Disclaimer: Pete Murray is an old friend of mine. We shared a house together back in the nineties, back when he was doing the acoustic singer-songwriter circuit, playing to rooms of maybe 30 people. I remember a conversation we had on the front deck of our old place just as I was packing up to move to Japan and he was packing up to move to Melbourne, way back in 2002. He told me that he was going to give music one last shot - he had just been offered the deal with Sony and his A&R guy, a mutual friend (Stu McCoullough), was super passionate about Pete's career. But he didn't hold out high hopes and was ready to head back to a life in carpentry and building if it didn't work out. The rest, of course, is history. I was out of the country so I had no idea how crazy it got back here - it wasn't till I was in a Coles in Port Douglas on a holiday home from Japan a few years later when I heard So Beautiful over the air and a couple of people standing near me declaring how much they loved this song.

I believe Pete is a testament to the notion of tenacious persistence. He has sold well over 1 million records now, and can sell out big rooms across the country when he tours. We sat down together to have a chat about all things career-advice and he - of course - has some great tips to offer young muso's and industry workers.