One of the most powerful and versatile singers that Australia ever produced, Renée Geyer moved naturally across soul, jazz and blues with smouldering intensity. Born in Melbourne in 1953, she began singing in jazz-leaning bands as a teenager, and by the age of 20 she had signed to RCA to begin a solo career that would extend for more than half a century. Geyer quickly made a name for herself by investing everything she sang with palpable emotion, whether it was a lonesome torch song like 1975’s “If Loving You Is Wrong (I Don’t Want To Be Right)”, a disco groover like 1976’s “Be There In the Morning” or a purring blues standard like 1979’s “Stormy Monday”. With her reinterpretations of a wide range of existing material—see her slow-burn command of James Brown’s “It’s a Man’s Man’s World” from 1974—Geyer laid convincing claim to established classics while hammering home the romantic turmoil and devotion behind every word. Geyer passed away on 17 January 2023.