Meet Hester Fraser – Singer-Songwriter – Goldheist

Hester Fraser was just five years old when she started learning the piano. Since then, she’s studied at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, performed nationwide, and produces a new, original song on a monthly basis. Discover how she continues to break the music industry mould as Goldheist from her home in Tamworth, NSW.

Let’s start at the beginning – what’s your earliest memory of music?

There’s a video of me, freshly born, over my grandmother’s shoulder, and we’re swaying to the Merry Widow Waltz. She lived in this amazing house down near Gloucester and I remember she had a record player, a CD player and hundreds of CDs. Music was always playing at my grandmother’s house, she even went to sleep with ABC radio playing next to her. The only time she switched it off was when jazz hour came on, she hated jazz hour.

How old were you when you started learning piano? 

I was five years old. By the time I was old enough to be annoyed by practising, it was already a part of me – I’m so grateful to my parents for that, for making piano intrinsic to my life. As for my voice, I’ve had a lot of formal choral training, and my sister is a mezzo-soprano, so she obviously knows how the voice works in a really meaningful and scientific way. We used to sing and play a lot together growing up, and she still pushes me to try new things vocally today. She’s always there when I need guidance.

Talk to me about your career to date – where did you study music and can you remember your first gig? 

I actually did composition for my HSC music, which was pretty unusual at the time, and after school I was very lucky to be accepted into the Sydney Conservatorium of Music. While there, I got my first job at a piano bar in the Menzies Hotel – I sang there a couple of nights a week the whole time I was studying. When it eventually closed down it put a bit of a bomb under me, so I started looking for other opportunities and ended up having this really epic mentoring session with a woman who ran a talent agency. She said to me: “You have to work out who you are as an artist, and you have to fully become that artist – even when you go to the supermarket.” I really took that on board and loved the permission she gave me that day to be that extra version of myself all the time.

Is that when your iconic floral crowns came in? 

That’s it – I quickly realised I needed something to differentiate me from every other blonde out there. I also really love dressing up, I’m a little kid at heart, so combining the floral crowns with vintage clothing and different styles – whether it’s a cute 60s shift dress or basically anything covered in sequins – was perfect for me. It’s gotten to the point now where I forget I even have flowers in my hair.

Can you tell us the story behind your first release, Dust? 

It was 2013, the drought had hit regional NSW and there was a big campaign drive in the city to support farmers – my dad being one of them. He’d recently returned to farming and had 800 head of cattle to feed daily by hand. So I wrote this song called Dust, it was for my dad, but it was also in recognition of all farmers who had been forgotten. That song became my first proper release and led me to Tamworth. Even though I’m not a country music artist, I wanted to connect with country people so I registered to busk at the Tamworth Country Music Festival. There I was, set up on Peel Street with my piano in a sea of guitars, and I played for hours. I felt so welcome there. I’ve busked somewhere every year since – it’s become an important part of my practice and helps me to reach new people in a really organic, special way.

How did you end up moving to Tamworth? 

While busking one day, Andrew Clermont offered me a gig at Nowendoc. I said yes please! That’s where I met my now-husband, a fellow musician who I have the great privilege of working with on a number of projects – including my original music, as well as a monthly jazz night we host together. We’re very lucky to have a mutual love of music. This year I’ve also set myself a project to release a new song every month. It’s not really the way you’re meant to do it according to the industry, Facebook and TikTok and all those things, but I just want to make music and put it into the world. I’m in this beautiful, privileged position where I can record my own material with the support of my husband and a cohort of other musicians – it’s very liberating to have that kind of creative practice.

What would you say to musicians who are starting out and want to self-produce like you?  

I’d say do it – create your own world and your own opportunities. Build your own community and don’t get too hung up on what’s happening in the industry. I’m open to all things, but I’m also not going to sit around and wait for the industry to throw me to the heavens. Make the song, sing the song, share the song. If you want to put a gig on, put a gig on. That’s what I do! If I feel like performing, I’ll do it. All I want is for people to experience a connection through the stories I tell in my music, to find something in the songs that speaks to them or their experience.

And finally, where did the name Goldheist come from? 

When I first started doing original music, I formed a group with my sister and a friend and we were all blonde – we did beautiful, three-part harmony stuff. We were called The Gold Project. We eventually went our separate ways, but I still really loved the ethos and the artwork around what we had created. So I started brainstorming around the word ‘gold’ and ended up with Goldheist – inspired by my name Hester. I love that it’s a little bit badass, it can work for a solo performer or with a band, and because I do all my own management, it’s wonderful to have an artist name – Goldheist has ultimately become my alter ego and lets me wear floral crowns every day, even to the supermarket.

Get to know Goldheist

Hester Fraser (aka Goldheist) creates remarkable, soul-stirring music on a daily basis from her home studio in Tamworth. In the words of Triple J Unearthed, we’re talking serious “Kate Bush vibes with enormous tranquillity and hope buried deep inside”. To track her down at a gig, check her out online pronto.

Website | Instagram | Photography Tony Grant

Steph Wanless

Editorial Director. Grammar-obsessed, Kate Bush impressionist, fuelled by black coffee, British comedy and the fine art of the messy bun.