Renee died earlier this year. Last night was the memorial service for her at the National Theatre in St Kilda. The first part of the evening was long & was for the tributes. The second part, the music, had a series of high-profile musicians deliver 2 songs that were relevant to Renee.

Mal Logan (right) with the Renee Geyer Band

Kevin Borich opened the music section. This was only the second time I had seen him as the opener. This section of the memorial included Russell Morris, Paul Kelly, Ross Wilson, Kate Ceberano & several others. Kiwi media man, Richard Wilkins was the MC for the music section.

In her autobiography, Renee had spoken of her admiration for the La De Da’s when she was singing with the band Sun at the Arts Factory in Sydney. After the La De Da’s broke up, & Kevin formed the Kevin Borich Express, he worked with her on the album ‘Blues License’ & contributed the track ‘Bellhop Blues’.

Keyboard player Mal Logan (who worked with her for a number of years) got lots of mentions at the memorial. He was one of two musicians she took to the States when she recorded ‘Heading in the Right Direction’.

He & Renee produced the album ‘Blues License’, which had Tim Piper on it as the 3rd Kiwi . . . He played on several tracks. Mark Williams worked with her for a long time early in his time in Sydney. He became her keyboard player & did BVs on one of her tours.

But the little gem that legendary music commentator Glenn A Baker threw out in his tribute was that she was the unattributed backing vocalist on the Dragon hit ‘Are You Old Enough’. I listened to that track again this morning & the female voice close to the end does sound a lot like her.