Renee Geyer – Australia’s most celebrated soul singer – dies aged 69 after health fight: ‘She was in no pain’
- Music legend died from complications after surgery
- She died peacefully surrounded by family and friends
- Melbourne-born Geyer was known for her husky voice
Renee Geyer – Australia’s best known and most celebrated soul singer – has died, aged 69.
In a statement, Geyer’s family said she died from complications following hip surgery.
‘While in hospital, it was discovered that Renee also had inoperable lung cancer,’ the statement read.
Renee Geyer (pictured) – Australia’s best known and most celebrated soul singer – has died, aged 69
‘She was in no pain and died peacefully amongst family and friends.
‘Naturally we are all utterly devastated.’
The Melbourne-born Geyer, who was known for her husky voice, rose to fame in the 1970s.
After recording an album in 1972 with jazz-rock group Sun, she began her solo career with a self-titled album the following year.
In an interview with ABC Radio Adelaide in 2022, Geyer recalled how she realised she had a great talent.
‘It wasn’t a big thing that I could sing, it’s just when other people started thinking I was really great,’ she said.
‘People’s mouths opened agape. I started thinking, “Well, I must be pretty good.”
Pictured is the cover of Renee Geyer’s 2013 album, Swing, which she supported with a national tour
Renee Geyer (pictured) died peacefully aged 69, surrounded by her family and friends
‘So I just started doing it for a living and it was enjoyable and I kept doing it and people kept asking me back.’
Among those people who asked her to work with them were English musicians Sting and Joe Cocker, and American soul legend Chaka Khan.
Her autobiography, released in 2000, was called Confessions of a Difficult Woman, and she sometimes continued to live up to the title.
In January 2017, Geyer avoided conviction for intimidation after calling a hotel receptionist a ‘Tongan b****’.
Among the people Renee Geyer worked with were English musicians Sting and Joe Cocker, and American soul legend Chaka Khan
She admitted the September 2015 incident but was given a section 10 bond, meaning the charges against her were dismissed without a conviction recorded.
It was not her first brush with the law. In 2010, she crashed her car through an optometrist’s shop window in the inner-Melbourne suburb of Elwood.
In 2013, she told the Sydney Morning Herald that she had been affected by medication she had been prescribed for breast cancer treatment at the time.
Just a month before her death, Geyer performed to a full house and was looking forward to playing more shows in 2023.
She was inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame in 2005, and in 2013 was the first woman inducted into the Music Victoria Hall of Fame.
In 2018 she received the inaugural Lifetime Achievement Award at the Australian Women in Music Awards.
More to come…
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