Randolph Magri-Overend

CELEBRITIES REVEAL THE IDENTITY OF THEIR FAVOURITE NON CLASSICAL SINGER

Anthony Warlow

One of the questions I tend to ask all my interviewees is who their favourite non-classical singer happens to be.  Somehow, I find it displays that part of a person that previous questions had not identified.  If I have room in the article I include their thoughts.  Most times the answer remains in my notes unused but hardly forgotten.  Here is a sample of some of their answers:

Bruce Martin, retired bass-baritone from Opera Australia, liked a lot of non-classical stuff but didn’t have a favourite singer.  However he enjoyed “the 1953 version of Dave Brubeck’s Take Five.  You turn it on loud and let it fill your brain.”

The late Justice Barry O’Keefe, retired Supreme Court judge, plumbed for his late brother, “Johnny O’Keefe. I went to every one of his concerts.”

Mary Kostakidis, retired SBS newsreader and a leading human rights advocate, adored “the music of the Ladies of Black Mombassa” and found that kd lang’s voice “had a minimum of vibrato and was not clouded by sentimentality.”

Bob Carr, former State Premier of NSW and former Commonwealth Foreign Affairs minister, is not a jazz fan but thought that “Sinatra was sensational.”

Dawn Upshaw, American soprano, admitted to buying James Taylor’s album Fire and Rain in her youth and “admired the music of Bjork” and also included the music of Paul Simon, Joni Mitchell and Ruth Crawford Seeger in her recitals.   

Emma Matthews, Australian soprano and currently Senior Lecturer Classical Voice at theWestern Australian Academy Of Performing Arts (WAAPA), liked Julie Andrews the first time we met and added the name of Harry Connick Jr the second time. She added: “I like modern music to have that jazz-bluesy feeling.”

Oddly enough Simone Young, Australian conductor, also chose Harry Connick Jr but only as her second choice.  Supreme in her non-classical genre is Sting.

Dame Felicity Lott, British soprano, loved the French singers Jacques Brel and Serge Reggiani but “Tony Bennett tops my list now and he’s still going strong…which gives me hope.”

Alexander Briger, nephew of the late Sir Charles Mackerras and a conductor in his own right, enthused about Mick Jagger “although he can’t really sing” and then added Pink Floyd, Nick Drake and jazz legends Miles Davis, Stan Getz, John Coltrane and Art Pepper.

The late Robert Gard, the retired OA tenor and the subject of an article I once wrote entitled The Gentleman Tenor, loves Nat King Cole because he has “wonderful diction, perfect pitch and sustains his notes.”  He also loves Anthony Warlow who “showed John Farnham and Olivia Newton-John how to enrich their longer notes.”

Featured image : Pop icon Sting

Published by Randolph Magri-Overend

One of the questions Randolph hates to answer is “Where do you come from?” Why? Because the answer can be so time-consuming and, in a way, also gives away how old he is!! Plus the questioner has to wrestle with the wish he hadn’t asked the question!! He was born in Cairo, Egypt, many moons ago of British parents although he can trace Maltese and Croatian ancestry in his lineage. Educated in a Jesuit college in London his wander lust for things unorthodox drove him to embark on a seafaring career with both Canadian Pacific Steamships and Shaw Savill. That in itself dates him because both lines have been redundant for many a year. One of his boasts is that he was the Purser on the “Gothic” which ten years previously had been Queen Elizabeth II’s Royal Yacht soon after her coronation in 1953. One of the objects imported on the ship by HM and left behind was a tape player which Randolph utilised on many a memorable Sunday evening with a classical concert for his passengers. Thus began a journey that not only awakened Randolph’s love for good music but also eventually led to his extensive knowledge of music in all forms. That he loves the era of Sinatra, Crosby, Armstrong, Dorsey (both) and many many more exponents of the post-war music scene is also part and parcel of his appreciation of the music of many an era. These days Randolph is retired but still reviews CDs and DVDs and has written articles on such diverse personalities as Yvonne Kenny, Teddy Tahu Rhodes, Alexander Briger, the late Sir John Tavener, Sir James Galway, Dawn Upshaw and countless probes into the music of Gustav Mahler, Elizabeth Shwarzkopf and her husband Walter Legge, Glenn Gould, Leonard Bernstein and many many more he regrets to admit he has lost track of! Before emigrating to Australia, Randolph spent a number of years as a Flight Dispatcher in Canada. Since arriving in Australia, Randolph has written for The Weekend Australian (especially in their travel pages), The Sydney Morning Herald, Opera Opera and Fine Music magazine as well as some jazz magazines. If you require an extensive coverage of your music to a public that, at last count, reaches the best part of 818,000 please contact David Kary on editor.sydneyartsguide@gmail.com or email me directly on ibmar@bigpond.com. This also includes advertising any forthcoming shows by promoting featured artists. Cheers and thank you.