It's hard to believe that: A. It's nearly 20 years since Canberra's Hayley Jensen appeared on Australian Idol and B. She is turning 40 next year.
The ever-youthful Jensen will be performing at the Royal Hotel in Queanbeyan on Sunday, the final stop on her tour celebrating 18 years of music, from Idol to her new career in country music.
She has just scored her second Golden Guitar nomination for Female Artist of the Year, the winner announced at the Country Music Festival in Tamworth in January.
Jensen's career took off when she appeared in the second series of Australian Idol in 2004.
It was a stand-out year for Idol, which produced stars including Anthony Callea, Casey Donovan, Em Rusciano, Ricki-Lee Coulter, Amali Ward and, of course, Our Hayley. The finale was held on the steps of the Sydney Opera House in front of thousands of screaming fans as helicopters buzzed over head. It was a lot.
"It was just absolutely crazy," Jensen said.
"I just remember how young we were. None of us knew what we were getting ourselves into or how crazy it would all become."
Jensen's gig is a family-friendly, all-ages one starting at 2pm Sunday at the Royal Hotel in Queanbeyan. She will be performing songs across her career, many requested by her fans.
"I'm calling it my little musical journey through time," she said, with a laugh.
Jensen says she sees Casey Donovan the most from the Idol alumni (Donovan won the 2004 crown; Jensen finished fourth).
"We both sang at the Australia Day concert at the Sydney Opera House this year on ABC, which was pretty cool to just see her. The last time we were at the Opera House together was the Australian Idol grand final," she said.
"So it was lovely to catch up with her again. I do see Casey most frequently because she lives in Sydney too. I message every now and then with Anthony. I bumped into Ricki-Lee a couple of years ago here in Sydney.
"Really, I'm just so proud of everyone and how they have gone on to do such great things."
Hayley is now a country music star, getting her second consecutive Golden Guitar nomination for Female Artist of the Year.
"It's been such a huge year of festivals and so much happening. It just feels like my career is going from strength to strength," she said.
"Next year is all booked up for at least the first half of the year and into the second half as well, with a whole bunch of more festivals. I've been writing new music and decided to get that out next year as well."
And she is always happy to return to the Canberra region to perform.
"Doing the hometown shows is always really, really special," she said.
"I guess where I go these days, a lot of people are newer fans and have just known me since I've been doing the country music scene. But when I come home, it's people who've been following my career from the very beginning and school friends and family friends and people who've been on the journey since the start."
- To win a family pass to Hayley Jensen's show at the Royal Hotel in Queanbeyan on Sunday at 2pm, be the 10th person to email megan.doherty@canberratimes.com.au
