In 1953, at the tender age of 15, Barbara began singing professionally, starting with a 2-year stint on Radio 2UE’s Youth Parade. She has sung professionally, including recordings for Festival Records, television appearances, Sydney Opera House (Judy Bailey’s History of Jazz) and the recorded live performance of the 1982 Jazz Action Concert. Barbara responded to the call from Kate Dunbar when she set up her Singers Workshop and is included in the recording of “Nothing in the Written Key”.
All the while with multiple clubs, pubs, and live concerts in venues across Australia. Barbara is always busy writing, painting, and occasionally singing as she looks forward to the next big artistic adventure.
Interview Portrait by Kate Steward (Niece, 2020)
I am meeting Barbara at her place. It is a housing commission unit in the inner west of Sydney, a big black heavy door opens into an equally imposing hallway system. Luckily the signage is easy to follow, and I am quickly inside Barbara’s unit where the mood is instantly lighter. The lounge room is joyfully crowded with books, old photos, keepsakes and her artwork on the walls, bookcase, table and floor. ABC Radio is playing in the background and one of those property shows is on mute on the television. We settle into our respective sofas with a cup of tea each. Barbara’s white hair is softly pulled back and her blue eyes shining, as she starts to talk.
Barbara has sung jazz since she was fourteen years old. Having left school, she was beginning her working life and gaining a taste of independence when, at a birthday party with her colleagues all of a similar age, her voice made an impression on others (B. Colhoun, personal communication, October 28, 2020).
With colleagues from NSW Registrar Generals
“I sang. I danced, and I can remember people clapping. But there was no drink, it was only a Pepsi party. Someone came over and said you’ve got an amazing voice. You sound like Kay Starr” (B. Colhoun, personal communication, October 28, 2020).
At Beverley Ibbles’ Pepsi Party 1953
The same colleague later told her of an audition for singers for a radio show on 2UE. Telling no one in her family, she practiced at a girlfriend’s house before the audition and was immediately offered a place on the program (B. Colhoun, personal communication, October 28, 2020).
She stayed at 2UE for two years until the show ended and she moved on to various other opportunities including residencies at jazz clubs, concerts, television appearances and recording sessions (B. Colhoun, personal communication, October 28, 2020).
When I ask if she has a favourite song to sing, the answer comes back instantly. “God Bless the Child” (B. Colhoun, personal communication, October 28, 2020).
As a little girl, she would get up early and climb up and sit on the back fence next to an oleander tree and wait for the sun to come up. (B. Colhoun, personal communication, October 28, 2020).
“The man next door would come out early and hose his garden and he’d always say ‘Ah kissing the Pope’s toe again’ whatever that meant. So whenever I sing God Bless the Child and I come to the bridge, the first note of the bridge, I’m sitting on that fence waiting for the sun to come up.” (B. Colhoun, personal communication, October 28, 2020).
This is the power of music and the gift of singing. From that expectant little girl to the wise old lady sitting before me, I ask one final question: What has singing taught you about life?
“Singing very much is life, it teaches you to be in the moment” (B. Colhoun, personal communication, October 28, 2020).
The main research method used for the portrait was an interview conducted with Barbara on October 28, 2020. Interviewer Kate Steward included her own observations on the setting to add detail.
I am totally impressed with such eloquent words and memories flowing from my sister Barbara, which have been so beautifully compiled into a superbly sensitive interview by my daughter Kate. I also am humbled to belatedly realise and appreciate the talent revealed by two of my most cherished people.
Bill Colhoun