Rising Stars: Meet Emmaline Cleary

Today we’d like to introduce you to Emmaline Cleary.

Hi Emmaline, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I started out in Australia very early on singing and writing in bands, then eventually releasing music as a solo artist and also writing hooks to hip-hop beats before coming back and forth to Atlanta.

I eventually made the move to Atlanta and then eventually Nashville, where I’ve been for four years now. Once in Nashville I really started to solely focus on songwriting and particularly for film and television.

I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey has been a fairly smooth road?
Ha! It is never ever a smooth road.

We can start with living overseas and everyone losing work and your home country shutting its borders even to its citizens. The option to go home was not an option, but I think in those really bumpy times is where you find your strength and power, even if it doesn’t feel like it at the time.

Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I started out writing cattle call briefs for television commercial songs, and I was never successful. I and some writing partners came super close. It wasn’t until I started working with a boutique agency called Signature Tracks in LA did I start getting TV placements. I have to say though, doing all of those cattle call writing briefs over and over was the best exercise in songwriting despite never winning one. It definitely made me a better and faster songwriter who was willing to shed inhibitions or insecurities in my writing.

There just isn’t time for it. From signature tracks, it lead to working on specific songs for specific scenes in films with filmmakers The Silver Brothers and eventually being asked to work on this new short film The 12th Letter, which we’ve now won best song for I think 5 times now so far in collaboration with J and J Ranch Productions and Jackie Horvoka. The coolest part about working with these guys was the absolute trust they had in me when it came to music for their film. Jackie and I met on Twitter of all places and she asked me to sing the theme song Turn The Tide, which is honestly so beautifully written. It wasn’t hard to say yes too, but I also got to rearrange and record a version of a catholic hymn for some scenes and try my hand at music supervision for other scenes. Really great people who have come into my life. Looking forward to making more movies with these guys. The awards the film and the music have won are the icing on an already very delicious cake. Everyone in this film has been amazing.

Emmaline and Jackie have won best song at Five Continents International Film Festival, Christian Online Film Festival, Blue Sky Film and Music Festival, Golden Giraffe International Film Festival, and Cult Critic Awards in India for best original soundtrack. The film 12th Letter has won multiple awards for best film on the awards circuit so far with many more festivals to be announced in the coming weeks.

What was your favorite childhood memory?
Being out in the country with my two sisters just playing outside and being around animals.

Contact Info:

• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/emmalinecleary 

Image Credits
Paul DeBurger