WHEN Kate Ceberano describes the sensation of singing with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra on her latest album, she immediately dips into a surfing analogy.
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"It's like being a lone surfer on the best set of waves you've ever surfed in your entire life," Ceberano enthuses.
And as any natural or goofy-footer knows, there's times when the surf is pumping and the sets are rolling in effortlessly, and then there's periods when the ocean couldn't be flatter.
It's an analogy that Ceberano knows, better than most, that can be applicable to the music industry, too.
In a career spanning 40 years across pop, rock, jazz and soul, Ceberano is deservedly one of Australia's most revered female artists.
Her songs like Bedroom Eyes, Pash, Brave and Jesus Christ Superstar classic Everything's Alright are ingrained in Australian culture.
But amid the smash-hit singles and albums and industry awards, she's also endured low points where her music has flopped or been ignored.
But what Ceberano has never done is quit. She's continually been creative. Her latest album, My Life Is A Symphony, is her 30th.
"You definitely learn a lot about yourself and how you are and your character and how well you recover from times where you might not have quite hit the mark or wished that things were different," she says.
"If you can persevere and recover fast you can actually have a really solid career in music."
Even as trends and tastes changed, and album sales dried up for the industry as a whole - with the move to downloads and streaming - Ceberano says she's always felt the need to keep creating.
"If an author stopped writing books they'd get worse at their craft," she says of reaching 30 albums.
"You have to keep making records if you want to be in the business. I think it would have been a very sad thing to be a one-hit wonder and to never launch outside of the fame you had in one period of your life.
"I think the better way to secure yourself in a business is to keep doing it, and to get so good at it that by the time you get to where you're going, you didn't even know you'd set out on that path.
"You just get there and you think, 'Holy shit, I'm still here - I'm still standing'."
My Life Is A Symphony features new versions of Ceberano's favourite songs, from the four decades of her career, performed with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra.
The added grandeur of Roscoe James Irwin's (The Cat Empire, The Bamboos) arrangements transforms the '60s-style playful pop of Pash into cinematic beauty.
"You write it about the first kiss and quite literally set it somewhere as quirky as Westfield Shopping Centre in Doncaster," Ceberano says.
"Yet when you hear it now, in the music there's a beauty to the fact that I'm no longer that girl and that my life has lived through it.
"Even to the fact my own daughter [Gypsy Rogers] is at an age where she's getting kissed for the first time. You can hear it in the music, it's quite beautiful."
Another Ceberano classic reimagined by the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra is Brave - the title track off her hit 1989 debut album.
The track's famous chorus of "I could never walk away, I'll just be brave and stay", is infused with new meaning through the maturity of a life lived.
"I never planned to live in, or be performing within, a career that's so fragile or so mercurial," she says. "You're either in or out and I'm still standing. I have much to be grateful for and I'm very grateful for that song.
"My brother [Phil] and I wrote it together in a hectic way and it was this runaway unexpected hit. It had romance and hopefulness in it and that's become the mantra for my life."
At 56 Ceberano is one of the true survivors of the Australian music business.
She describes herself as "one of the last Mohicans", a sentiment that's grown following the deaths of Australian icons Olivia Newton-John and Renee Geyer in the past nine months. But she's excited by the new generation of female Australian artists coming through.
"Deborah Conway and I agree, it's never been more exciting for women in Australian music than it is today," she says.
"I think if you want to hang out and stay in the business, just be prolific and diligent and work lots and write lots and throw away lots.
"Don't be sensitive and too precious. Just get in there, get amongst it."
Kate Ceberano's My Life Is A Symphony is out on Friday.
Josh Leeson
Josh Leeson is an entertainment and features journalist, specialising in music, at the Newcastle Herald. He first joined the masthead in 2008 after stints at the Namoi Valley Independent and Port Stephens Examiner and has previously covered sport including the Asian Cup, A-League, Surfest, cricket and rugby league.
Josh Leeson is an entertainment and features journalist, specialising in music, at the Newcastle Herald. He first joined the masthead in 2008 after stints at the Namoi Valley Independent and Port Stephens Examiner and has previously covered sport including the Asian Cup, A-League, Surfest, cricket and rugby league.
