Gretta Ray has released a stunning cover of Billy Joel‘s ‘Vienna’, which she originally shared on TikTok in February.
Ray’s version stays true to Joel’s 1977 original, lifted from his fifth studio album ‘The Stranger’. If anything, Ray’s rendition is more pared-back, driven by stirring piano and her rich, velvety voice. Listen to the cover below.
Ray decided to release the song as a full version after it started trending on TikTok, which, at the time of writing, has been used as a sound in 32,000 videos.
“I cannot thank you enough for all of the beautiful, peaceful videos you have made using my cover of ‘Vienna’ to soundtrack them,” Ray wrote on the video-sharing app, adding “seeing ur [sic] videos from all over the world has blown me away.”
The Melbourne singer has a fondness for covers, releasing a rendition of Joni Mitchell‘s ‘River’ last December. Speaking of the cover at the time, Ray said: “Joni Mitchell has always been one of my biggest inspirations. With this cover of her song ‘River’, I wanted to acknowledge how much her song writing means to me.”
Ray released her debut album ‘Begin To Look Around’ last year, comprising a number of singles, including ‘Passion’, ‘Cherish’, ‘The Brink’, ‘Human and more.
She’s taking the album on a nationwide tour next month, playing shows in Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide and Fremantle. Tickets for the tour are available here.