Multi-award winning country singer Melinda Schneider will pay homage to one of her musical heroes as part of the Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras.
Schneider, who grew up in the St George district, will perform an exclusive show titled Melinda does Doris Day… does Mardis Gras on March 3 at the Paddington Town Hall.
The concert is an official mardi gras show and features a very special guest – her mother, Mary.
The show will also celebrate her second Doris Day tribute album, Melinda Does Doris Again: The Movie Songs which was released late last year and debuted at No.2 on the Jazz ARIA charts.
Schneider, who forged a dazzling country music career that won her six Golden Guitars, will perform the songs that audiences loved so much from her hugely successful theatre show DORIS, in a concert format.
Her love affair with Day began when, as a child, Schneider laid eyes on Calamity Jane, Day’s 1953 film. She was instantly smitten.
“She was such a huge talent,” Schneider said.
“A triple threat, as they say. She could sing, dance and act. I thought then she was the best of everything a woman can be and when I grew up I wanted to be just like her.”
The nostalgic celebration includes timeless hits such as Pillow Talk, Que Sera Sera, Everybody Loves a Lover, Secret Love and a whole slew of songs from Calamity Jane, Love me or Leave Me and The Pajama Game.
For the first time the show will feature several special guests iconic to the gay community including Bob Downe, Trevor Ashley and Schneider senior – Australia’s queen of yodelling.
Mary Schneider is a singer,songwriter and performer in her own right as well as the mother of Melinda. She is best known as Australia’s Queen of yodeling. Having caught the yodeling bug at six-years-old, Mary is internationally renowned as a yodeler of world class and was considered to trigger a yodeling revival.
A 5-time winner of the prestigious MO Award, Mary has gone on to sell more than 250,000 albums in Australia and the release of her Yodeling the Classics albums have made her a cult figure throughout the world. Mary's albums have earned her gold and platinum status and she has been featured in the prestigious Guiness Encylopedia of Popular Music.
Meanwhile, Bob Downe is no stranger to the Sydney Gay & Lesbian Mardi Gras having previously hosted it nine times. Downe is the creation of journalist and comedian Mark Trevorrow.
Tickets: ticketek.com.au.
