Ollie McGill
Oliver James McGill (born 2 November 1981) is an Australian musician who is the keyboard player and backing vocalist for The Cat Empire. He composed "Dumb Ways to Die" for Metro Trains Melbourne. McGill is also a member of several other bands, including The Genie (a fusion band), The Conglomerate (a modern jazz quartet), Peaking Duck, Outlier, The Future, 77, and Past Ollie's Bedtime.
Also recorded as Oliver McGill · Oliver James McGill
Ollie McGill

Roman Boldyrev · CC BY-SA 4.0
- Birth Name
- Oliver James McGill
- Born
- 2 November 1981
- Birthplace
- Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
- Occupation
- Musician, producer
- Full name
- Oliver James McGill.
- Nationality
- Australia
- Fields
- ska
- Education
- Wesley College
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wikidata · Q7088352 · wikipedia · Ollie McGill
In this article
Key facts
Key facts
• Birth Name — Oliver James McGill • Born — 2 November 1981 • Birthplace — Melbourne, Victoria, Australia • Genre — Ska, jazz, Latin, reggae, alternative rock • Occupation — Musician, producer • Instrument — Piano, keyboards, recorder, tubular bells, vocals, melodica • Years Active — 1999–present • Associated Acts — Jazz Cat, The Cat Empire, The Conglomerate
Biography
Biography
Ollie McGill attended Wesley College, Melbourne, Australia. In 1999 McGill on piano was a member of Jazz Cats, a nine-piece jazz group, which issued a four-track extended play, The Jazz Cat. Late that year McGill on keyboards, Ryan Monro on double bass and Felix Riebl on percussion and vocals, founded a split-off group, The Cat Empire. During 2004 McGill and Harry Angus (also of The Cat Empire) on trumpet and lead vocals, Jules Pascoe on bass guitar, and Harry Shaw-Reynolds on drums formed an improvisational jazz quartet, The Conglomerate. In September 2005 McGill was a founder of a four-piece jazz ensemble, Peaking Duck, with Munro (also in The Cat Empire) on bass guitar, Dave Ades on saxophone and James Hauptmann on drums. In November 2012 he composed the song, "Dumb Ways to Die", for Metro Trains Melbourne, via agency McCann Melbourne. The song reached the top 10 of the iTunes charts within 24 hours, while the video went viral, achieving over 6 million views in just three days. June 2017 Ollie Began his side project with Georgie Chorley, and the Band HipMama was created. Inspired by New Orleans, Jazz, and Neo Soul the debut EP will be released in November 2022. McGill also works as a producer, having produced two EPs for ILUKA (Nikki Thorburn), and a number of tracks for Phoebe Eve.
Life and career
Dated record
Life and career
The full dated record · 1 entries
1981
Ollie McGill born at Melbourne.
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Licensing
Text attribution
Part of the biographical narrative on this page reuses licensed material. Its origin, revision and licence are recorded here.
The biographical narrative on this page is based on the Wikipedia article Ollie McGill, revision 1358192306 (EN edition), by its contributors. VALÉORINE has edited that text and built its own documentary record around it. The reused material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0, and this page's reuse of it is offered under the same licence. Everything else on this page — the chronology, the holdings, the evidence, the plates and the connections — is VALÉORINE's own record. Sources and licences.
Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.Jazz Cat. The Jazz Cat. 1999.
- 2.Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC). The Cat Empire. rage. 7 August 2010.
- 3.National Library of Australia. The Cat Empire. Music Australia. 3 April 2007.
- 4.Jazz Australia. The Conglomerate Go to the Beach. 12 March 2006.
- 5.Jazz Victoria. Transitions Series. Melbourne Jazz Co-operative.
- 6.Dumas, Daisy. Metro's tongue-in-cheek transport safety animated video goes viral on social media. The Age. 19 November 2012.
- 7.Moses, Asher. Safety video goes viral, not bad for a dumb idea. The Sydney Morning Herald. Fairfax Media Publications Pty Limited. 2. 30 November 2012. 0312-6315.
- 8.Ollie, McGill. Ollie McGill, Music Maker.
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The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 31 August 2026.
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