Renée Geyer (Australian Singer)
Formed
1981 in Melbourne, Australia
Music Style
Jazz and Blues
References
Ed Nimmervoll. Biography.
Noel McGrah. Moving Along, re-edited by Tony Senatore.
Rock Battisson. It’s A Man’s Man’s World. So Lucky. Really Really Love You. Recorded Live At The Dallas Brooks Hall.
Biography
Renée Geyer (born Renée Rebecca Geyer on 11 September 1953) was born in Melbourne. She died in Melbourne on 17 January 2022, aged 69, after being diagnosed with lung cancer. She was the daughter of a Hungarian-Jewish father, Edward Geyer (1920–2013), and a Slovak-Jewish mother, Gabriella (1926–2017), who was a Holocaust survivor. She was the youngest of three children.
After releasing one album together, Sun ’72, Sun and Geyer went their separate ways. Geyer eventually joined a group called Mother Earth, which incorporated the jazz influences of Sun’s music alongside the soul and R&B that Geyer loved and excelled at. While touring with Mother Earth, Geyer was offered a solo recording contract. She insisted that Mother Earth provide the backing for her debut album.
In early 1973, she decided to pursue a solo career. She was signed to RCA Records and immediately started work on her debut album, Renee Geyer in June 1973. Releaaed single Space Captain and followed by Oh Boy both taken from the album. The album was produced by Gus McNeil and recorded at ATA Studios in in Sydney, Australia.
In August 1974, the title track of her second album, It’s A Man’s Man’s World, was released as a single and became a hit. The album was produced by Ted Harris and recorded at Bill Armstrong Studios in Melbourne, Australia. The best Melbourne musicians were assembled for the sessions. Geyer formed such strong bonds with them that by the time her second album It’s a Man’s World was released, featuring her powerful and provocative cover of the James Brown title track, she was ready to join them as a group rather than continue performing solo.
This release is a real gem, showcasing Renee’s talent early in her career alongside some of Australia’s greatest session musicians: Tim Gaze, Phil Manning, Julie McKenna and Tweed Harris. Renee was a natural from the beginning, and on this recording, Tweed Harris ensured the focus was on her voice, although the performance of all the musicians is outstanding. It’s one of the best versions of It’s a Man’s World you’ll hear — world class!
Apart from the single Heading in the Right Direction, became biggest selling single and still remain best release. Her two solo albums thus far have featured cover versions and original songs. The Renée Geyer Band wrote original material for the 1975 album Ready to Deal in the studio and toured extensively. A live album, Really Really Love You, followed, building on Geyer’s reputation as a powerful and provocative performer.
The album Really Really Love You (Live at the Dallas Brooks Hall) is a hidden gem because it is an early live recording that captures the essence of Renee’s natural soulful singing. Recorded during Renee’s 1976 Australian tour, it was captured on Armstrong’s 24-track mobile and mastered at A&M in Los Angeles, resulting in excellent sound quality. Complete with a horn section, the band performed flawlessly, showcasing Renee as Australia’s greatest soul singer.
This reputation reached America, leading to an invitation to record an album in Los Angeles with the renowned Motown producer Frank Wilson. While the Movin’ Along album with Mushroom Productions in June 1977, was another hit at home, Stares and Whispers caused confusion in the America.Which was reported cost $80, 000 to record with extra $15,000 for travelling expenses.
R&B stations loved the record, but were unsure how to proceed when they discovered that Geyer was a white, Jewish girl from Australia. Over the next few years, she bounced between Australia and America, performing in Australia and recording two more albums in the USA.
R&B stations loved the record, but were unsure how to proceed when they discovered that Geyer was a white, Jewish girl from Australia. Over the next few years, she bounced between Australia and America, performing in Australia and recording two more albums in the USA.
When her 1981 album So Lucky produced the massive hit ‘Say I Love You’ in Australia and New Zealand, she had to put her American dream on hold for two years. Such is the result of letting an Australian girl (Miss Natural) loose in California. The result is a fantastic dance track. Renee always seems to start her recordings with a bang, and ‘Do You Know What I Mean’ is just that. Up there with the best of the Motown recordings, this release from the Australian singer must have had Americans wondering, ‘Who is this funky soul rockin’ lady?’
Once again, it’s all about the voice. Just look at the backing vocals: Bobby King, Vanessa Fields and James Ingram, not to mention the tight unit of the Bump Band, including Bobby Keys. With its various genres and, of course, the voice of Miss Natural, it’s hard to get bored with this recording — Renee is having fun!
Renée Geyer began her singing career at the age of 16, releasing countless brilliant singles that firmly established her place in music history. After moving to the USA in the ’80s, she soon became a session singer for renowned artists such as Sting, Neil Diamond, Jackson Browne, Joe Cocker, Chaka Khan and Buddy Guy, establishing herself as one of Australia’s most sought-after musicians.
In 1983, Geyer moved to the United States permanently, while continuing to tour and keep in touch with her Australasian fans. While in the US, she became part of a group called Easy Pieces with former members of the Average White Band. However, the album took so long to record that, by the time it was finished, the group had never performed together and were going their separate ways. Geyer then spent several years doing session work for artists such as Sting, Neil Diamond and Jackson Browne, touring with Joe Cocker and Chaka Khan, and writing songs.
During a trip back to Australia, Geyer was invited to perform Paul Kelly’s “Foggy Highway” for the soundtrack of a TV series based on the seven deadly sins. Impressed by her performance, Kelly offered to produce her 1994 album Difficult Woman and wrote some of its songs, including the title track. This, alongside “It’s a Man’s Man’s World”, became a signature song for Geyer.
Geyer enjoyed such a happy and satisfying working relationship with Paul Kelly that she decided to move her base back to Australia. With Kelly and Joe Camilleri (Jo Jo Zep and the Black Sorrows) producing, she recorded the 1999 album Sweet Life.
At the end of 1999, Renée Geyer published her candid autobiography, Confessions of a Difficult Woman, with Harper Collins. Passionate, determined, stubborn and, yes, difficult… Renée Geyer has been called all sorts of names during her thirty-year career as Australia’s best-known soul/blues singer. But this woman, with her unforgettable, spine-tingling voice, is much more than the sum of her parts.
Renée was the recipient of the inaugural AWMA Lifetime Achievement Award. Among her many other accolades, she was inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame and received a Gold Aria.
For years, Renee Geyer’s fans have been asking her to make a big band album, and now Swing has arrived on 27 April 2013. Renée Geyer is one of Australia’s true musical treasures, and to celebrate her 40^(th) year in the music business, she has delivered what can only be described as her ultimate triumph to date. The album is packed with wonderful standards, from Sinatra’s classic ‘Fly Me to the Moon’ and Chet Baker’s ‘My Funny Valentine’ to Gershwin’s ‘I Got Rhythm’, Bernstein’s ‘Somewhere’ from West Side Story and the classic blues song ‘Baby Please Don’t Go’, which wows listeners and reminds us just how fantastic a song interpreter Geyer is. The album also features two of Geyer’s own songs covered in big band style: a calypso version of ‘Say I Love You’ and the incredible closing track ‘It’s a Man’s Man’s World’.
Sometimes, words aren’t enough. Everything that has been and will be said about Renée Geyer — one of the world’s finest singers, an Australian music legend — is true and undeniable. But saying that still doesn’t say enough. She is a unique talent who lives for her next performance, whether on stage or in the recording studio. She is someone who refuses to rest on her laurels, not a singer whose career depends on yesterday’s or tomorrow’s hit song. The voice was always there. From the moment she first opened her mouth, people turned their heads. But that wasn’t — and still isn’t — enough for Renée Geyer. She’s much more now than she ever was.
‘Dedicated’ is Renée Geyer’s twenty-second album. And she’s convinced with this record she’s reached a turning point.
“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.
“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.
“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.“
Renée Geyer Fast Facts
– Joined her first band, Dry Red, in Sydney 1970.
– Renée’s first album was self-titled, and was released in July 1972.
– The second album, It’s A Man’s Man’s World, was released in August 1974.
– Renée’s 1981 hit ‘Say I Love You’also reached #1. in New Zealand where she retains a strong following.
– During the 1980’s and 1990’s Renée spent many years between America and Australia and sang with artists including Sting, Chaka Kan, Joe Cocker, Bonnie Raitt and Jackson Brown.
– Renée is one of the very few Australian artists that has had records in the Australian charts every decade since the 1970’s.
– In 2005, Renée was inducted into the ARIA Hall Of Fame
Discography
Renee Geyer
Label: RCA Victor – VNL1 0208
Released: 1973
Country: Australia
It’s A Man’s Man’s World
Label: RCA Victor – VPK1-0024
Released: 1974
Country: Australia
Ready To Deal
Label: RCA Victor – VPL1-0105
Released: 1975
Country: Australia
Moving Along
Label: RCA Victor / Mushroom Productions – VPL1-0140
Released: 1977
Country: Australia
At Her Very Best
Label: RCA Victor / Mushroom Productions – VPL1-0145
Released: 1977
Country: Australia
Winner
Label: RCA Victor / Mushroom Productions – VPL1-0164
Released: 1978
Country: Australia
Blues License
Label: RCA Victor / Mushroom Productions – VPL1–0214
Released: 1979
Country: Australia
So Lucky
Label: Mushroom – L 37554
Released: 1981
Country: Australia
Renee Geyer
Label: Portrait – ARR 37949
Released: 1982
Country: Australia
Renée Live
Label: Mushroom – L-37975
Released: 1983
Country: Australia
Sing To Me
Label: WEA – 252139-2
Released: 1985
Country: Australia
Live At The Basement
Label: ABC Records – L 38593
Released: 1986
Country: Australia
Faves
Label: Mushroom – RML 53116
Released: 1989
Difficult Woman
Label: Larrikin Records – LRJ342 CD
Released: 1994
Country: Australia
The Best Of Renée Geyer 1973-1998
Label: Mushroom – MUSH33083.2
Released: 1998
Country: Australia
Sweet Life
Label: Mushroom – MUSH33214.2
Released: 1999
Country: Australia
Great Renee Geyer
Label: Rajon Music Group – RMGR0414
Released: 2001
Country: Australia
Tenderland
Label: ABC Music – 13112
Released: 2003
Country: Australia
Live At The Athaneum
Label: ABC Music – 13702
Released: 2004
Country: Australia
The Definitive Collection 1973-1998
Label: Mushroom – 337772
Released: 2004
Country: Australia
Tonight
Label: ABC Music – 14352
Released: 2005
Label: ABC Music – 14352
Released: 2005
Country: Australia
Dedicated
Label: Capitol Music – 5094972
Released: 2007
Renéesance
Label: Liberation Blue – BLUE165.2
Released: 2009
Country: Australia
The Ultimate Collection
Label: Warner Music Australia – 5186584252
Released: 2010
Country: Australia
Swing
Label: Fanfare Records – FANFARE098
Released: 2013
Country: Australia
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