Adam Fitzgerald, (September 4, 1986 in Heathcote, New South Wales, Australia)is a singer songwriter currently residing in Melbourne.

Early Life

Adam Fitzgerald was born the third child of Gregory and Elizabeth Fitzgerald. With elder siblings,
Lauren and Paul Fitzgerald, he grew up in a tight knit outer suburb of the Sutherland Shire, colloquially known to its residents as The Shire. As a very young child he displayed compulsive behaviours, occasionally disturbing his everyday life with compulsions to stop to touch the ground, or burn his fingers on hot radiators.

In preschool, Fitzgerald was aloof. Not lacking in social skills, his teachers commented that he seemed to be uninterested in interacting with other children as opposed to unable, and spent his first year of social interaction in contented isolation.

As he progressed into primary school, there was a great and sudden change in Fitzgerald's behaviour. The disconnected introvert of the past year had evaoprated and he began school as a pint sized socialite surrounding himself with a large and diverse group of friends.

Academically however, Fitzgerald still appeared disconnected. His parents worried when he refused to read, resolutely steering clear of everything from Analogue clocks to the introductory books his peers were relishing. Their fears were aleviated, however, in grade five when once again Fitzgerald displayed an unexplained reversal of his behaviour, reading the entire Lord of the Rings triology of his own accord and beginning a fleeting love affair with books.

Schooling

Fitzgerald started high school in 1999, at St John Bosco College, the local private school that both his older brother and sister had attended. Ending what had become a family tradition of Fitzgerald's, he experienced all the comparisons that younger siblings resent. But despite the not always flattering comparisons Fitzgerald built a group of close friends around himself while remainging able to relate to diverse groups of people and was popular in both his own year level and those above him. He still remained unacademically applied and attended classes sporadically, only showing up to music and drama classes with any sort of regularity.

It was here at Bosco College that Fitzgerald learned guitar and formed some of the relationships that would later have such a big influence on his music. He had made friends with a group of people with very strong musical tastes and was obviously influenced by their preferences into developing his own sense of style. However despite the strong networks he had built in The Shire, Fitzgerald was becoming restless for a change and when his close friend, singer and dancer Emma Paul applied to Newton School of the Performing Arts, he found the change he was looking for.

After applying late, Fitzgerald was accepted into Newtown School of the Performing Arts in the summer holidays between year ten and year eleven. He had kept his application secret and so didn't inform his friends of the change until they questioned his absence on the first day back.

Newtown was a very different school to Boscoe, being located in a trendy fringe suburb of the Sydney CBD the school attracted a far more diverse range of students. Sitting on the steps on his first day Fitzgerald witnessed two male students kissing and despite his best attempts showed his shock clearly on his face. Despite the more relaxed atmosphere however, Fitzgerald still attracted the resentment of the school administration, headed by a principal who believed vehemently in public education. Her vigorous dislike of private school children was only exaggerated by the claims of the PTA that she was senile and a recent failed attempt to have her fired.

Fitzgerald and his new friend Aaron Martin spent most of their HSC evading the principal by staying out of class and preferably off school grounds. And while continuing to develop musically and socially, Fitzgerald still languished academically, even in the performing arts school mostly uninterested in the classes taught.

Post School

Unsure of direction after High School, Fitzgerald entertained several ideas, including an overseas jaunt or a move to Melbourne to pursue hie musical career. Determined not to waste his time beginning a University degree Fitzgerald first moved out of home into a house in Engadine with a lesbain snake charmer. The first of his friends to move, it soon became evident that one suburb over was not enough to quash a growing sense of restlessness and he began saving for a longer distance relocation to Melbourne.

While searching for jobs in Melbourne on the Internet he came across a hospitality traineeship at Crown Casino, the newly developed casino in the heart of the city. The traineeship offered a guarenteed year of employment and was a highly regarded five star venue. He applied that night and was soon asked to fly down for an Interview.

After flying down to Melbourne, Fitzgerald found himself with a day to spend in a strange city. With no money in his wallet, and too proud to ask from his parents he spent the hours before his interview wandering the grid.

In the interview he shined, well versed by now in how to give people what they wanted, Fitzgerald was offered the job on the spot and flew back to Sydney with a new life already planned.

Melbourne

Landing in Melbourne in January of 2006, Fitzgerald initially moved in with a friend of his sisters. At Crown he was inducted into a trainee group and began work almost immeadiately. He quickly bonded with several of those in his group with the majority having recently moved to Melbourne from rural and interstate areas as well.

Initially he played a regular Sunday night cover gig in a CBD pub, however the casino hours which rotated around the 24 hour clock soon prevented him from playing regularly.

Through out the year he moved from his initial house in Ascot Vale to trendy South Yarra and then to leafy Parkville. In this time he managed to record his first demo under the name Greyhound Lane, featuring an older track Jane Doa, which placed eleventh in the prestiguous Australia Songwriting Contest and three new songs that featured the vocals of Emma Paul. While receiving some interest from independent labels, Fitzgerald concluded that he would need to release an EP and gig more before a label would be ready to back him.

After finishing his traineeship, Fitzgerald continued on at Sports Bar, one of the busiest bars at the Casino. He moved from Parkville to Abbotsford started playing at some of the live music institutions of Melbourne including Manchester Lane and Revolver.

He has applied to Victorian College of the Arts and JMC Academy for music performance and is currently working on his first EP.

External Links

<a href="www.myspace.com/greyhoundlane">Greyhound Lane</a>