall Of Fame People’s Choice Award Winner
- 2022 Music Victoria Best Blues Work Nominee
- 2022 #1 album on Australian Blues and Roots Album Chart (The McNaMarr Project – Run With Me)
- 2020 Blues Music Victoria Hall of fame Nominee
- 2019 Winner – Vic/Tas Blues Awards Album Of The Year (McNaMarr Project Holla & Moan)
- 2019 Winner – Vic/Tas Blues Awards Song Of The Year (McNaMarr Project – Holla & Moan)
- 2019 Semi Finalist International Blues Challenge Memphis TN (McNaMarr Project)
- 2019 Blues Music Victoria Hall of fame Nominee
- 2018 Winner – Blues Performer Of The Year (McNaMarr Project)
- 2017 #1 Album Australian Blues and Roots
- Airplay Charts (Andrea Marr – Natural)
- 2017 #1 Album Roots Music Report Soul Album Charts USA
- 2017 #1 Album Roots Music Report R&B Album Charts USA
- 2013 Semi Finalist International Blues
- Challenge Memphis TN (Andrea Marr Band)
- 2012 Blues Performer Of The Year (Andrea Marr Band)
- 2009 Australian Blues Music Award Female Artist of The Year (Andrea Marr – Little Sister Got Soul)
- 2009 Vic/Tas Blues Award – Female Artist Of The Year (Andrea Marr – Little Sister Got Soul)
- 2005 Blues Performer Of The Year (Andrea Marr Band)
- 2002 Vic/Tas Blues Award – Female Artist Of The Year
DISCOGRAPHY
- 2022 – Run With Me – The McNaMarr Project
- 2018 – Holla and Moan – The McNaMarr Project
- 2017 – Natural – Andrea Marr (with the Funky Hitmen)
- 2014 – Live at the MBAS House Of Blues Andrea Marr Band
- 2009 – Little Sister Got Soul – Andrea Marr
- 2005 – Watch Me Work It – Andrea Marr
- 2002 – Sassified – Andrea Marr
- 1997 – Inheritance – Andrea Marr
international acclaim
Andrea’s international success has been long and formidable. On several occasions, she has represented Australia in the International Blues challenge in Memphis Tennessee, even reaching the semi-finals in 2012 with the Andrea Marr Band where she played at the internationally renowned BB King’s Blues Club on Beale Street Memphis.
Her albums and tracks have received international airplay in North America, Europe and Asia. Her tracks have featured within the US ”National Women in Blues” album and she was the only non-American female included in this compilation.
She has appeared on the top US Blues charts and her albums have been picked up by over 160 US Blues radio stations. In 2010, Chicago-based blues label “Blue Skunk Music” picked up her “Little Sister Got Soul” for a re-release in the US market and the album hit no. 18 on the US Living Blues charts in February 2011.
Her collaboration with Hip-Hop R&B artist Markia for her original Gospel R&B song “Grateful” received international acclaim and charted in Sri-Lanka’s biggest music program YES FM’s Home-Grown Charts where it stayed in the top 10 for 26 weeks. This song went on to become a finalist in the 2017 American Songwriting Contest. The song was then picked up by Generation Entertainment and remixed as a soul/house track by New York DJ Lenny Fontana and also by Sydney DJ Sunset Child.
In 2017, her album “Natural” received rave reviews worldwide.
collaborations
Andrea has teamed up with many Australian artists over the years to produce original tracks and albums in a variety of genres.
Andrea expanded her funk and soul and formed the band “The Funky Hitmen”. The Melbourne-based band featured a killer 8 piece line up, playing Andrea’s original soul and funk tracks. The EP “Sass and Brass” released in 2013 by Chicago based label Clue Skunk Music received international airplay and critical acclaim.
Then, in 2014, Andrea teamed up with producers Damien Reilly and Danny Saber to work on New York-based writer Michael Jameson’s song “Summer Love”. “Sweet Accidiction” a Roots/Rock single soon followed in 2016 with guitarist Brian Strafford. Her team-up with Hip-Hop artist Markia saw great success locally and internationally with the single “Grateful”.
Her most recent collaboration has been with John McNarmara in the McNaMarr Project.
the "mcnamarr project"
In May 2018 the “McNaMarr Project” was formed, with Andrea joining forces with powerhouse vocalist/guitarist and songwriter John McNamara. John’s 2017 release “Rolling With It” hit #1 on the US Roots Music Report’s Contemporary Blues Singles Charts and #1 on the Amrap singles charts, received 3 nominations at the Australian Blues Music Awards and won “Song of the Year”.
The McNaMarr Project won the Solo/Duo section of the Blues Challenge in Melbourne on September 9th 2018 and represented Australian Blues in Memphis in January 2019.
McNaMarr Project brings the true sound of soul blues with their love of Stax, Chess and Motown written into every song. They have released two albums “Holla and Moan” and “Run with Me” with massive local and international success.
reviews
“This has all the heart and soul of classic soul, funky enough to make James Brown sit up and take notice … in a world full of people trying to sound like their favourite star, Andrea Marr is a bona fide original – 100% The Real Deal” – Bill Wilson US review
“As with all the the great soul that came out of Stax and Atlantic in that halcyon bygone age and what Daptone Records currently do better than anyone else, miss Andrea Marr combines passion, energy, and S.O.U.L with melodies and hooks to die for” – Rocking Magpie UK Review
“Pure nostalgia to the era of Stax and Motown comes back to life on this album. Images of Aretha Franklin or Betty Wright are burned back on my retina when listening to the album. Andrea Marr is an 18 carat soul diamond” – Rootsville Belgium
“The first thing you are going to notice when you listen to Andrea Marr is that hugely-soulful voice. She has a passion for the music of Motown, Stax, Etta, Aretha, Sharon Jones, and JB, and she’s got the chops to pull it off. Andrea and The Hitmen get it tight, right, and outta sight. Fans, since the untimely passing of Sharon Jones, someone has to step up and carry the soul torch forward. Why not Andrea Marr? She’s sho’ nuff a “Natural!”.” – Don and Sheryl’s Blues Blog USA
previous labels
Black Market Music Australia
Blue Skunk Records USA
Generation Entertainment Australia
The Orchard USA
Blue Pie Australia
DJ Central USA
Select O Hits Memphis
Metropolitan Groove
Merchants Sydney