It takes a special set of circumstances to create a knockout soul singer. It requires near impossible circumstances to uncover one. Ms Murphy – the fiery and heartbreaking stage persona of Karen Andrews – knows firsthand what those circumstances entail.From her childhood kicking around a housing commission outside Sydney to the flashbulbs of primetime on The Voice, it’s been a long and arduous road to her introduction to the nation. It’s clear in the celebratory brass tones of Ms Murphy’s debut single, ‘Ritual Union,’ and in the song’s first vocal notes, deep as a river yet calling to the heavens.

Ms Murphy’s need to make a connection, to the song and to her audience, saw her pushed to final stages of the popular multi-platform competition The Voice in 2013. It was an unlikely feat given that her life experience apes that of most emerging singers and even more unlikely given her natural shyness. That’s where the Ms Murphy moniker comes in. Bestowed upon her in the small recreational group she formed with fellow church players, the persona is an outlet for everything kept inside, a way to explain where she has come from and a big-voiced charge at where she’s heading.