Holly Throsby

Her older half-brother, Timothy Marc, died in a motorcycle accident in Thailand in 1996. Throsby later recalled the death of her brother "I was 17 when [he] died and I had one exam left in my HSC. I went to the exam and did all that stuff because I thought you had to keep on doing that stuff and I didn't stop... Those things affect you. I think it has made me scared. It made me scared to travel because he died when he was in Bangkok. It made me scared to get on a motorcycle, which I've never done. It made me scared when other people travel away from me". After earning a B.A. degree (major in English) from the University of Sydney, Throsby worked at an art house video store for several years and travelled overseas, including living in Austin, Texas for six months.

During 2003 Throsby recorded her debut album, On Night (11 November 2004), with experimental producer, Tony Dupé, at his cottage on Saddleback Mountain, near Kiama. Throsby provided lead vocals and guitar, additional musicians were Dupé on piano and pump organ, Davey Cotsios on guitar and backing vocals, Abel Cross on bass guitar and double bass, and Joseph Fuse on drums. In Australia it appeared on the indie label, Spunk Records. AllMusic's Mark Deming described her album of "uncluttered but emotionally resonant songs made a major impact with critics." Chloe Persing of Woroni felt it was "a collection of quaint and delicate acoustic songs that have a lyrical focus on themes such as loneliness and distance, and have the ability to resonate quite powerfully."

Throsby toured Australia supporting various musical acts: Bonnie "Prince" Billy (a.k.a. Will Oldham), Joanna Newsom, Bill Callahan/ Smog, M. Ward, Devendra Banhart, Jose Gonzales, Low and The Eels. She toured in the United States, attending SXSW in 2005 and returning for a support tour with David Pajo (Slint, Interpol, Papa M). Throsby also toured Europe, including the United Kingdom, with Micah P. Hinson. In September 2005 Throsby's cover version of "Not the Girl You Think You Are" was compiled on the various artist's album, She Will Have Her Way – a tribute to singer-songwriters, and brothers, Tim and Neil Finn. Fellow female singers on the album include Sarah Blasko and Sally Seltmann (as New Buffalo).

In July 2006, Throsby released her second album, Under the Town, it was produced by Dupé again but included a larger group of session musicians. Dupé assisted with piano, bouzouki, clarinet and trumpet; Jens Birchall provided cello and double bass; Rebecca and Samantha Brown (twin sisters) both played violin, Jack Ladder was on bass guitar and Bree van Reyk played drums. It reached the ARIA Albums Chart top 100. It also reached No. 2 on the related Hitseekers Albums chart. The ARIA Report cited her "distinctive, fragile voice" with her "country-folk sound and poignant lyrics regarding all things from howling wolves to coffee pots" which have "struck a chord with music lovers." Under the Town was lauded by music critics; including the UK press with ratings of 3/5 in Uncut, 4/5 in Mojo, and 8/10 from Drowned in Sound's Dom Gourlay. At the ARIA Music Awards of 2006 Throsby was nominated for Best Female Artist for the album.

A Loud Call peaked at No. 34 on the ARIA Albums Chart – her highest placement as a solo artist. At the ARIA Music Awards of 2008 it provided her second nomination as Best Female Artist. Throsby toured extensively in Australia, as well as tours in Europe with Paul Kelly, The Handsome Family, and The Tallest Man on Earth – who covered Throsby's track, "To Begin With", at his subsequent live shows. Throsby played at the St Jerome's Laneway, and Splendour in the Grass festivals in 2007 and 2009.

In October 2010 Throsby released an album of original children's songs, See!. Billed as an alternative "black sheep" children's album, See! was recorded in January of that year with long-time collaborator Dupé and included guest cameos by Darren Hanlon, J. Walker, Jack Ladder and, her mother, Margaret Throsby. It was released through ABC Music. Throsby and her band, The Hello Tigers – with Bree van Reyk on drums and percussion and Jens Birchall on cello, bass and mandolin – have performed the album as a live show at festivals in the Australian state capitals including Sydney Festival, Brisbane Festival, Adelaide Festival Centre and Melbourne Arts Centre.

From August 2010 Throsby, along with Sarah Blasko and Sally Seltmann, was a member of the vocal trio, Seeker Lover Keeper. In June 2011 their debut album was released, which had been recorded in New York with engineer Victor Van Vugt (PJ Harvey, Nick Cave) and Dirty Three's drummer, Jim White as well as van Reyk on drums. It debuted at No. 3 on the ARIA Albums Chart and achieved gold accreditation. At the ARIA Music Awards of 2011 the album was nominated for Best Adult Alternative Album.

In February 2011 Throsby released her fifth solo album, Team, which peaked in the ARIA Albums Chart top 50. It was recorded in a 19th-century church in Wildes Meadow with Dupé producing. Team received four-star reviews in the Australian and British press and was lauded as her most experimental album, eschewing traditional song structure for layered, intersecting vocals expressing varying points of view around the subject of a relationship breakdown. Chris Trout of Drowned in Sound found she was "a brilliant writer of melodies, even when shackled to a trad blueprint" where "the lyrics are affecting because the imagery Throsby employs is neither too personal and specific... nor too self-consciously 'poetic'... to communicate much to the listener except that she is in the presence of a Good Writer."

In October 2011 the trio provided a cover version of "Sinner" for the third Finn brothers tribute album by various artists, They Will Have Their Way, which also included Throsby's earlier rendition of "Not the Girl You Think You Are". To promote it Throsby and the group toured Australia with other artists on the related They Will Have Their Way Tour in November of that year. Seeker Lover Keeper completed two national tours in 2011 and 2012, before each artist resumed their solo careers.

In July 2012 Throsby undertook a tour of Bob Dylan Tribute Concerts with fellow Australian artists Patience Hodgson, Kevin Mitchell, Josh Pyke and Kav Temperley.

Throsby wrote an article, "Sing out loud: marriage equality is in tune with the times", for The Sydney Morning Herald in December 2013 describing her same sex relationship: "I would like to be able to get married" but "Australian law says my partner and I aren't allowed". Throsby and her partner are the parents of a child: she described her family in Motherhood and Creativity (April 2015) by Rachel Power. The book includes interviews with other celebrities: Claudia Karvan, Rachel Griffiths, Clare Bowditch and Del Kathryn Barton.

Throsby's debut novel, Goodwood, was published by Allen & Unwin on 28 September 2016. Goodwood came in at No. 7 on ABC's The Book Club's Top Ten; and was No. 3 on Dymocks’ list of the Best Books of 2016. It has since been shortlisted for an Indie Book Award, two Australian Book Industry Awards, two Sisters in Crime Davitt Awards, and a Ned Kelly Award. In support of the book, Throsby appeared at festivals including the Sydney Writers Festival, Perth Writers Festival, Adelaide Writers' Week, Newcastle Writers Festival and at numerous live book events, including in Melbourne, Brisbane and Hobart.

Throsby released After a Time in 2017. Recorded by Tim Kevin, the album featured a Throsby-penned duet with Mark Kozelek called "What Do You Say?" and performances from Mick Turner from Dirty Three as well as Bree van Reyk, Jens Birchall and Marcus Whale (Collarbones, BV). After a Time was longlisted for the Australian Music Prize and was included in Rolling Stone Magazine's top 50 albums of the year, and music journalist Bernard Zuel's top 10. The song "What Do You Say?" had over 2.5 million streams on Spotify and the song "Aeroplane" had over 30 million streams.

Her second novel, Cedar Valley, was published in September 2018. Throsby promoted the book with a large book tour and appeared at several writers' festivals across Australia. Cedar Valley makes reference to the real-life unsolved Australian mystery, the Somerton Man.