Chelsea Wilson is a Melbourne-based vocalist, songwriter, broadcaster and DJ from Australia. She works across soul, funk, disco, R&B and jazz, and her background combines performance, radio and event curation.

Background and training

Wilson grows up listening to rhythm and blues through her father’s record collection. She later develops a strong interest in jazz at 15, with Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday and Sarah Vaughan among the singers who shape her decision to become a vocalist. She studies music at the Queensland Conservatorium of Music.

Performance career

After completing her degree, Wilson works overseas in a series of international residency contracts. These take her to Japan, Indonesia, Thailand, the UAE, the USA and the Caribbean, where she performs more than 280 shows a year. After moving to Melbourne, she compiles these experiences into her debut EP, Bitterness.

She also performs her solo cabaret show I Hope You’ll Be Very Unhappy Without Me – The Cabaret at the opening night of the Melbourne Cabaret Festival, and appears in Heart of A Woman – A Tribute to Etta James during the Adelaide Fringe Festival.

Radio, DJ work and curation

Wilson takes up the role of Music and Interviews Manager at Melbourne station PBS FM. She also produces and presents the weekly jazz programme Jazz Got Soul on PBS 106.7FM.

As a DJ, she appears at events including PBS FM’s Soul A Go Go, the National Gallery of Victoria’s Friday night Masterpiece series and the Melbourne Recital Centre Garden Party. She also works as an MC at events including the Melbourne International Jazz Festival, Stonnington Jazz Festival and Wangaratta Festival of Jazz and Blues.

Women of Soul and other activity

Wilson curates the sell-out Women of Soul performance series, featuring artists such as Kylie Auldist, Michelle Martinez, Christina Arnold and Clairy Browne. She also speaks on music industry panels at events including Face the Music, I Manage My Music, Australasian World Music Expo, BIGSOUND, APRA|AMCOS member events and the Multicultural Arts Victoria Emerge Festival.

Other work

She writes music reviews on her blog and is also described as a vinyl collector and dance-floor enthusiast.