The late, great Renée Geyer was honoured at a public memorial service held yesterday (April 4), with colleagues like Paul Kelly, Jackson Browne and Daryl Braithwaite commemorating her spirit with appearances.
As announced last month, Geyer’s memorial was held at the National Theatre in Melbourne; members of the public were allowed to attend, and the event was also livestreamed online. It ran for a little under four hours in total, beginning with some two hours of speeches from the late jazz and soul icon’s family, friends and colleagues. These included Colin Hay, Bonnie Raitt and actor Bryan Brown.
Live performances comprised the second half of the event, with legendary TV presenter Richard Wilkins on deck to host. Kevin Borich (who performed on Geyer’s 1979 album ‘Blues License’) was up first, followed by Russell Morris, Rebecca Barnard, Kelly, Ross Wilson, Abbey Stone, Deborah Conway and finally Kate Ceberano.
Amid their performances – flanked by Geyer’s own longstanding house band – many of the artists who appeared at the event took the time to share stories of their relationships with Geyer.
Have a look at the official recording of Geyer’s full memorial service below:
Geyer was 69 when she died on January 17. In a statement shared by the Mushroom Group, it was revealed she’d passed from complications following hip surgery and inoperable lung cancer; the statement read that she “was in no pain and died peacefully amongst family and friends”.
Shortly after the news emerged, Geyer’s manager came out to note that in the days before her passing, she’d received a private in-hospital concert from Kelly, Yuri Pavlinov, Jex Saarelaht, Charlie Owen and Paul Hambrook. Kelly also paid tribute to Geyer alongside Vika and Linda Bull at the Red Hot Summer festival in Mannum, covering her 1981 classic ‘Say I Love You’.