jude bellamy zipata

biography colin zipata had stumbled upon nashville by complete accident - he and his best friends had decided to book a long awaited trip to the states for a summer adventure, and it had simply been the cheapest place to fly into. though they had been dreaming about exploring new york city, or maybe even los angeles, their combined savings didn't quite lend to a lavish big city adventure. instead they'd stumbled around nashville drunk on cheap american beer for a week, and it was an embarrassing trip and face first collision with a fire hydrant that led to colin meeting virginia edwards, a young nurse who saved him an expensive hospital visit by patching up his split forehead. they spent approximately two weeks falling in love before virginia, head filled with dreams of australia and its gorgeous coasts, surfing, and sunshine, decided to leave everything behind and fly back with colin. of course, he had somewhat failed to mention that he lived in the town of wagga wagga, a city just a fraction of the size of nashville, and hours away from even the closest coast. still, the romance of it all softened that blow and only six months later the pair had married, with their first child, a son named graham, born shortly after. by the time jude was born, their second child, the pair had been together for two years and the romance had long since faded. colin was incapable of holding down a job, and virginia had realized that his charming drunken adventure back in nashville was not a one off event - there was rarely a night that he didn't stumble home, almost too intoxicated to make it in the front door. it was hard to say whether their last child, a daughter named sabine, was a last ditch effort or just a complete accident, but when colin missed her birth it was quite clear that the short-lived marriage would never be a fairytale for the ages.

jude was twelve years old when his father announced to the family that he'd gotten a job as a ranch hand at bulloo downs station and that the family would be packing up and heading to what was essentially the australian outback. since coming to australia virginia had not so much as even seen the beautiful coastlines she imagined, had not stepped foot into the ocean, had not even seen a beach, but she had been happy enough raising her kids in wagga wagga - but she sure as hell would not be disappearing into the depths of the australian outback. within a year jude had moved to america with his mother and siblings, settling down back in nashville. while his brother and sister were less than thrilled about the move, jude adjusted easily and without complaint. he picked up a love for both american football and country music, eventually picking up a guitar and discovering a real passion for the latter. there was little doubt that jude had an obvious talent for both songwriting and singing itself, but having grown up with little money and seeing his mom constantly struggle to make ends meet, he quickly dismissed the insane idea of pursuing music as any kind of career.

following high school graduation jude began to study psychology at vanderbilt - thrilling his mom, who thought he was following in her footsteps into the medical profession, when, in reality, jude simply couldn't figure out what he imagined doing for the rest of his life. nothing seemed to make jude as happy as music, and yet the constant nagging voice of practicality kept him writing songs in the quiet of his own room, strumming at his guitar when his roommate wasn't around. still, it wasn't long before his friends discovered jude's somewhat hidden talents, and he quickly became 'that guy' at parties - the one people were pushing to pull out his guitar and sing all of their favorite songs. jude's confidence in his talent took some work, and it would be years until he worked up the guts to actually perform at a small bar near campus. it was like a scene straight out of 8 mile when he threw up the entire contents of his stomach beforehand - despite the crowd being a whopping 11 people. still, no amount of nerves or greenness could take away from the talent behind his performances - performances which became more and more frequent, drawing crowds that continued to make it a bad idea for him to eat beforehand.

it was jude's songwriting that garnered the most attention from people in the industry - much to his delight, as it worked well for his overwhelming stagefright to be the guy behind he song, rather than the face. the change from college kid who likes to play around with his guitar to actual singer and successful songwriter was a complete whirlwind for jude, having never imagined even a fraction of it. in 2012 one of country music's most famous artists was singing 'come over', a song that jude had co-written, and the face that something that he had helped to create found itself at number 1 on the american country billboard chart was one of the key moments when jude realized that, just maybe, there was a chance this music thing could actually take him somewhere. his mother cried for three days when he told her that he was dropping out of masters program in order to delve full time into music, but despite breaking her heart jude was sure that his own fears were ten times worse than his mom's.

2013 became his most pivotal year, having recorded an acoustic mixtape, between the pines, that he self-released online, after which he spent the next three days getting belligerently drunk in order to avoid hearing any kind of reviews or feedback. within only a few months he was signed to a major label with a recording contract, and then even jude had to admit that it was - in the words of penny lane - all happening. a number one album followed, along with a sold out tour, an american music award, and even a grammy nomination. suddenly the shy kid who almost went to live in the australian outback was touring the world and signing autographs - and still getting sick before every single show, perhaps as life's little lesson in humility.