Kiwi musician Kaylee Bell’s EP featuring tribute to Keith Urban certified Aria Gold

This year just keeps getting better for Kiwi music star Kaylee Bell, who has just added a Gold Aria to her list of achievements for 2023.

That list includes supporting Ed Sheeran’s six-date Multiply tour of New Zealand, completing her first solo tour of the country and picking up the Golden Guitar Award for vocal collaboration of the year at the prestigious awards in Tamworth, Australia, in January.

On Sunday, after performing the final of 17 shows in her Boots n All nationwide tour, Bell was presented with her first Gold Aria award for her EP ‘Red’ in her hometown of Waimate.

“It’s a huge milestone in my career, and these things don’t come by easily. So I feel like it is all thanks to the fact people listen to my music which is amazing,” Bell said.

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The Australian Recording Industry Association awards Gold Aria accreditations to its members who sell 35,000 copies of a single to retailers.

It’s been 20 years since a female country artist in Australasia received a gold Aria, with Australian country star Kasey Chambers achieving the same success in 2003. But, Bell is the first independent female country artist in Australasia to be accredited.

“Being self-managed and independent makes it that much sweeter as it shows what you can achieve when you work hard and believe in yourself.”

Bell said she was grateful her music is connecting with audiences, and she was “proud” to join the likes of “Kasey, who is someone I have admired for a long time”.

She credited her fans for helping her achieve success, “it’s me and them”, and her co-writer for the project Phil Barton and producer Lindsay Rimes.

Bell said the new shiny framed record would hang in her studio in “pride of place”.

She said being presented with the award in her hometown of Waimate at the end of her 17-date nationwide tour was a “full circle” moment.

“That made is all the more sweeter.

“It couldn’t have been a better moment than to share this with my band and crew, who have been working their butts of the last few weeks, and who I credit a lot of my latest success to.

“We have built something special in the live space that I want to just keep doing more of.”

Bell said the tour, which started in Waimate on the same stage she first performed on as a preschooler, had been incredible, especially meeting people and taking country to those who love it.

She said a standout memory of the tour, would be the number of young country fans in attendance.

“(It was) Amazing, so many kids. And just to feel the love and energy from audience all around this country felt like we were creating something new for country music in New Zealand.”

In 2022, Bell made it to the final 24 of The Voice Australia – which featured Keith Urban as a mentor, performing her original ‘Keith’, which is a tribute to the country artist himself, in her debut on the show.

In 2021, Bell made headlines when she was selected to represent women as the cover of the global Spotify playlist ‘Equal’ – her image lighting up New York’s Times Square on a large billboard.

Forging a path as a country artist has not been easy for Bell, but earlier this year, ahead of her nationwide tour, she said she believed the lines between genres were now less defined than when she started out 14 year ago.

Bell won the New Zealand Golden Guitar Award when she was 18 and was named Australia’s Toyota Star Maker in 2013.

She said she felt like 2023 was the right time to finally tour the country as a country artist – hot off the tour with Ed Sheeran and with her single Boots n All playing on the radio.

And Bell has no intention of slowing the momentum which has been building all year, landing in Nashville, Tennessee on Thursday afternoon (NZ time) where she will be based and plans to record a new record later this year.

Bell said she is also planning further shows in New Zealand and Australia and is now planning the release of her next single.

Not giving too much away, other than to say it was “one we tested live at our shows, and we will be using footage” from the nationwide tour for it.