Very few could casually say they’ve met English musician James Blunt and American rapper Kanye West in the one night, but for David Turley, who forms one half of pop band Lovers Electric, it’s just one of his many “by chance” encounters.

The musician may be a relative unknown to those within the state’s music industry, but in places like western Europe, north America and the United Kingdom, he’s had a storied career.

The Christies Beach boy has supported big acts including British dance collective Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark, worked with a producer for critically acclaimed Swedish rock band The Cardigans and had his band’s song Love Can Save Us, – “one of the cheesiest songs we ever wrote” – aired as part of the televised promotional song for Kate Middleton and Prince William’s wedding in Germany.

Now David Turley has brought his work home.

David Turley, from Christies Beach, has played to music revellers worldwide, but he’s now focused on the next stage of his career—sparking homegrown talent from his base in Willunga. Photo: Malvika Hemanth

In 2021, Turley bought a property with his partner in Willunga, a 20-minute drive away from where he grew up. The son of a poet and pianist who never really enjoyed school, describes himself as a “little anti-authoritarian” whose love of the counter-cultural nature of art and music took him overseas to the United Kingdom when he was only 19.

A year later he decided to move there.

Initially, the move was to be with his wife and other half of Lovers Electric, Eden Boucher, who serves as the band’s lead vocalist. Turley says he “roped” her into music but the decision to relocate was the turning point in both their careers.

“Moving to London was like: ‘Okay, we’re gonna do this’,” he says.

Much of the couple’s success was found internationally between 2005 and 2016. Lovers Electric then gained traction back in Australia when the couple signed with Sony Music Australia briefly while on holiday and released their first album Whatever You Want in 2008.

But the experience quickly soured.

“Sony were really dodgy, a lot of sexism but because we were together as a couple we were kind of shielded, but it was pretty unhealthy,” Turley says.

In 2011, Lovers Electric pricked the ears of Universal Music Germany, which led to a deal where they produced their second album Impossible Dreams and lived in Berlin for several years.

“That was great fun, great label. Heaps more ethical than the Sydney label,” Turley says.

A decade or so later, Turley and Boucher were still touring but now had three children with them. Confronted by parenthood and realising playing live gigs “wasn’t a great lifestyle for the kids”, the couple moved to Willunga in 2019.

“We moved to Australia primarily because of family,” Turley says.

“For me, I just love this area (Adelaide’s south), the wineries, the beaches and Eden grew up all around Australia, so she didn’t have a particular place that she really wanted to be but we both agreed, we needed to be somewhere near the beach.”

The couple knew they would have to put a pause on touring when they landed back in South Australia, but were determined their art would continue as they focussed on production, songwriting and helping others start their own careers.

“We had this real sense that mentoring artists could happen anywhere in the world and there’s incredible talent wherever you are, so why not come to a place and just start something rather than being a part of an industry,” he says.

“In Adelaide, there’s no real big labels and publishers. We knew there would be less work, less industry but we knew there wouldn’t be less talent.”

Having set up his Soma Daze studio in Willunga in 2019 and created his own record label, under the same name in 2022, Turley has caught the interest of many budding musicians – including Willunga-based Nukunu woman from the Southern Flinders Ranges Tilly Tjala Thomas, 21, and Maslin Beach-based singer and drummer Jac Marshall, 21.

Turley helped launch the successful careers of musicians such as Britain’s Millie Turner, but his latest project is all about spotlighting regional South Australian talent such as Tilly Tjala Thomas. Photo: Sia Duff

Thomas, who opened for American R&B and soul singer Macy Gray on her Adelaide leg of her Australian tour in July and was crowned 2022 SA Music Awards Best Regional Artist, was first introduced to Turley through her father.

“It was just random connections. I knew a friend of Jared’s, Tilly’s dad and Jared and I got chatting a little bit and we got to know each other a bit more. We became friends and then I started working with Tilly,” Turley says.

“Tilly was one of the first artists I worked with when I got here.”

Thomas says working with Turley, who is the first producer she has worked with and continues to collaborate with today, has been “life-changing.”

“He has helped me as an artist develop my songwriting and recording skills and has given me opportunities to perform and share my music with people. David plays a massive role in my career and is a great role model I look up to,” Thomas says.

Similarly for Marshall, who met Turley through Thomas and who Turley describes as having a “worldly voice” likened to Australian rock frontman Nick Cave, he says Turley has helped him unlock his musical potential.

“It’s been great (working with Turley) to get my ideas out of my head and played back. It’s helped with exposure. To have my songs recorded has been so beneficial to help me push forward with my music,” Marshall says.

Turley has worked on several of Marshall’s tracks including Blinding Grace, which has racked up more than 6000 listens on Spotify.

Turley hopes to help regional artists navigate the “hard bloody industry” that is the music business – partly by helping to build more local industry.

“There’s not really any clear set of rules. The music industry is a pretty overwhelming concept,” he says.

“I’ve never really earned loads of money but just believed in what I’m doing and somehow made it work.”