Renée Geyer

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Renée Geyer
Birth name Renée Rebecca Geyer
Born September 11, 1953 (1953-09-11) (age 54)
Origin Melbourne, Australia
Genre(s) Pop, R&B, Soul
Occupation(s) Singer
Years active 1970s–present
Website Renee Geyer official site

Renée Rebecca Geyer[1][2] is an Australian singer who is widely regarded as one of the country's finest exponents of the soul and classic R&B idioms. She enjoyed considerable commercial success as a solo artist in Australia in the 1970s and 1980s, and has also been an internationally respected and sought-after backing vocalist, whose session credits include work with Sting, Toni Childs and Joe Cocker.

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[edit] Early career

Born in Melbourne, Australia, Geyer's singing career began in the early 1970s as a vocalist with Dry Red though she soon left for the more accomplished jazz-rock band Sun. The group released one album before Geyer departed in 1972. She next joined Mother Earth whose R & B/soul music style was more in keeping with the style Renee wanted to pursue.

RCA who had released Sun's album then signed Renee to a solo contract; however, when it came time to record her first solo album, Renee, already showing signs of her self proclaimed "Difficult Woman" tag, insisted that Mother Earth back her on the album. This first release mainly consisted of R & B/Soul cover versions of overseas hits but Renee and the band nonetheless excelled, stamping them as their own in most cases.


[edit] Australia's Queen of Soul

Her follow-up album It's a Man's Man's World (produced by Tweed Harris) was released in 1974 and became Renee's first charting record. It featured the cream of Australia's musos at the time including members of Chain, Kahvas Jute, The Groop, Bobby Bright of Bobby & Laurie, and Mike Brady. The title track, her classic rendition of the James Brown hit from 1965, "It's a Man's Man's Man's World", also became her first hit single.

She then formed her own band, Sanctuary, to promote the album. At the time Renee had become disenchanted with RCA and their refusal to let her record more original material. She was prepared to wait out her contract if necessary but Australia's up and coming and most respected independent Mushroom Records, were able to strike a deal where they would record her and RCA would release the albums and singles with a Mushroom logo stamped on the label.

The arrangement led to what some believe is the finest soul album ever released in Australia, Ready To Deal. By this stage Sanctuary, who co-wrote most of the material for the album with Renee, was renamed "The Renee Geyer Band" which was the credit on the album cover. It spawned another of Renee's signature songs "Heading In The Right Direction" which reached the top twenty in 1976.

During this time, Geyer also participated in the 1975 Election Campaign of the Liberal Party, singing the party's campaign theme song "Turn On The Lights", the second most known Australian political song behind the 1972 Labor Campaign theme song, "It's Time". However in recent years, Geyer has distanced herself from the Liberal Party and politics in general, stating she had only done the campaign to earn money for her album recording in the United States, where she had recently signed a contract with Polydor Records.

Before departing for the US however, the Renee Geyer Band released a live album Really Really Love You, recorded at the band's farewell concert at Melbourne's Dallas Brooks Hall. It showed the great rapport that Renee has always had with her bands, and emphasised her excellence in live performance as well as that of the musicians who support her.

[edit] The U.S. sojourn

Again credited as a solo release, Renee's first US-recorded album Moving Along was produced by famed Motown Records producer Frank Wilson and saw her own musicians supplemented by members of Stevie Wonder's band, as well as Ray Parker Jr. and other noted US session musicians. Released in late 1976, it provided her with her biggest Australian hit to date with the single "Stares and Whispers". It also attracted considerable attention in the United States when radio stations began playing several of the album's tracks, in particular a re-recorded version of her Australian hit "Heading In The Right Direction" which was issued as the first US & UK Single.

Geyer's record company were aware that her vocal style had led many listeners to incorrectly assume that she was black, and they urged her to keep a low profile until her popularity had grown, even suggesting that the American release of the album should not include her photograph. Known for her uncompromising and direct personal manner, Geyer refused to allow this deception and insisted on marketing the album complete with a cover photograph of what she later referred to as "my big pink face". With the album's release, interest in Geyer subsided in the United States, an event that Geyer would later blame on her headstrong decision in regard to her marketing. She did earn respect within the recording industry and for several years worked in Los Angeles as a session vocalist.

There was enough interest for a second album, again recorded with Frank Wilson but this time Renee was not entirely happy either with the mix or the support from the record company. So she negotiated a release from her contract but managed to bring the album tapes home to Australia where it was remixed and released as Winner. Though Renee herself, perhaps a little unfairly, says it should have been called Loser as much of the material was not up to standard. She toured the country promoting it but neither the album nor the two singles released from it enjoyed the same success as previous releases.

Renee's next release, Blues Licence, is unique in her catalogue. On this album she teamed up with Australian guitarist Kevin Borich to record an album of straight blues material. The added fire in her vocals being sparked by the harder edged backing from Kevin's band Express and other Aussie notables of the genre, it was not a huge seller at the time but quickly became a personal fave of fans and has remained so, and in print ever since.

[edit] Renée hits a peak

In 1980, now finally free of her original RCA contract, Renee signed directly with Mushroom Records in Australia and they released her next album So Lucky, as well as re-issuing all her previous albums on the Mushroom label. Helmed by Rob Fraboni whose resumé includes The Beach Boys, Bob Dylan, The Band and many others, the new album was again recorded in the US with musical backing from the Bump Band, who also supported Bonnie Raitt on her albums at the time. With their mutual love of the great black blues and R & B performers, Renee and Bonnie formed a friendship that continues to this day.

The album took her slightly away from the soul style that Renee had been so closely identified with and added a slightly tougher, rootsy rock/R & B style, while incorporating a bit of salsa and reggae. The single "Say I Love You" became the biggest hit of her career when it reached number 5 on the Australian singles charts. It also spawned two further Australian hits and was issued in the US on the Portrait Records label.

By this stage Renee was at the peak of her Australian popularity and headlined Mushroom's 10th Anniversary Concert celebration, the "Mushroom Evolution Concert" in 1982. The following year she released a second live album Renee Live, which again showed the dynamic Renee in her natural element and produced a hit duet with Glenn Shorrock on a sublime version of the old Dusty Springfield standard "Goin' Back".

[edit] Living in the U.S.A.

Having enjoyed a career peak at home in Australia, Renee now based herself in Los Angeles to concentrate on breaking into the musical scene there. She continued to record and perform as a solo artist over the next decade though with less chart success in her own country due to her lack of profile there. Although her one 1985 album for (WEA), Sing To Me and its accompanying first single "All My Love" enjoyed some success it was not deemed to be one of her best and was not given a US release. None of the follow-up singles were successful and Renee and WEA parted company soon after.

Geyer performed three songs for the 1985 Oz for Africa concert (part of the global Live Aid program) - "Put a Little Love in Your Heart", "All My Love", "Telling it like it Is" . It was broadcast in Australia (on both Seven Network and Nine Network) and on MTV in the US.[3]

Back in the US Renee looked like she was finally making some headway as she formed the band Easy Pieces with Hamish Stuart and Steve Ferrone, both former members of The Average White Band. They signed to A & M Records and the band's self-titled album was released in 1988 to excellent reviews, but the label changed distributors just as it was released. Therefore music stores couldn't order copies in, and with no copies on the shelves unfortunately the Easy Pieces album sank without a trace.

Meantime Geyer continued as an in-demand session vocalist, something that she had also done in Australia. She was most notable and prominent on Sting's We'll Be Together (although her name was mis-spelled on the album credits). She was also clearly audible on Toni Childs hit "Don't Walk Away", among a trio of big-voiced backing singers - Geyer features as the lower-pitched ad-libber. She did perform a credited duet with Joe Cocker on one of his biggest albums of the '80s, Unchain My Heart. Following the album's release Renee also toured Europe as backing vocalist for Cocker. Other notable sessions included working with Neil Diamond, Julio Iglesias, Buddy Guy and her old mate Bonnie Raitt. Renee also recorded a song for the soundtrack of the film Mystic Pizza.

Back in Australia in 1993 to record songs for the ABC-TV mini series The Seven Deadly Sins, she met with one of Australia's most respected songwriters, Paul Kelly, who offered to produce and help write a new album for her. Her first solo studio album in 9 years, it was one of her very best and although not a hit at the time, the renewed respect and exposure it brought Renee ecouraged her to move back home and the album has become a cult fave, staying in print for many years. She later named her autobiography Difficult Woman after the album.

Difficult Woman contained "Foggy Highway" (later recorded by its writer Paul Kelly on his bluegrass album), a stripped-back piano version of the Beach Boys' "God Only Knows", Rodgers and Hart's "He Was Too Good to Me", and Kelly's "Sweet Guy" which alludes to male violence in romantic relationships - a theme which re-emerges in Geyer's recent albums - tangentially in "Killer Lover", and more directly in "Nasty Streak" (written by Kelly's nephew Dan Kelly).

[edit] Re-establishment in Australia

Following the release of the Difficult Woman album in Australia and now again basing herself from there, Geyer then spent time re-establishing herself on the live circuit. These performances showed Renee to be far more relaxed on stage than she'd ever been at her peak when her innate shyness was often cleverly disguised. Now a confident, mature woman she showed off a hitherto hidden wicked sense of humour, often at her own expense, but nobody was safe.

She then re-signed with Mushroom Records for a new single which was included on the excellent retrospective "The Best of Renee Geyer 1973-1998" Now things were moving & although not a chart buster it did respectably well. It also introduced Renee to a new, younger audience due to a bonus disc included with initial copies. The disc featured some of her earlier singles and album tracks, remixed by some of the best up and coming DJs at the time.

The compilation's success led to the recording of a full length album and another of her very best, Sweet Life. Renee was surrounded by the cream of Australian musicians, who reportedly queued up to offer songs and record with the diva. A fine showcase with great production by Paul Kelly and Joe Camilleri, the album showed that she was also at the very peak of her exceptional vocal abilities (certain songs like "You Broke a Beautiful Thing", "Cake and Candle" and "Killer Lover" contain highlights which showcase a rarely-used uber-upper range, to great effect) and again it sold respectably well. The album is also noteworthy for containing many original Geyer-cowrites. However it was to be her last for Mushroom as label owner Michael Gudinski's sold the company soon after.

[edit] 2007 release Dedicated

“I do rhythm and blues,” Renée explains. “This genre of music picked me. I didn’t pick it. From a very early age I was listening to it on my transistor radio under my pillow. At fourteen or fifteen years of age I knew that this was the music I connected with. With this record I’ve turned some kind of corner where the suit that was bought for me as a young girl, that I knew was a beautiful suit, only just now fits. It just feels right.

“I always try to co-write with different people for every record. My ego as a singer is bigger than my ego as a writer, so it’s always the best songs that make it. When I was offered this new recording deal with EMI I thought what would be great this time would be to do a mixture of existing classics and new songs as well.

“The hard part was finding more classic r&b songs to sing. I’d already picked the main ones that I wanted for ‘Tenderland’ [Renée’s incredibly successful twentieth album, released four years ago] so I really had to search and search carefully for songs that when you hear them they’re known but not obvious soul songs.

“‘Tenderland’ was the first time I finally agreed to do interpretations of existing soul classics. I’ve always dabbled and had the odd one or two on albums, but I’d never before wanted to make a record totally like that. After being asked to for so many years I finally did it when I turned 50. I thought, if ever there was a time to do it, now was the time.

“With this record “Dedicated”, like with ‘Tenderland,’ I wanted to pay homage to the writers of the songs more so than the existing versions of the songs.

“There’s no way that anyone is ever going to recreate an existing gem, but great songs are meant to be re-interpreted time and time again, and to me only a great song can be re-interpreted.

“Even though I’ve become the name that draws the people I’ve always been the singer in a band. Since I was very young I’ve always wanted to play with the best musicians. I’ve always been in that band because they’re a great band. Nothing’s changed on that level.

“Whereas the last two records had a lot of strings [after ‘Tenderland’ Renée released the all-new adventurous ‘Tonight’] there’s no strings on this record, it’s basically the four-piece band, organ-based, so it’s like the classic Al Green line-up of the early 70’s, with horns as the embellishment this time. Also, thanks to my co-producer/engineer Adam Rhodes, I’ve discovered a microphone that actually reproduces my voice in the truest way, picking up all the timbers of my tone, as it would sound to someone listening right next to me.

Today, listening to Renée Geyer we’re experiencing much more than a great voice and song interpreter at the microphone, in front of her band. Over the course of her incredible career Renée has also discovered and refined other talents. She’s become an arranger, imagining what goes where and how for the best result. And she co-produces her albums now.

“I’m completely hands on with my records,” she confesses.

“I'm in love with this record. I have to admit it. This time, I really am. Normally, I’m over it by the time, through the process of recording and then mixing and mastering, we've heard everything a million times over and over again. It's kind of like when couples fall in 'love/lust', get married...and then the 'lust' part of the relationship fades. This album sounds and feels as fresh as ever....every time I hear it (thanks in no small part to the incredible musicians appearing on it.) I'm still in 'lust/love'. End of story.”

Ed Nimmervoll

[edit] Renée Geyer fast facts

  • Born 11 Sept 1953, in Melbourne
  • Joined her first band, Dry Red, in Sydney 1970
  • Renée’s first album was self-titled, and was released in July 1972
  • Her third album Moving Along was recorded in America
  • Renée’s 1981 hit ‘Say I Love You’ also reached #1. in New Zealand where she retains a strong following
  • During the 1980s and 1990s Renée spent many years between America and Australia and sang with artists including Sting, Chaka Kan, Joe Cocker, Bonnie Raitt and Jackson Brown
  • Dedicated is Renée’s 22nd album
  • Renée is one of the very few Australian artists that has had records in the Australian charts every decade since the 1970s.
  • In 2005, Renée was inducted into the ARIA Hall Of Fame

[edit] Album discography

[edit] References

  1. ^ Geyer comes full circle - theage.com.au
  2. ^ Renee Geyer
  3. ^ "Oz for Africa". liveaid.free.fr. Retrieved on 2008-03-12.

[edit] External links

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