Celebrity Featured: Tommy Emmanuel
Artist: Diana Cole
Chair Donor: Insato
Fabric Donor: Warwick Fabrics
Upholstery Donor: Jims Upholstery
About Tommy Emmanuel
Tommy Emmanuel was born in Muswellbrook, New South Wales, in 1955. He first began to play guitar at just 4 years old, and by the time he was 6 he was working as a professional musician with his family's band, playing rhythm guitar.
After his father's death in 1966, Emmanuel began to give guitar lessons at 12, and won a string of talent contests in the following teenage years. By the 1970s he was playing with his brother Phil in the group Goldrush and then later in the 1980s with the lineup of a reformed Dragon - a 70s rock group. In 1994 he became a member of the John Farnham Band.
While he has no formal music training, Emmanuel is a gifted virtuoso guitarist whose speciality is "fingerpicking". He has been recognised by many industry peers, and in July 1999, at the 15th Annual Chet Atkins Appreciation Society Convention, Chet presented Tommy with the honorary Certified Guitar Player degree, an honor bestowed on only two other guitarists (besides Atkins himself) - "In Recognition Of His Contributions To The Art Of Fingerpicking".
Another career highlight, in 2000, was his performance at the closing ceremony of the Sydney Olympics, watched by over 1 billion people. He has released over 18 albums, the latest of which being The Mystery, which was released August 22, 2006. He is currently touring in Europe and the UK.