We Have Always Believed In Dami Im
South Korean-born singer-songwriter-recording artist and classically trained multi-instrumentalist Dami Im made her first mark with Australian audiences in 2013, winning the reality television singing competition The X Factor. She later moved on to International fame when she came second in the 2016 Eurovision Song Contest. Her song entry ‘Sound of Silence’ written by Anthony Egizii and David Musumeci of DNA Songs, won the Marcel Bezencon Award in the composer category at Eurovision and is still a popular choice for covers and popular performance events.
When Dami was nine years old, she came to Australia with her family. Her early schooling was full of challenges as she didn’t know a word of English. Growing up, Dami always assumed she would become a classical pianist as that is what she was good at, and her parents aspired to see her tour the world as classical pianist. Her mother Hae Yun (Helen) Lee is a trained classical opera singer, much as Dami is a trained classical pianist – the musical talent is inherited. Her teachers and friends started to notice her talent on the piano and she began winning Eisteddfods in Brisbane, as well as taking part in State and National Piano competitions. However, as a teenager listening to the likes of Kylie Minogue, Mariah Carey and The Spice Girls, her secret dream was to become a pop star. So at high school she joined the school choir for a chance to sing but they just wanted her to play the piano accompaniment instead, as she was known as “the piano girl” by all there. She never imagined she would be achieving such phenomenal success and see her dreams come true a decade later. Dami is fortunate to have the staunch support of her loving family. Her husband Noah has his own career which he put on hold in her first year to be with her as she was thrown into her new career.
Dami’s achievements are numerous and include her outstanding academic qualifications, her multiple ARIA Platinum and Gold accreditations for her recorded music releases, second placing out of 42 nations as the representative singer for Australia at the Eurovision Song Contest in 2016, as well as an award winning sellout national tour with 50 concerts. Dami is also an accomplished vocalist with a soprano voice, and she can sing many genres of music including Pop, Jazz, Classical, Gospel and Rock. As a musician she is classically trained and academically qualified in piano, violin, flute, while also playing the guitar and ukulele. Her piano teacher for her Music Degree at the University of Queensland remarked on her vocal talent:
“She has perfect pitch and she moved into that arena where she could sing on the note and make a beautiful sound.”
However, despite her achievements, she remains humble and is a long time Compassion Ambassador promoting their work on the alleviation of child poverty worldwide through child sponsorship. Dami is a unique artist whose popularity spans all age groups and countries around the world as shown by her achievements so far with the fan base in the Dami Army covering every continent in the world already (even Antarctica), and she really loves her Dami Army fans for their long support of her over the years since her time on the Australian X Factor in 2013.
Her advice to her 15 year old self: “Never miss any opportunities that come your way, even if it is outside your comfort zone.”
