By LUCY ORMONDE
Abby Dobson was the it-girl of the Australian music industry.
Dobson is lead singer of the indie band Leonardo’s Bride and the haunting voice behind the hit song, Even When I’m Sleeping, (which you might remember from its repeated play on commercial radio stations around the country in the mid to late 1990s.)
Even When I’m Sleeping reached top 5 status in the ARIA charts during the band’s success. In 1997, the group was nominated for three ARIA awards. And in 1998, the song was voted as APRA’s song of the year. Since that time, Abby’s gone on to release a solo album and work with artists like Paul Mac.
You could call Dobson an accomplished performer. Arguably one of Australia’s best.
And yet the 43-year-old’s voice wasn’t strong enough to turn the chairs (and opinions) of Joel Madden, Delta Goodrem, Seal and Ricky Martin on last night’s episode of The Voice.
Dobson took the the Fox Studios stage during the second last night of blind auditions. She chose to perform the Aretha Franklin song Do Right Woman, Do Right Man.
Each of the judges toyed with pressing the red button, to spin the chair of dreams around (Seal even sung along).
But in the end, it wasn’t enough.
(You can view the video here.)
First to give his feedback was Joel. He told Dobson: “It’s so hard this year… It always comes down to the moment when you get up on stage. You missed the moment tonight, but I really like your voice”.
Seal said: “I’m going to brutally honest with you. I think it was too much song. That is a big song, man. You know, you have what it takes, and I know that you’ll take this experience and you’ll keep doing what you do.”