Xavier Rudd

Xavier Rudd (born 29 May 1978) is an Australian singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. Several of Rudd's songs incorporate socially conscious themes, such as spirituality, humanity, environmentalism and the rights of Indigenous Australians.

Nanna, the 2015 album Rudd released in collaboration with the United Nations, champions cultural understanding and condemns racism and intolerance.[39] To record the album, Rudd and the United Nations worked with producer Errol Brown. In an interview published in The Aspen Times, Rudd shared that Nanna had given him a chance to focus on his vocal performance. He said that he had never really liked his voice before and vocals were often little more than an afterthought, but by 2016 was embracing it.

The song Shame on Nanna was inspired by conversations about racism surrounding AFL player Adam Goodes, an Aboriginal football player who was repeatedly booed at matches. Rudd had previously declared his support for Goodes addressing the AFL Players' Association 2014 Season Launch. At the time of writing the song Creancient for the album, Rudd was working with a Shaman in Peru. He participated in several ceremonies, including one that involved vomiting and experiencing hallucinations and another involving mud bathing. Rudd described the song as something that flowed out of him over a week while he felt like he was outside of himself, looking at his ego from a distance.

In late 2015, Rudd was forced to cut his North American tour for Nanna short to have disc replacement and fusion surgery in his lower back, having experienced chronic pain over several months.

In November 2015, Rudd's song "Let Me Be" featured in an Australian TV commercial promoting KFC, a large fast food restaurant chain specialising in fried chicken. Many fans used social media to complain about the inclusion of the song on the commercial. PETA responded that they hoped that Rudd had not approved the use of his music for the advertising.