Maia Christine Anu (born on 15 March 1970) is an Australian singer-songwriter and actress of Torres Strait Islander origin.

[12] She went on to sing back-up vocals for the Rainmakers, which included Neil Murray, formerly founder-member of the Warumpi Band, for a year.

[5][3] The follow-up, "Monkey and the Turtle", was based on a traditional nursery rhyme from the Torres Strait Islands.

[13] In 1995, Neil Murray won an Australasian Performing Right Association songwriting award for writing "My Island Home".

It was released as a single, with the video winning another ARIA award in 1999, and led to her being cast in Moulin Rouge!.

[5][12] In January 1998, Anu teamed up with Archie Roach, Paul Kelly, Judith Durham, Renee Geyer, Kutcha Edwards and Tiddas and formed Singers for the Red Black and Gold.

[5] She released the hit single "Sunshine on a Rainy Day", for which she won the ARIA Awards for both Best Female Artist and Engineer of the Year.

[26] Also that year she toured a children's show and released an associate album titled Chrissy's Island Family.

The lyric video featured photography from around the world, each photo with a splash of red for HIV/AIDS support and awareness.

She appeared in Dating the Enemy, a 1996 Australian film starring Guy Pearce and Claudia Karvan.

Anu was offered a role in a Broadway production of this musical but had to decline due to commitments in recording her second album.

[38] From October 2004 through 2005, she toured Australia in Intimate and Deadly, a cabaret-style stage show based on her life.

[42] In 2004, she became a judge on Popstars Live, a television quest broadcast on the Seven Network at 6.30 pm on Sunday night in Australia along the lines of Australian Idol.

The program failed to achieve a similar level of success, leading network executives to pressure the judges to offer harsher criticism of the contestants.

Anu refused to offer harsher criticism, saying that she wished to be a role model, leading to her resignation as a judge in April 2004.

[44] In August 2020, Anu was revealed to be "the Goldfish" in the second season of The Masked Singer Australia and was the third contestant unmasked, placing 10th overall.

[61] She revealed in 2012 that she had struggled with weight gain, after suffering from depression, and appeared on the Nine Network's reality show Excess Baggage.

ARIA Awards won by Anu include:[74] The Australian Women in Music Awards is an annual event that celebrates outstanding women in the Australian Music Industry who have made significant and lasting contributions in their chosen field.