Archibald William Roach (born January 8, 1956 in Mooroopna, Victoria) is an Australian singer-songwriter and Aboriginal activist. Removed from his family as a child by government agencies, and placed into an orphanage, his love of music originated from his foster family who taught him guitar and piano. Forming his first band, The Altogethers with his wife and a group of Indigenous Australians, Roach performed the seminal “Took the Children Away” on a community radio station in 1998, accepting an invitation by Australian singer Paul Kelly to perform it during his 1989 tour. With Kelly’s encouragement, Roach released his debut studio album Charcoal Lane, in May, 1990, resulting in two ARIA Awards for Best New Talent and Best Indigenous Release, a gold certification and recognition by Rolling Stone magazine as one of the top 50 albums of the year. Roach followed this with Jamu Dreaming, released in May 1993, and in 1995, embarked on a world tour, before returning to tour Australia with Tracy Chapman in 1996. Winning an ARIA award for Best Indigenous Release for “Hold On Tight” in 1997, his album Looking for Butter Boy, released in October 1997 won the same award the following year, as well as Best Adult Contemporary Album.
After Roach’s fourth studio album Sensual Being was released in July 2002, he pursued other creative opportunities, collaborating with Dutch Australian director Rolf de Heer on The Tracker (film), and the Australian Art Orchestra (AAO) and Paul Grabowsky on Ruby’s Story (concert), debuting at the Sydney Opera House in June 2004. A second collaboration: Kura Tungar – Songs from the River (concert) premiered at the Melbourne International Arts Festival in October that year. Roach’s fifth album Journey, released in October 2007, was recorded and released as a companion album to Liyarn Ngarn (documentary). After the death of his wife in 2010, Roach released the poignant and reflective Into the Bloodstream in October 2012, performing it a year later, due to ill health. After a successful 25th anniversary re-release and tour of Charcoal Lane in 2015, Roach’s next album Let Love Rule appeared on November 2016 and in 2018 was invited to perform at the Commonwealth Games closing ceremony in Queensland, releasing his critically acclaimed memoir Tell Me Why and companion album Tell Me Why: The Story of My Life and My Music on November 1, 2019, peaking at number 7 on the ARIA charts, winning Roach Best Adult Contemporary Album and Best Male Artist in 2020. In 2022, Roach released anthology My Songs: 1989-2021, before his death on July 2022, aged 66.
