Scott Draper - Biography
Professional golfer/tennis player
Scott Draper has achieved success in two competitive sports making him one of the rarest categories of athletes, but flexing his vocal cords is an entirely different challenge.
Luckily the professional sportsman does not shy from stepping outside his comfort zone.
“If I had the choice of being a professional golfer or being able to sing in front of an audience, I’d pick the latter. Music has the ability to touch you, to give you goosebumps. I love a challenge and am excited about trying something that I am passionate about.” says Scott.
Beginning his tennis career in 1993, Scott won over 120 professional matches during an impressive 12-year career. A Wimbledon junior champion, he achieved a singles career high ranking of 42 on the ATP tour, was a three-time member of the Australian Davis Cup Team and won a career ATP singles title in the 1998 Queen’s Club Championship. Scott also won the Australian Open Mixed Doubles with Samantha Stosur in his final year in 2005.
Draper made a brief return to the tennis circuit when he coached Lleyton Hewitt at the 2007 Australian Open but turned down the chance to work with the former No 1 and the security of coaching, deciding his future lay not on the tennis court but in playing on the professional golf circuit.
An all round sportsman, Scott took to golf to escape his grief after his first wife, Kellie, died of cystic fibrosis nine years ago. He took the skills and mental abilities of one sport and put them to good use in another. During his two years on the Australasian Tour he placed 4th in 2006 NSW PGA Championship, qualified for the 2006 Nationwide Xerox Classic placing 66 in his first ever US event and successfully gained a 2007 Australasian PGA Tour card.
In February 2007 he proved he could cut it in another sport when he won the New South Wales PGA Championships, giving him his first professional title.
Last year, Draper turned his talents to a completely different medium – writing. He has just released his first book, Too Good: The Scott Draper Story; a story of determination, grief and ultimately inspiration.
Scott’s
Ricki-Lee Coulter - Biography
Pop superstar
Can’t Touch It and Love Is All Around proved that Ricki-Lee was a huge force to be reckoned with on the 2007 Australian music charts, while Sunshine, Hell No! and Breathe previously secured her longevity well before that.
Initially born in Auckland, New Zealand, Ricki-Lee moved to Queensland’s Gold Coast when she was only three weeks old, and has lived there to this day.
Raised on the family’s 20 acre property in the heart of the Gold Coast hinterland, Coulter has settled back in her heartland after marrying long-time love Jamie Babbington last September.
Coulter was thrown into the music industry purely by accident. A talented netballer, Coulter played at a state level and was destined for professional netball career until a knee injury and reconstruction ensured she would never play again.
After her mother overheard her singing around the home one day, Coulter started gigging around the Gold Coast and secured lead roles in a number of pro-am musicals.
Her star rose when she was selected to appear in the second series of Australian Idol, coming in 7th place. She signed with independent label, Shock Records and released her self-titled debut album in 2006.
Coulter was an original member of the platinum-selling group The Young Divas, but left in April 2006 to return to her solo career.
In early 2007 Coulter embarked on a two-month international writing trip before launching her follow-up album Brand New Day. Her first single Can’t Touch It debuted at number two on the ARIA Singles Chart and remained in the Top Ten for over two months. Her follow up single, Love Is All Around, debuted at number five only months later.
Ricki-Lee will be releasing her third single on March 15th, Can’t Sing a Different Song, which was written in the heart of London last year. The tune has been debuting across televisions in Europe for over six months now, after being picked up by a major brand for a TVC. Cant Sing A Different Song has been described by industry peers as “cutting edge and like nothing else in Australia at the moment” and has been earmarked for massive success in this country and potentially overseas.
Meanwhile in news abroad, it was confirmed in late 2007 that Ricki-Lee had secured two international record deals, one with the legendary Ministry Of Sound for European territories including the UK, and the other with heavyweight independent label, Pony Canyon in Japan.
