Penny Flanagan

Not to be confused with Peggy Flanagan.

Penny Flanagan
Origin	Sydney, Australia
Genres	Adult contemporary, folk, pop rock
Occupation(s)	Singer-songwriter, musician, author
Years active	1989–present

Penny Flanagan is an Australian singer-songwriter and author.

Career

Music

Penny Flanagan's musical career began in 1989 as one half of the folk-pop duo Club Hoy. The duo released the 1991 album Thursday's Fortune before Flanagan went solo.^{[citation needed]}

The first single from her debut album, Bravado, was "Lap It Up" which hit No. 52 in the Triple J Hottest 100, 1994. The album was produced by Martin Armiger and featured Paul Hester from Crowded House on drums.^{[citation needed]}

She also received significant radio and MTV play for her cover of Prince's "When You Were Mine" from her EP Seven Flights Up which was released on her own independent label, Penny Dreadful Records.^{[citation needed]}

In 1997, she contributed an offbeat cover of Kylie Minogue's "Better the Devil You Know" to the soundtrack of the Australian film Dust Off The Wings and released a music video for the song that aired on MTV and Rage.^{[citation needed]}

Her next release, Light Sleeper, was praised by Australian Rolling Stone Australia magazine as "a mature and intelligent release from a genuine talent, deserving of wider success."^[1] The album was produced by Tim Powles of the Church and featured a duet with Steve Kilbey on the track "Into the Sun". After the release of Light Sleeper she retreated from performing to focus on raising her three children.^{[citation needed]}

Writing

In 1994 Flanagan published Changing The Sky, a children's book. ^[2]

She published the adult novels Sing to Me (1998)^[3] and Surviving Hal (2018).^[4]

Personal life

Her father, John Flanagan, is an Australian author best known for the Ranger's Apprentice novel series.^[5] She is the sister of actress and comedian Kitty Flanagan and since 2010 has toured with Kitty as part of her stand-up comedy shows. She writes original music for and performs songs in Kitty's show. ^[6] She also has a brother, who is a chef and runs a coffee shop in the snowfields of Japan.^[5]

Discography

Albums

List of albums, with selected chart positions

Title	Album details	Peak chart positions
		AUS [7]
Bravado (credited as Penny Flanagan and the New Moon)	Released: October 1994 Label: Mushroom Records (D 31207)	117
Light Sleeper	Released: February 1999 Label: Penny Dreadful Records (PD002)	190

Extended plays

List of EPs, with selected details

Title	Details
Seven Flights Up	Released: 1996 Label: Penny Dreadful Records (Stunt 023)

Charting singles

List of singles, with selected chart positions

Title	Year	Chart positions	Album
		AUS [7]
"Lap it Up"	1994	152	Bravado
"The Sky"	1995	152

References

1. CD Baby: Penny Flanagan: Light Sleeper
2. Flanagan, Penny (1994). Changing the sky. Sydney: Hodder & Stoughton. ISBN 0340599391. OCLC 38341981.
3. Flanagan, Penny (1998). Sing to me. Ringwood, Vic.: Penguin. ISBN 0140274693. OCLC 38833731.
4. Flanagan, Penny (November 2018). Surviving Hal. Glebe NSW. ISBN 9781925780369. OCLC 1083522583.
5. Showbiz a family affair for Flanagan | Illawarra Mercury 26 June 2012. Retrieved 13 June 2013
6. Purrfect sister act | Newcastle Herald 19 April 2012. Retrieved 12 June 2013
7. "Penny Flanagan chart history, received from ARIA in May 2024". ARIA. Retrieved 5 July 2024 – via Imgur.com. N.B. The High Point number in the NAT column represents the release's peak on the national chart.