THE OFFICIAL USA BIOGRAPHY OF KILLING HEIDI:

In literature, Heidi is the archetypal sweet and virtuous young lass, while 'Killing Heidi' represents the end of innocence. And within the Australian quartet who adopted that polemical band name, those kind of potent lyrical and musical extremes rule supreme. The result is a debut record--REFLECTOR--and a band that is at once pure and powerful, with tunes ranging from angelic to angry, from mellow to manic, often within the same song. As 17-year-old singer/lyricist ELLA HOOPER notes: "We're not just heavy or pop or acoustic. We embrace and explore all elements of our emotions in our music and words. Our audience is all over the map: people dance, people mosh, little girls come to the front singing along to 'Weir,' sometimes we have to pull the girls on stage so they don't get crushed by the guys headbanging to the heavier sections! "Proof positive of the pleasing dichotomy is KILLING HEIDI's dozen-song REFLECTOR CD, to be released on 3:33 Music Group/Universal Records on March 20, 2001. From the lilting, toe-tapping force of the lyrically empowering "Mascara" (the album's first single) to the infectious, sparkling gem, "Weir," KILLING HEIDI's dynamic REFLECTOR shines. So brightly in fact, that when REFLECTOR, produced by Paul Kosky (Crowded House, The Clouds), was released in Australia in March 2001, it debuted at #1 on the charts and remained in that position for two straight months. The album-which has now been certified quadruple platinum in Australia-also went on to win four major awards at the 14th Annual SCAPE ARIA (Australian Record Industry Association) Awards, the equivalent of the Grammys. They took home statues for Album of the Year, Best Group, Best Rock Album and Best New Artist (Album). They had originally racked up seven nominations, which included Record of the Year, Best Cover Art and Highest Selling Australian Album. The band, however, were no strangers to success in their native Australia: the young lineup was formed by the brother/sister songwriting duo of ELLA and JESSE HOOPER in 1996, then a mere 13 and 15 years old. Several years of honing their writing and performing skills, and eventually solidifying a lineup in 1998 with bassist WARREN JENKIN and ADAM PEDRETTI led to singles, tours, TV appearances, the cover of Rolling Stone Australia (where the band was named "Best New Artist" in the Reader's Poll) and multi-platinum success in their home country. Radio and video favorites KILLING HEIDI can't walk down the street Down Under without getting mobbed. Not a bad start for a couple of friendly and easygoing kids raised in Violet Town, an isolated burg of 2,000. ELLA and JESSE's mom and dad are, respectively, Drama and English teachers. And it's easy to see how those literary and dramatic elements have manifested in their talented teen offspring. Plus, recalls the ebullient ELLA: "My parents had a huge record collection, '60s and '70s records, mostly, and instruments lying around." Living "in the middle of nowhere," aka two hours outside of Melbourne, the HOOPER kids made their own fun, which was musical, JESSE starting on violin in primary school before moving into guitar. "One day ELLA started writing and singing--I mean, she'd always sung really well," explains JESSE, "but she picked up the guitar, and was strumming stuff, and we wrote our first few songs." It was one of those early songs, "Kettle," that the then-duo decided to enter in a radio competition. It won, was re-recorded, and in 1997, was aired frequently on Australia's ground-breaking national radio station, Triple J, alongside the likes of Pearl Jam and Silverchair. ELLA, outgoing yet grounded, is still amazed at their early luck: "I was this 13-year-old kid in school with a song on the radio. When school counselors used to ask what I wanted to do for a living, I'd get uppity and say, 'I'm going to be a tightrope walker,'" ELLA laughs. "But I knew I was going to do something out of the ordinary." Thanks to "Kettle's" success, KILLING HEIDI, who by then had a pre-JENKIN and PEDRETTI rhythm section, got offered a slot on "Push Over," a major youth rock festival. "It was so promising for our first real gig," ELLA enthuses. "When we started our show, there were only 100 or so people there. Then the audience started coming over from the big stage, and at the end of our 30-minute set we played 'Kettle' and the crowd realized, 'oh, it's THAT band,' and we had heaps of people." Among those people was one Paul Kosky, a respected producer and musical entrepreneur, who was forming, with partner Chris Robinson, Wah Wah Music, which has since become one of the most successful indie labels in Australia. In KILLING HEIDI, Kosky saw looming success: "They're accessible. They have good fun and great music, and while it's a band, there's a jewel leading the group, a beautiful young smart singer. ELLA is also a tough chick, aggressive on stage, but she's sweet, sympathetic and intelligent as well. The band is hard to pigeonhole, and while ELLA has been compared to Shirley from Garbage and loves Joni Mitchell, she doesn't model herself on anyone." In fact, Australian press has said ELLA has the "voice of an evil angel," and indeed, the potent KILLING HEIDI live show soars between aggro, driving rock and sweet melodic moments with ease, ELLA's banter with the audience easy and charming. Manager/producer Kosky, who has been dubbed an honorary fifth member by the band, brought years of recording experience and contacts in the active Melbourne music scene to KILLING HEIDI. Having recorded and worked with numerous Aussie musicians, Kosky eventually recommended JENKIN and PEDRETTI to round out KILLING HEIDI. Prior to joining KILLING HEIDI, Queensland-born JENKIN was making a living playing music in Melbourne. "I was playing in five different bands a week, three or four sets a night," the bass player recalls. "I worked with Divynls and Jimmy Barnes, and did sessions where Paul [Kosky] was producing. When Paul introduced me to this band, I felt we could take on the world, and that's why I quit my other bands and joined KILLING HEIDI." PEDRETTI, the "wild man from West Australia," was a young AC/DC and KISS fan and started playing in bands at 15. Eventually moving from Perth to Melbourne, his then-band, Non-Intentional Lifeform, inked a deal with Roadrunner before imploding in 1996. PEDRETTI met Kosky in Melbourne, who, in 1998, suggested the drummer might dig KILLING HEIDI. He did. After a few weeks of jamming together, it became clear the rhythm section was a musical match with the HOOPERS. KILLING HEIDI's first official gig with the finalized lineup was in May 1999. By that time, ELLA and JESSE had already spent a couple years crafting material for what would become REFLECTOR, and the record was evolving organically, the songs a reflection of ELLA's internal and external life and astute and often pointed observations. Yet the lyrics, ELLA found, were hard to finalize, as she enjoyed changing them to suit her mood: "My weird thing as a writer is my lyrics change, but they've only stopped now because we had to record them for the CD. Like 'Mascara,' is a staple, but other songs I change, unconsciously, during a gig. I'm a sort of literary and verbal person and communication is my forte," she furthers. "Words are my thing, and my dad's great English teaching and vocabulary rubbed off on me! Not to pick on anyone else, but I use my lyrics as a medium to put out messages that are important to me, like about body image for girls and guys, empowerment, being confident. Like when 'Mascara' became a #1 single in Australia... it's a positive song about doing your own thing, and it made me happy that it succeeded and people responded to the words." It's easy to see why people respond so powerfully to KILLING HEIDI. In fact, REFLECTOR, their CD title, helps explain why: "We are reflections of what's happening around us," concludes ELLA. "You take things into your life, it adjusts you as a person, and you beam it back out into the world." And KILLING HEIDI are providing a bright reflection indeed.