Celebrating International Day of People with Disability with Taree's Nathan Moore

Today marks International Day of People with Disability and what better way to celebrate than to commemorate Taree's National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) participant, Nathan Moore, who has just released his first country music single covering Ricky Van Shelton's song, 'I'll Leave This World Loving You".

It's a song close to his nan's heart. Nathan, a huge country music fan and a promising up and coming singer/songwriter, said he remembers his family listening to Ricky regularly on his nan's portable CD player while they all sat around her dinner table.

"The song is so special to us it was played at my pop's funeral so it means a lot to me to be able to sing it and record it for my nan and to share it with the world,

The 21-year-old who has autism and anxiety, said when he first played it to his nan and mum they both had tears in their eyes. "It was a really special moment for us."

The idea to record the song came about after Nathan performed it as part of a live streamed Dundaloo Support Services concert, celebrating International Day of People with Disability last year.

The concert was a virtual concert due to COVID restrictions. Nathan was accompanied by his Dundaloo support worker and musician, Matt Zarb who played the guitar.

"It was just incredible. We had such a great reaction. It was huge," Nathan said.

"People from everywhere were messaging us, saying how much they loved it and they didn't realise how talented I was - all really positive stuff."

After the concert Matt and Nathan got into the studio to record the song with the help of local producer and musician, Jake Davey.

Jake is a young producer in Taree and also a country music artist himself, having recently had two number one iTunes country music tracks.

"I've known him for years and I asked him if he would help produce Nathan's single and being the great guy he is, he said yes," Matt said.

"What a fantastic thing it was to see Nathan experience his first time in a professional studio singing his heart out. It all went down like butter and we knew we had a good recording," Matt said.

Anthony Walmsely, who is Matt's friend and session guitar player from Tamworth, also played electric guitar in the record.

Anthony has played guitar for countless national and international artists so it was quite an honour to have him on this track, Matt said.

"We're all so proud of Nathan and the finished track. It's awesome, and we can't wait to see where it goes," he said.

Nathan added initially he was using his NDIS funding to learn life skills so one day, in the years ahead, he could move into his own home.

However, once he and Matt got talking, he soon realised he could use it for a whole lot more to support him further, particularly with his career goals.

Already employed one day a week at 104.7FM 2BOB Radio with his own program, Nathan said Matt is now supporting him to embark on his own karaoke business where he will potentially get paid to entertain.

His radio program, 'The Nathan Moore Show' has been shortlisted for the SYN Media's Nation Project award two years in a row.

"I think it's a great idea. I'd love to work with disability providers and in aged care facilities to entertain people so they could all have fun participating in karaoke. I think a lot of people would get a real kick out of it," Nathan said.

"With the NDIS, as your life progresses, all these little pieces/things you want to achieve, can all come together and, like Nathan, you can look to add them to your plan," Matt said.

"You can express what you'd like to do, then these activities can form part of the goals in your plan, and that's how you can get funding to achieve," he said.

Nathan's song is available on Spotify and iTunes.

The NDIS is providing support to over 149,835 people in New South Wales. Now there is more than 499,000 Australians benefiting from the NDIS nationally, including over 245,000 receiving support for the first time.

For more information about the NDIS, visit www.ndis.gov.au.

To hear about other life-changing NDIS stories, visit www.ndis.gov.au/news/stories.

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