In the ye’ old year of 2000, Vanessa Amorosi took to the stage at the closing ceremony of the Sydney Olympics to deliver a performance that would define the games.
Venessa’s performance of Absolutely Everybody would become the unofficial anthem for the games and launch the then 19-year-old into international stardom.
So, over 20 years later what is the Australian star up to now?
WATCH BELOW: Vanessa Amorosi performs ‘Absolutely Everybody’ at 2000 NYE
Vanessa certainly hasn’t been sitting on her laurels since launching her career in 1999.
The 41-year-old has seven albums under her belt, has been nominated for countless ARIA awards and has performed at festivals and events across the world.
But, as with any career, it hasn’t been all smooth sailing.

Just two years after releasing her first album The Power in 2000, Vanessa was asked to perform at a festival in Europe and for the first time in her career she had a full diva moment.
“I did this massive festival in Europe, with thousands of people in the audience and every act was miming. I was chucking tantrums big time backstage, because I wanted to sing live,” Vanessa said in a 2002 interview.
“It’s scary if you don’t know how to mime your own songs properly. I was petrified.”
Vanessa’s dummy spit ended up being successful. Organisers were forced to turn her mic on and change the backing track. But that didn’t stop the young star from getting a tongue lashing.
“I got into trouble because of what I did,” she explained. “I told them, ‘I don’t want this career, if you don’t want me to sing and entertain. I don’t ever want to do that sort of show again’.”

It would become a defining moment for Vanessa who decided from then on she wanted to be taken seriously.
“Back when I started, it was about the image and what you looked like and in the Shine video, I wore a 20 cent pair of pants, I refused to take them off,” she said, reflecting on her career more recently.
“I really wanted to be known as a singer songwriter and I was very serious about that.”
In the 2000s UK and European record producers were insisting Vanessa fit their idea of a pop star but the country girl had no interest in doing that.
Even at 21, Vanessa knew she would only do things her way.
“My face has changed, and my clothing has changed, but I haven’t noticed it much, because I’ve been myself all the way through,” she said in 2002.

In 2009 Vanessa’s career was still skyrocketing. Her album Hazardous reached platinum sales and her single, This is Who I Am debuted at number one on the ARIA singles chart.
That year she moved to LA and recorded a duet with superstar Mary J Blige. It was also the year she met Dave Stewart from the Eurythmics, this was a turning point in her life as the singer was struggling to align her personal beliefs with her career.
“I felt I had to be very formulated as a songwriter because I was known for a certain type of music. I was always taught to stay in my lane,” she said.
“[Dave] told me to follow my heart, to write gospel songs if that’s what I wanted to do, and take the consequences if it didn’t work out.”

Five years later and still living in LA, Vanessa met martial artist Rod Busby. It was love at first sight.
“I fell in love the minute I met him. Our first conversation lasted for two hours. Within three months, we got engaged,” she recalls.
Though Vanessa never planned on getting married, the two wed at the Kill Bill church in California on Halloween 2017. The year before Vanessa had given birth to their son Killian.
Over the next few years Vanessa settled into life as a mum and running a gym with Rod. But in 2019 her personal life spilled into the public when she took her mother to court.

Vanessa alleged her mother, Joyleen Robinson, misused Vanessa’s earnings from her early career. Joyleen set up multiple trusts in Vanessa’s name but Vanessa alleges she could not access these funds. The case is still ongoing.
Although heartbreaking, Vanessa didn’t let the battle slow her down. In 2019 she released her first album in over a decade Back to Love, which she followed up with a collection of back catalogue songs The Blacklist Collection in 2020.
Then, this year, she finally followed Dave Stewart’s advice and released a gospel album called City of Angels. The closing track on the album is for her now six-year-old son Killian, however he’s not yet convinced of her superstar status.
“Whenever I play him things, he’s too busy banging on guitars and making his own racket,” she told The Daily Telegraph.
“He’s definitely got that music gene but he’s still too young to get what I do.”
WATCH BELOW: Walkaround with Vanessa Amorosi