Jade Aurora MacRae is an Australian soul singer and the daughter of professional musicians Joy Yates and Dave MacRae. MacRae is best known for her top 40 singles "So Hot Right Now" and "Superstar", both released in 2005. In 2012, following her marriage to Australian hip hop artist Phrase, MacRae continued her musical career under the new moniker of Dune.
Early life and education
Jade Aurora Moana MacRae was born in London, England, into a musical family. MacRae's New Zealand parents are session vocalist Joy Yates, who is of Māori and European descent, and pianist Dave MacRae. After moving to Australia before the age of eight, MacRae grew up in Sydney. She began learning the piano at the age of three years and the violin at the age of eight. and worked as a session musician with Australian electronic acts such as Disco Montego, Endorphin, and Pnau.
2004–2006: Jade MacRae
Early in 2004, German dance producer Ian Pooley recruited MacRae to sing on the track "Heaven", together with Danni'elle Gaha. The song featured on the German dance charts.
MacRae signed a record contract with Michael Hegarty of Workstation Records and worked with a number of producers throughout 2004. In October 2004, MacRae released her debut solo single "You Make Me Weak" which peaked at number 46 on the ARIA Charts.
In February 2005, MacRae released "So Hot Right Now"
2007–2011: Get Me Home
thumb|MacRae in 2009
In 2007, MacRae performed an hour-long set prior to the Asian Football Confederation (AFC)'s third and fourth Asian Cup quarter final matches in Sydney, Australia. The 2007 Asian Cup was the first time that Australia participated in the competition.
In mid-2007, MacRae toured Australia as part of the Broad show, performing alongside Deborah Conway, New Buffalo, Anne McCue, and Abbe May.
In September 2007, MacRae released "In the Basement", the lead single from her second studio album. The song peaked at number 60 on the ARIA Chart. After several delays, MacRae's second album Get Me Home was released in October 2008, together with the album's second single "I Wanna Be in Love". The album failed to enter any music charts. In a 2012 interview MacRae confessed that the lack of the success of the album impacted her confidence. MacRae said she was "shell-shocked after that didn't work out. It was a hard thing to recover from." in addition to the fourth album of Australian artist Kevin Mitchell (recording under his "Bob Evans" pseudonym), Familiar Stranger.
In September 2012 MacRae assumed a new musical pseudonym "Dune", saying "The music I'm making is definitely more alternative, so I thought it needed its name, its identity and personality". together with a music video.
Dune released the EP Oh Innocence on 14 March 2013, and MacRae revealed the Dune recordings were self-funded, self-produced, and self-released. MacRae's live band for the Dune project consists of a bassist and drummer, Luke Hodgson and Leigh Fisher (both from the band Gypsy and the Cat), and the group was invited to play at the 2013 Great Escape Festival held annually in Brighton, UK.
In 2013 in an interview with the Time Out media group, MacRae provided an insight into the response from fans of her previous work under the "Jade MacRae" title "I think some people are quite disappointed in the new direction – some people on the urban scene can be quite staunch ... It's amazing how short people's memories are although. A lot of the people I deal with in media have no recollection of me ... There's no culture these days in the mainstream really – the idea of discovering an artist, getting all their albums, and getting obsessed with them is dying out. It still exists to some extent in indie bands and left-of-center music."
Other work
Jade is also a longtime backing vocalist in the Joe Bonamassa band, which tours the world extensively.
Media appearances
thumb|Jade MacRae in 2019
MacRae signed on to participate in the Australian celebrity television singing show, It Takes Two in 2006, and was partnered with Australian cricket player Michael Bevan—the pair was eliminated on 2 July 2006. MacRae returned to It Takes Two in May 2007, and was partnered with Home and Aways Bobby Morley (Morley appeared in the music video for MacRae's song "In The Basement" later that year). Morley and MacRae were eliminated on 12 June 2007. In 2008, MacRae returned to the television show for a third time, and was partnered with actor Paul O'Brien—the pair were eliminated in the eighth week of the season.
MacRae briefly acted in the co-host role for Sydney's Edge 96.1 radio station, and appeared several times on the Australian musical comedy/quiz shows Spicks And Specks and RocKwiz.
Personal life
In August 2011, MacRae married hip hop artist Phrase, based in Melbourne, after dating since 2008.
Discography
Albums
{| class="wikitable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center;"
|+List of studio albums, with selected chart positions
! scope="col" rowspan="2" style="width:16em;"| Title
! scope="col" rowspan="2"| Details
! scope="col" colspan="1"| Peak chart positions
|-
! scope="col" style="width:3em;font-size:90%;"| AUS<br>
|-
! scope="row"| "Heaven"<br><span style="font-size:85%;">(Ian Pooley featuring Jade and Danielle)</span>
| rowspan="2"| 2004
| —
|
|-
! scope="row"| "You Make Me Weak"
| 46
| rowspan="3"| Jade Macrae
|-
! scope="row"| "So Hot Right Now"
| rowspan="2"| 2005
| 18
|-
! scope="row"| "Superstar"
| 32
|-
! scope="row"| "In the Basement"
| 2007
| 60
| rowspan="2"| Get Me Home
|-
! scope="row"| "I Wanna Be in Love"
| 2008
| —
|-
! scope="row"| "Life"<br><span style="font-size:85%;">(Space Invadas featuring Jade MacRae)</span>
| 2009
| —
|
|-
! scope="row"| "Shoestring"<br><span style="font-size:85%;">(credited to Dune)</span>
| 2012
| —
| rowspan="2"| Oh Innocence
|-
! scope="row"| "Oh Innocence"<br><span style="font-size:85%;">(credited to Dune)</span>
| 2013
| —
|-
! scope="row"| "Up Above Your Head"
| rowspan="2"| 2019
| —
| Handle Me with Care
|-
! scope="row"| "My Father's House"
| —
|
|-
! scope="row"| "I Choose Love"
| rowspan="2"| 2020
| —
| rowspan="2"| Handle Me with Care
|-
! scope="row"| "Midnight Air"
| —
|}
Awards and nominations
{| class="wikitable"
|----- bgcolor="#ebf5ff"
|-
!Award
!Category
!About
!Result
|----- bgcolor="#bfd7ff"
| colspan=5 align=center | 2005
|-
|ARIA Awards
|Best Urban Release
|"So Hot Right Now"
|style="background: #ffdddd"| Nominated
|-
|POPrepublic.tv IT List Awards
|Australian Female
|Herself
|style="background: #ffdddd"| Nominated
|-
|----- bgcolor="#bfd7ff"
| colspan=5 align=center | 2006
|-
|APRA Music Awards
|Most Performed Urban Work
|"You Make Me Weak"
|style="background: #ffdddd"| Nominated
|-
|ARIA Awards
|Best Urban Release
|Jade MacRae
|style="background: #ffdddd"| Nominated
|-
|ARIA Awards
|Best Female Artist
|Herself
|style="background: #ffdddd"| Nominated
|-
|MTV Australia Video Music Awards
|Best R&B Video
|"So Hot Right Now"
|style="background: #ffdddd"| Nominated
|-
|POPrepublic.tv IT List Awards
|Australian Female
|Herself
|style="background: #ddffdd"| Won
|-
|Urban Music Awards
|Best R&B Album
|Jade MacRae
|style="background: #ddffdd"| Won
|-
|Urban Music Awards
|Best Female Artist
|Herself
|style="background: #ddffdd"| Won
|-
|----- bgcolor="#bfd7ff"
| colspan=5 align=center | 2007
|-
|APRA Music Awards
|Most Performed Urban Work
|"Superstar"
|style="background: #ffdddd"| Nominated
|-
|Urban Music Awards
|Best Female Artist
|Herself
|style="background: #ddffdd"| Won
|-
|----- bgcolor="#bfd7ff"
| colspan=5 align=center | 2008
|-
|APRA Music Awards
|Urban Work of the Year
|"In the Basement"
|style="background: #ddffdd"| Won
|-
|}