Jessica Mauboy Australian Singer and Actress From Darwin

Early life

Jessica Hilda Mauboy was born on 4 August 1989 and raised in Darwin, in Australia's Northern Territory. Her father, Ferdy, is an electrician born in Indonesia, and her mother, Therese, is an Aboriginal Australian woman of the Kuku Yalanji people. She has four sisters. As a girl she sang in a local church choir with her grandmother, and she grew up in a house full of music. She attended Wulagi Primary School and Sanderson High School, and left school in year 11 to pursue music.

At fourteen she became the first winner of the Telstra Road to Tamworth competition at the 2004 Tamworth Country Music Festival, which led to a recording deal with Sony Music Australia and a country-style version of "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun". The song was not a success and she went back to Darwin.

Career

In 2006 Mauboy auditioned for the fourth season of Australian Idol and finished as runner-up to Damien Leith. She signed with Sony Music Australia again in December 2006 and issued a live album, The Journey, in February 2007. In September 2007 she briefly joined the girl group Young Divas, leaving about a year later to focus on a solo career. Her debut studio album, Been Waiting, came out on 22 November 2008 and was certified double platinum. It included her first number-one single, "Burn", and "Running Back" with Flo Rida.

The second album, Get 'Em Girls (2010), moved toward a harder R&B sound and produced four platinum singles, among them "Saturday Night" with Ludacris. Her third album, Beautiful (2013), contained "Pop a Bottle (Fill Me Up)", "Never Be the Same" and "Can I Get a Moment?". In 2014 she performed "Sea of Flags" at the Eurovision Song Contest as a guest, and in 2018 she represented Australia at the contest with "We Got Love", finishing 20th in the final.

On screen, Mauboy played Rosie in the musical film Bran Nue Dae and Julie McCrae in The Sapphires (2012), which also led to a soundtrack album that reached number one. In 2016 she took the lead in the Seven Network series The Secret Daughter, written especially for her, and released two soundtrack albums linked to the show. The first made her the first Indigenous artist to reach number one on the ARIA Albums Chart. Her fourth studio album, Hilda, debuted at number one in October 2019. From 2021 to 2023 she was a coach on The Voice Australia.

In December 2020, after fourteen years with Sony, she signed with Warner Music Australia and released "Glow" in November 2021. Her fifth studio album, Yours Forever, followed in February 2024, led by the single "Give You Love" with Jason Derulo, and it debuted at number 10. In 2024 she also starred in the Stan film Windcatcher. In August 2025 she announced a split from Warner and founded an independent label, Jamally, whose first single was "While I Got Time".

Recognition

Mauboy has won two ARIA Music Awards from 25 nominations: Highest Selling Single for "Running Back" in 2009 and Best Female Artist in 2013. For The Sapphires she received the AACTA Award for Best Supporting Actress and the Australian Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actress. She won the Northern Territory Young Australian of the Year award in 2013 and the Deadly Awards for Female Artist of the Year, Album of the Year and Single Release of the Year in 2009. In 2025 she was inducted into the National Indigenous Music Awards Hall of Fame.

Public roles

Mauboy has been an ambassador for the Sony Foundation, the Indigenous Literacy Foundation and the Yipirinya School in Alice Springs, and a spokesperson for the Indigenous Literacy Project from 2009. She also served as an ambassador for the National Rugby League.

Personal life

In late 2008 Mauboy moved from Darwin to Sydney. She has one child.