Proud Yolŋu man, renowned artist, and 2019 Young Australian of the Year, Danzal Baker OAM, also known as Baker Boy, originates from Milingimbi and Maningrida in North-East Arnhem Land.
Baker Boy has become a pop-culture sensation, earning acclaim such as the National Indigenous Music Awards' Artist of the Year in 2019, 2020, and 2022, and accumulating over 90 million global streams. In 2021, he was honored with the Order of Australia (OAM) medal, and he released his debut album Gela, a reflective journey of identity and personal growth. The album, featuring the ARIA Platinum-certified hit ‘Cool As Hell’, debuted at #3 on the ARIA Albums Chart and garnered five ARIA Awards, including Album of the Year. The album also birthed singles, ‘Meditjin ft JessB’, ‘Ride ft. Yirrmal’ and ‘My Mind ft. G Flip’, with major sync placements in campaigns for Menulog, AFL & NRL Indigenous Round across Fox Sports and Google; and to date, Baker Boy has eight entries in triple j’s Hottest 100. Last year, he dropped the powerful single ‘KING’ featured in Google’s Pixel 9 campaign, and teamed up with Imagine Dragons for a reimagined version of the US group’s single ‘Take Me To The Beach’.
Baker Boy has graced stages at local and overseas festivals including Laneway, Womadelaide, Golden Plains, Splendour In The Grass, Red Bull Music Festival, Now & Forever and Aussie BBQ SummerStage in NYC.
Following a memorable performance at the 2021 AFL Grand Final in Perth before an audience of 60,000, Baker Boy embarked on his largest national headline tour in Australia in 2022, followed by his inaugural North American tour and a performance at the closing ceremony of the Birmingham Commonwealth Games. In May, a portrait of Baker Boy by Matt Adnate took out the 2024 Packing Room Prize in Australia’s most prestigious art awards, the Archibald Prize. Most recently he was selected as 1 of 10 Australian artists to take part in ARIA Collab, a landmark program designed to catapult local talent onto the global stage.
Since Baker Boy’s breakout single ‘Cloud 9’ in 2017, he has captivated the Australian music scene with his infectious optimism, passion for music and dance, and deep cultural roots.