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Wayne Horsburgh
Australia's International Country Entertainer, Wayne Horsburgh is now home in Australia after going back and forth to the USA for the past 25 years.
Born and raised in the Victorian countryside near Benalla, Wayne Horsburgh started singing at a young age, forming his own dance band at age 11. Some of his early musical influences were Frank Ifield, Wilf Carter and Slim Whitman, hence the love for yodelling - a crowd pleaser at his shows. Wayne moved to Sydney in 1979 with a dream of becoming a successful entertainer and the ambition to travel the world with his music. He has certainly achieved that and more.
Wayne has won 2 'ACE' Awards and 5 Australian Entertainment 'MO' Awards for excellence in live entertainment in the 'Best Male Country Performer' category. In 2004, Wayne was also nominated for the 'MO' Award in the prestigious 'Australian Showbusiness Ambassador Of The Year' category, alongside Barry Humphries (Dame Edna), Hugh Jackman, Kylie Minogue, James Morrison and Keith Urban.
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Wayne's career has taken him all over the world, developing a huge fan following not just in Australia, but also in New Zealand, Britain and the United States. His first visit to the USA was in 1984, however his big break came when he was invited to perform at Wisconsin's Hodag Country Festival in 1989, sharing the stage with country music stars Emmylou Harris, The Oak Ridge Boys, Freddy Fender and Ricky Van Shelton. The Festival attracts an estimated crowd of 40,000 people. Critics applauded him with "...it would be a mild understatement to say that Wayne Horsburgh was the hit of the show... in fact he should have been arrested for the brazen way in which he stole the show". Recognizing his talent and popularity, the organizers have booked him back eight more times! Since then, he has been a regular performer at many County Fairs, Festivals and Theatres throughout the United States.
In 1991, Wayne represented Australia at Nashville's 'International Fan Fair', where he performed on the grandstand stage. He then had his own booth at 'Fan Fair' each year until 2003, signing autographs for the fans alongside many of the legends of American Country Music. It was during those years that Wayne started spending around six months of each year in the USA.
Based in Nashville for many years, Wayne moved to Branson, Missouri in 1997 (Branson attracts 8 million visitors annually). In 1998, Wayne first represented Australia at the International World-Fest at Silver Dollar City, Branson, along with 500 other International entertainers. He has returned for this huge festival nearly every year since then, flying the Aussie flag. In April 2006 during the World-Fest he was backed by a Czech Republic Orchestra. He represented Australia once again at World-Fest in April 2009. Over a period of 12 years Wayne was also a regular performer at the 'Great American Music Festival' at Silver Dollar City, backed by the famous HorseCreek Band.
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1999
- Wayne wins
Country Male Performer
at the A.C.E.(Australian Club
Entertainment) Awards,
sharing the title
with Troy Cassar-Daley.
In 2004, Wayne again won the A.C.E. Award in this category!
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Throughout all those years Wayne became very well-known in Wisconsin, not only for Country Music, but also for his performances in the Polka music scene. Since 1999, Wayne has appeared at many County Fairs in Wisconsin, backed by The Music Connection polka band. At the Hodag Country Festival in Rhinelander in 2002, they shared the bill with Lorrie Morgan and Sammy Kershaw, while also appearing over the weekend were Toby Keith, Neal McCoy, Alabama, Leroy Van Dyke and many others. In 2007 Wayne performed at the 30th anniversary Hodag Festival, being his 9th appearance on this huge show.
With 25 album releases throughout the years, Wayne records on Rotation Records (Aust) Pty Ltd, the latest CD's being 'A Salute To Marty Robbins', 'Songs Of Praise', and 'Born Free' . There are two releases distributed on the UK Jasmine Records label. These are 'Songs of the Islands' (Volume One) and 'Can You Hear Those Pioneers?'. Other titles include 'I Still Call Australia Home', 'A Salute To Slim Whitman', 'Land of Enchantment', 'An Aussie Ozark Christmas' and 'Memories & Guitar Strings'.
After 25 years of performing in the USA Wayne Horsburgh has become a trailblazer for other Australian performers in international markets. Returning to Australia in 2010 he will continue to perform and record his unique brand of musical style - very much established as 'the people's entertainer'.
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