Ella Hooper books Bellarine date

SINGER-songwriter Ella Hooper will hit the road with a national tour, bringing her powerhouse live show to Ocean Grove in February.

The former Killing Heidi frontwoman announced her summer tour last month alongside the release of her new single Growing Up Is Hard to Do, a high-spirited heartland-rock anthem that takes a playful look at the chaos and lessons that shape adulthood.

The track arrives as Hooper prepares for a run of shows across the country early next year, with Ocean Grove among the key coastal stops. She will headline Americana on the Bellarine at the Ocean Grove Hotel on February 21.

Hooper said she is eager to get the new material in front of live audiences.

“I know it’s going to go off live at the summer tour shows and festivals,” she said.

“The band are hanging to get their teeth into the single live, and I am just charging at the bit for 2026 and to tell more of the story and reflection that Growing Up hints at.”

Recorded between Nashville and Melbourne, the new single channels Bruce Springsteen, with driving beats and a saxophone solo that tips its cap to Clarence Clemons, who before his death in 2011, was a key member of the E Street Band.

The song, Hooper said, comes from a period of self-reflection.

“It finds me in a place where I can almost accept that growing pains never stop… I’m just learning to write different songs about them,” she said.

“It feels playful to me, as life is a little lighter now, internally anyway.

“It literally made me smile when it came to my mind’s ear and also came quickly to life in my Nashville recording sessions.

“[The song] always had a clear idea of what it wanted to be – or rather what I wanted to say.”

Hooper’s career has spanned everything from a number one album and sold-out tours to multiple award wins and hit songs that have left their mark on Australian pop culture.

She was launched into the spotlight in 1999 with Killing Heidi’s debut single Weir. The band’s debut album, Reflector, took home four ARIA Awards in 2000, while Hooper became the first female, and the youngest person ever, to receive APRA’s Songwriter of the Year Award in 2001.

Since branching into a solo career, she has continued to evolve and connect with audiences through rock, folk and Americana-leaning projects, including the critically acclaimed 2023 album Small Town Temple and a sold-out 25th anniversary Reflector tour earlier this year.

For tickets, visit ellahooper.com