Angus & Julia Stone are an Australian brother-sister duo from Newport on the Northern Beaches of Sydney. Forming in 2005, their parents are both musical and played as a folk duo before Angus and Julia were born.[1] At very young ages, their father introduced them to music and encouraged them to join the school band. Julia played the trumpet, Angus the trombone and their older sister, Catherine, the saxophone.[2] They also learned many songs from their father's cover band "Backbeat" during band rehearsals in the family's garage.[2]

The band has released six EPs, a compilation and two albums since they began recording together in 2005.[3] Their debut EP Chocolates and Cigarettes was released August 2006. In February 2007 their second EP Heart Full of Wine was released. Both EP's were released and distributed through EMI Music in Australia and as a double-EP set by independent label, Independiente Records in the UK.[4]

On 8 September 2007, their debut album A Book Like This was released through EMI Music Australia and has achieved platinum plus (100,000)[5] with a March 2008 release in UK/Europe through Flock Music.[4][6][7] It was later released in the USA through Nettwerk on 3 March 2009 with an alternative track listing.

In between the release of "A Book LIke This" in the United States, Angus released his first solo album under the moniker, Lady of the Sunshine[8] with the album entitled "Smoking Gun" to critical acclaim in March 2009.[9] It was later released on Flock Music on 6 April 2009 and then released on U.S. iTunes on 8 April 2009.[10][11]

The sophomore self-produced album Down the Way saw a simultaneous, worldwide release in March 2010. As travelling has been an integral part of the Stones' musical story, they opted to record in a number of diverse locations around the globe – an old sawmill on the river banks of Fowey, Cornwall, a studio in Brooklyn, a water tank in Coolangatta, Queensland and in Queens, New York.[12][13]

The album debuted at number 1 in their native country and is now triple platinum.[14] It was the highest-selling album by an Australian artist in 2010.[5] The album also hit number 4 on iTunes France after the duo performed it on the TV show Taratata[15] and has since reached platinum status through their record company Discograph.[16] The duo won ARIA Album of the Year and ARIA Single of the Year at the 2010 Australian Record Industry Awards.[5] They also received number 1 position in the Triple J Hottest 100 for Big Jet Plane in 2011.[17]

In 2010 Julia released her debut solo album The Memory Machine, which was received positively in a review from The Sydney Morning Herald.[18]

The band have sold out gigs all around the world including three sold-out shows at Enmore Theatre in Sydney in October 2010, a sold-out Shepherds Bush Empire in London and five sold-out Le Trianon shows in Paris.[19][20][21] They returned to Europe for the summer festivals in July 2011.[22