The Battlers Bio

The Battlers consist of four members Shaun Minnick, Kirsten McAlister who are brother and sister and Michael and Bill Verde who are brothers and also 1st Cousins to Shaun and Kirsten.  They grew up very close always together and are all best mates.

Shaun and Kirsten are of American Indian descent on their fathers side who is from Oklahoma and a descendant of the great Will Rogers.  Michael and Bill are descendants of the Italian Composer Guiseppe Verde.  They all love to sing and entertain, Shaun and Michael are the pranksters of the group and are always ready for a joke and Bill and Kirsten try to keep them in line and have a hard job at that.

All the group were born in Sydney but the call of the country was too great and the families moved to Bimbi in the South west slopes of New South Wales near Grenfell, they continued their schooling at Quandialla Central School and still live in this area with their families.

The family love to sing and always sat around at family gatherings singing & joking around, so the group had a very good grounding.

Approximately 5 months ago in March Shaun decided to have a go at a local talent quest and the overwhelming response stirred Shaun on the bug bit.  His enthusiasm transmitted to Bill and Michael and The Battlers were born.  They were doing a little singing around the area and met Patti McKinnon who has been a great help to the boys.  She introduced them to some wonderful people and has taken them under her wing.  They did a show in Cooma with Patti and they met Rod Coleman, a great bloke and a huge help to the group.  By this time the Boys had talked Kirsten into joining them and its now all systems go.

The name The Battlers derives from the fact that they consider themselves country and country people are great battlers, drought, flood, lost crops etc.

The group look forward to singing and entertaining and they enjoy meeting people and love the adrenaline rush they get from performing for an enthusiastic and fun loving crowd.

They do a lot of charity work and the group and love it.  $2 from the sale of each CD goes to the Breast Cancer Foundation, a Charity very close to their hearts as their grandmother and Bill and Michael's mum both suffered from Breast Cancer.

They also have helped the Sydney Children's Hospital at Randwick as Shaun and Kirsten's sister Brenna Allen does charity work raising funds for the hospital through the Social Club at Big W Young.

The group is a cover group not a band and although they supply their own backing music they love the thrill of working with a live band.

They hope to produce another CD in a couple of weeks at Flying Fox Studios in Wagga Wagga with Grant Luhra, another great talent who has been a huge help to the group, and are hoping to get the same great response as their current CD.

Also the group is supporting 2YYY radio of Young who are going through a tough time staying on air.  They are doing some on and off air work for them and hope that they can be of assistance in keeping the station alive.

Awards
2008 ACRA Best Collaboration Duo or Group

To contact The Battlers email Curt Minnick the groups Manager at csminnick@hotmail.com or phone 02 6347 1293

Curt Minnick
The Battlers 

Shaun Minnick, Kirsten McAlister
Michael and Bill Verde

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