Healing music

By Nicole Williams
THE year was 1996 and rock ‘n’ roll superstar Michael Hutchence and band INXS headlined the ARIA awards in Sydney.
Dandenong’s own pop star, Andrew De Silva, was struggling with a battle of his own.
He was diagnosed with cancer at 22 years of age, but is now making a comeback on Channel 7’s Australia’s Got Talent.
Most will remember the tune ‘Let’s groove’ by CDB as it topped the charts in the 1990s and even won an ARIA for the highest selling single for their cover, but singer/song writer Andrew was hiding in the shadows because he was embarrassed by a stutter.
Andrew, now 37, grew up in North Dandenong, and started singing at three years old, inspired by his father who was “a bit of a pop star back home” (in Sri Lanka).
The former Nazareth College student speaks highly of his childhood in ‘Dandy’, saying that the culturally diverse region exposed him to different music styles.
“There was a lot of RnB and hip hop around there,” he said.
“There were lots of dance crews, rappers and it was all happening around the area.”
After three years with CBD, a cancer diagnosis forced him to leave the group.
Although he says he was “one of the lucky ones”, making a full recovery, Andrew turned to music to aid his recovery.
“It really helped me work out where I was because when you write something, you crystallise a feeling,” he said.
“It just plays back as well, so you can hear your thoughts and emotions and you’re just writing what’s in your heart.”
Over a decade later and working as a wedding singer, Andrew took a leap of faith and auditioned for Australia’s Got Talent.
Andrew spent many sleepless nights worrying that the public would laugh at his stutter – and even went to the show producers to pull out.
Needing to share his story with Australia, Andrew decided to face his fears.
After auditioning for the show, Andrew attended a four-day intensive course to help eliminate stutter and he gained the confidence to continue.
Andrew has progressed to the finals of Australia’s Got Talent, winning over the hearts of the judges and reducing them and the audience to tears with an original song ‘Beautiful Things’.
The inspiration for the song evolved from the difficulty of going through cancer.
“Sometimes, the difficult things in life; they can end up being beautiful things,” he said.
Andrew will perform an original piece for the finals of Australia’s Got Talent in early July and regardless of the competition outcome he will release an album.