Second Cup: Missy Higgins, Pushing Green

(CBS)  Australian pop sensation Missy Higgins' career is on the rise, and she's making her way to the top by running on bio-diesel.

Named one of Billboard magazine's Top 10 Green Artists in 2007, the eco-friendly singer travels on tour in a bio-diesel bus and, previously, in a Prius.

Her green ways landed her on the cover of Australian Rolling Stone, alongside Al Gore in the magazine's issue. Higgins takes a green step further and offers her fans green merchandise, such as t-shirts and eco-friendly totes. Her concert tickets have even been made out of recycled paper.

Higgins stopped by The Early Show Saturday Edition's "Second Cup Cafe," to sing "Where I Stood" and "Steer" off of her latest album, "On a Clear Night."

Some might think that "On a Clear Night" is a testament to the way she lives her life as an environmentally-friendly artist, but its meaning is very different.

Instead, the album reveals what it was like growing up in the public eye and how she learned to grow from that experience.

"The album hopefully reflects where I'm at right now," Higgins says. "I feel a lot clearer about who I am and what I want to be doing with my music. I've moved on from the confusion and self-doubt I felt when I was just starting out. That's the main difference between the old songs and the new ones."

"On a Clear Night" went triple platinum in Australia and was awarded the Highest Selling Australian album of 2007. It also won her an ARIA Award (Australia's Grammy) as the country's "Best Female Artist" for the second time.

Her 2009 single "Where I Stood" has been featured in numerous primetime TV shows here in the U.S., including Grey's Anatomy and NCIS.

She has opened for Ray Lamontagne, The Finn Brothers, and Howie Day.

Higgins' talent in songwriting came to fruition in high school, when she won a national songwriting competition run by an influential national alternative radio network.

Although she was given the opportunity to record an album, she declined and backpacked around Europe to find herself and find the words worthy of an album.


For more info:

missyhiggins.com (Official site)