RENÈE GEYER

The word ‘legendary’ is thrown around far too casually these days but when it comes to Renée Geyer, it fits nicely. Four decades in the music industry both here and overseas, ARIA hall of fame inductee and a killer back catalogue – she’s done it all.

But it’s ‘that’ voice which gets fans. ‘That’ voice – somehow seeping down into the bones and washing over the soul. When Motown stalwart Frank Wilson first heard her sing in LA in 1976 he said, “You’re going to have a really interesting life because nobody who looks like you sounds like you.”

“I take it as an absolute compliment,” says Geyer, “for a white Hungarian Jew, I sound black – I don’t try to, it just happens.”

It would not be the festive season without Renée Geyer playing sell-out gigs in Sydney but with her current album Swing, fans can expect an eclectic mixture of old and new.

Says Geyer, “The most yelled out songs I always do. If you’re going to have a hit then it means it’s popular so why would you not do it?”

Joining her onstage at The Basement is her horn section and old friend Mark Punch on guitar, who co-wrote her breakthrough hit, Heading in the Right Direction.

“Mark and I go a long way back – we’re the true pioneers,” she says.

“So come and check us out. You might get a big shock.” (GW)

Dec 28, Lizottes, 629 Pittwater Rd, Dee Why, $54-96, lizottes.com.au; Dec 29 & 30, The Basement, 7 Macquarie Pl, Circular Quay, $40-90, thebasement.com.au