Xavier Rudd (born 29 May 1978) is an Australian singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. Several of Rudd’s songs incorporate socially conscious themes, such as spirituality, humanity, environmentalism and the rights of Indigenous Australians.
Xavier Rudd grew up in Jan Juc,[1] near Torquay, Victoria.[2] He attended St Joseph’s College, Geelong.[3] His maternal grandfather was Dutch, born in Tilburg, a town in the Netherlands, before migrating to Australia.[4] One of his grandmothers was from an Irish potato-growing family and grew up in Colac, Victoria.[5] Rudd claims he has Aboriginal, Irish and Scottish heritage,[2][6] furthermore mentioning having Wurundjeri ancestry,[7] and that one of his great grandmothers was an Aboriginal Australian, and her child (Rudd’s paternal grandmother) was taken away from her.[8]
Rudd showed a keen interest in music growing up in a family of seven children.[9][10] While primary school-aged, Rudd used his mother’s vacuum cleaner as a makeshift didgeridoo and he began playing his brother’s guitar.[11] He also played saxophone and clarinet as a child.[12][13]
As a child, Xavier Rudd sold recycled wood through his own furniture business.[14] Immediately after finishing school, Rudd traveled to Fiji. He lived in villages around the country for nine months, returning to Australia at age 19.[9]
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