Greg Aspeling

Born inCape Town South Africa on March 11, 1954. The likes of The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Tom Jones, etc had not been heard of as yet. Elvis had just started making a name for himself with one of his very first hits "That's Alright Mama". From a very early age my musical tastes were already being moulded for me. You see, I was surrounded by a family that just loved to sing. My mum sang in the church choir, and still does today at the age of 80, and my dad, and his the family, were  right into their music. Dad was a mad Bing Crosby fan. No-one, and I mean no-one, could sing better than Bing according to my dad. Dad loved the "crooners" and to him, Bing was the ultimate. There were times dad thought he could "croon" like his idol.   Particularly after indulging in a "few" with his brothers, cousins, friends etc. God bless him.   He was a pretty good singer as well. I hope he's in the heaven they put all singers, when it's their turn to finally shuffle of the mortal coil, and he's "crooning" away up there with Bing.  

Dad came from a large family. My very earliest memories were regularly visiting other families homes, with mum, dad & my sister, for  friday night "get togethers".  Every home had a piano. You see television wasn't around back then in the old country. TV didn't hit South Africa 'til 1974. We had to contend with making our own fun. We just had the "wireless" for entertainment back then. It wasn't uncommon for families to number 8, 9, 10 or more. Wonder why? But what "get togethers" we used to have. Just a whole lot of people, some having a "few"and some not, singing and having an absolute ball.

 Rock 'n roll was, of course, still relatively new then. But singers such as Sammy Davis Jr, Nat King Cole, Dean Martin, Ella Fitzgerald, Frank Sinatra, Bing Crosby, to name just a few, were the flavour of the day and still getting a lot of airplay. And that was the music being sung at the family gatherings. So, from those very early stages of my life I was exposed to the "song stylists".  My mum told me that the gatherings were a part of family life way before I was born. And when I came along, even as an infant, I became part of it and,  it, in turn,  became part of my soul. Let me tell you something freakish. The following lyrics are from a song called "Galway Bay", sung by Bing Crosby, of course...... "If you ever go across the seas to Ireland. Then maybe at the closing of your day. You will sit and watch the moonrise over Claddagh. And see the sun go down on Galway Bay". I've known these lyrics and the melody ever since I can remember. But I have no recollection of ever having learnt the song. It has just always been there, embedded in my mind ever since I was little. I never dwelled on this but years later when my first daughter, Elise, was born, I witnessed something that made it all click. On this particular day, my wife, Jacky, and I were visiting my parents and Dad always loved to sit Elise on his knee and bounce her up and down, or cradle her ins arms, swaying her back and forth,  while singing her a song - one of which just happened to be "Galway Bay".  I turned to dad and asked "Did you do that with me when I was little?".  He answered "Yes, all the time". And there you have it. Mystery solved! The mind, the brain, is such a powerful thing. It never ceases to amaze me. By repetition, the music was instilled into my mind.

Of course , when Elvis took off and The Beatles, The Rolling Stones etc came along in the 60's, being a typical teenager, I loved the new "stuff". In high school I had a few close buddies who loved music as well. Many an afternoon, after school, was spent in a nearby park with the guitars, just  jamming and singing all the "latest" songs. In my mid teens I was introduced to and came to love Jazz music. My sister and her friends would drag me all around Cape Town, to smoky little jazz bars, where black musicians would perform the most incredible music on just about any instrument. One jazz piece from that era sticks in mind. It was by a group called Muddy Waters titled "I Got My Mojo Workin'". It had a really groovy beat and the first line in the lyrics "Got my mojo workin' but it just won't work on you", is unforgettable. In 1972 my parents decided to migrate to Australia. My sister, Ursh, had gone to Australia 12 months earlier and, being a close family, the decision was made to follow her. One of the reasons that swayed dad as well was the concern for the safety of his family. He always believed that eventually there would be a bloody revolution in South Africa because of the racist policies of the then South African Government . I realised later in life what a huge decision and sacrifice it must have been for dad. He had been a school teacher at the same school for over 30 years, he had 3 brothers, 3 sisters, countless nephews and nieces and many, many friends. At age 55 he had to start a new life in a new country. Establish a new home, make new friends, get a job! But he did. Coming from a claustrophobic and strict upbringing that existed when he was growing up, it must have taken a lot to embark on such a life-changing move. He always said that he had no regrets. And I believed him. And I take my hat off to him.

Back then air travel was still very expensive so we travelled to Australia by ship. That was great fun, let me tell you. Except for mum. Poor mum was seasick for the entire 3 week journey. I entered my very first talent quest on board the fair ship "Galileo Galilei " and won. But I have to tell you that, during the performance, I was so nervous my right leg developed the shakes and just wouldn't stop trembling. It must have looked absolutely weird. There I was, doing a John Lennon ballad,  "Imagine", while my right leg was doing an "Elvis" at a zillion miles an hour. But I'll never forget the feeling afterwards. It was like "WOW"!!  When I sat down I couldn't believe that I had actually held a Mic in my hand and I had performed in front of an audience. It just couldn't get any better than that! 

 Once in Australia I got really homesick. After 12 short months, with the money I'd saved and with help from dad, I was back on the ship headed back to Cape Town. That was a blast! I'd never travelled abroad before on my own. It was a whole new experience and one I embraced, as we all would have done with new-found freedom. I made so many good friends on board. It was also my first introduction to a liqueur called Galiano, by the way. I'd never heard of it before. One evening I was invited to a new mate's cabin for pre-dinner drinks. Someone produced a bottle of Galiano and I watched in amazement as I was shown how to set fire to my drink. But it got even better than that. The light was then turned off and the cabin was momentarily lit by about 20 little blue, flickering flames, before being extinguished and knocked back. Wow! I was blown away. Literally - after the 4th or 5th one. We seem to discover the most amazing things when we're not around our parents, don't we? I think some of us are still lucky to be alive. Anyway, I got involved in the ship's musical and sang "Oh What A Beautiful Morning" and a couple of other songs I can't recall. It was still a bit nerve wracking but this time my right leg did not develop the "Elvis". Once back in Cape Town I couldn't wait to get back to Australia - "The Lucky Country". I'd seen another part of the world - for my family and myself a better part of the world. The return journey was om the same ship and I was immediately slotted back into my former role in the musical, this time, however, with a new "pregnant" wife. 

None of my new friends in my new country were musical and I missed the jamming sessions a lot. I decided to have a crack at the talent quests. Incidentally, my song choice in my very first talent quest on the ship was decided by the process called "Do you know.....?". The band leader would read out a list of songs the band played and you'd choose the one you knew.   My first talent quest in Australia was at the Maroubra Seals Club in Sydney. And, again, no chart music, but this time I'd gone to a music shop and bought a song book of "pop" songs. There was no "Do you know....?" process in this quest. Frank Sinatra had just had a hit at the time called "My Way" - today, I think, the most recognised song anywhere in the world. It brought Frank Sinatra back after his career had faded. I went into the competition thinking I wouldn't win. Why I would think that I'll never know. Needless to say I won. And not expecting to win I had no back up song for the winners' performance. We live and learn I suppose. I just had to do "My Way" again. It became my "signature" song. I did it at every talent quest (won some, lost some). If there was a live band at a restaurant I was dining at I would always ask if I could do "My Way".

I even sang it at my wedding. There was no way I was going to miss out on that one as we had paid for the band. 

For a few years, during the mid 70's to the early 80's, the Hilton Hotel in Sydney regularly staged cabaret shows with artists from around the world. I absolutely loved the shows and tried not to miss any. The dinner shows were very posh affairs with every attendee dressed in their finery. Dinner was top notch and, needless to say, so was the entertainment.  I saw Lou Rawls twice (I'm a huge fan of Lou's), Neil Sedaka twice, Dionne Warwick twice and Jack Jones, the suave Canadian performer, once. But I always seemed to miss out on getting tickets for the one guy I idolised - Sammy Davis Jr. Sammy was an incredibly popular performer. During his time he was known as "Mr. Entertainment" and "the world's greatest living entertainer". To me, it seemed tickets to his shows at the Hilton were generally sold out before they were even released. Go figure that one out. My theory is that there must have been a huge number of people with "inside" information. However, while my disappointment was great at having missed seeing him live, I managed to obtain a recording of his last Sydney show, in 1982, which I treasure and guard with my life. And, it seems, all for a purpose.  

 I had always had it in the back of my mind to resurrect the music from the "swing" era. It was always there but, typically, like a lot of us, I never did anything about it. And that was pretty much it for my singing aspirations at the time. The 80's, for  my wife Jacky and myself , were hectic. We were married on September 12, 1981 and opened our first business a couple of years later. Our  first daughter, Elise was born in 1987 with our second daughter, Katey, born in 1990. As they saying goes, life kicked in and we had little time for anything else. Incidentally, when we were married Jacky and I had decided to wait 5 years prior to starting a family. To enjoy ourselves and really get to know one another, we said. And we did. We had a ball. We both had good incomes. We dined out all the time, had holidays twice a year, a nice house, nice cars. All the good stuff. And then, bang,  along comes your first born. Now, our lifestyle plan was a bit flawed. In hindsight, what we should have done was start that family immediately. Not go out and have fun first. Because overnight you are down to one income and not 2 people but 3 (and then 4) to feed, cloth etc. It was difficult but we adjusted. We had to! But there is an upside to all of that. An upside you wouldn't trade for the world. Watching your kids grow up and develop and give you the unconditional love that only kids can, well, no amount of money can buy that. That's priceless. 

When the kids were little I would read them bedtime stories every night. Sometimes Elise wouldn't fall asleep while I read the stories and I would give her the book to look at the pictures. Invariably, on doing a routine check, we would find her fast asleep, with the book resting on her face. She loved books. Today Elise lives in London after attending the Gold Coast campus of Griffith University,  doing her  Bachelor of Arts degree majoring in Creative Drama and Digital Video and then doing her Masters in Event Management. Both our girls attended college, here on the Gold Coast, which is big on the arts and literature. For a while Katey was content with the story reading, but when she was 4 or 5 years old she wanted me to sing her a song. Nothing wrong with that. I love singing. Only problem was that it never stopped at just one, I had to do a whole bracket. Then there was another development. She zeroed in on one particular song which she wanted me to sing over and over again. The song is "Strangers In The Night".  I don't think there are as many versions of the song anywhere in the world as what I have.  One evening, as I was singing my 23rd version of "Strangers", Katey piped up that I had hit a wrong note. Her   actual words were "You did that wrong".  And then went on to demonstrate how it should have been sung. Smart Alec! I had noticed for some time how pitch-perfect Katey had been in the past. This incident really made me sit up and take notice. My mum lived close to us in Sydney and would see the girls regularly. Mum, a choir singer as you know, taught the girls many songs. At night,  from the minute she stepped into the shower to when she turned it off, Katey would start singing in this little, high pitched, operatic voice. No words. Just something similar to scales. Every! Single! Night! From then I knew I had to nurture her talent. And, to date, it's been quite a journey. The journey trying to find the right path for Katey has gradually re-ignited my passion for performing the music from the "swing" era. And I'm loving every minutes of re-igniting that passion. Read more about Katey on her website.   

Harry Connick Jr. was the first entertainer to bring "swing" back to the mass market in the late 80's . It was inevitable. "Swing" was always going to make a comeback. Again and again and again. Harry was a child prodigy, and his music has endured the years, with 'swing" making him recognisable the world over.  Another "song stylist" in his own right. It was to be quite a long period before swing had another resurgence.  Then Diana Krall made her mark with her smooth style and in 2003 Michael Buble hit the scene with his interpretation of songs from the "swing" era with great success. This guy is an incredible song stylist with his own unique sound. Apparently, when he was first told he was going into the studio to do "swing" he really didn't want to do it. He wanted to launch his career with his own music. Well, someone, or something prevailed, and he released his self-titled album in 2003. The music from that golden era has grabbed the imagination of so many people today that there are tribute shows the world over to the "song stylists".  

2007 was a milestone for me. Here on the Gold Coast in Queensland, both Katey and I were cast in the Gold Coast Arts Centre's musical production, Broadway In Concert. The show ran for 5 sold out shows and the highlight for me was singing "The Lady Is A Tramp".

Today, I'm doing my bit to keep the legacy alive. Performing these timeless pieces of music is simply a pleasure and an honour.

Greg Aspeling