vanessa kelly

VANESSAS STORY

I once read, ”Its never too late to be what you should’ve been”.

When you think about how short a lifetime really is, how could you not follow your hearts desire? I’m only going to be Vanessa Kelly once! So, I figure I better give her a good shot! I’m telling you this, so I don’t forget to follow my heart, I know it’s cliché, but when I stick with my heart, I never fail.

I love music. I can’t imagine having never sung, danced, or listened to a beautiful melody. To me songs are like flowers and much like a flower, a song is born. They’re seeds resting until one decides to rise and shine. Each one has its own story to tell. Some have thorns. Some choose their colours with great care. Some tease us, unveiling their petals one by one. Some have perfumed the whole world, while others save their fragrance in hope of being loved one day.

I’d like to tell you about me in my own words! I am not going to list every gig I’ve ever done. I’d rather tell you about experiences that I’ve found interesting, honest or funny.

I grew up in a Sydney suburb called Kingsgrove, with my mum, dad, brother, dog and various other family pets. We lived in a small but comfortable house. I was a bit of a tomboy, I would definitely ditch Barbie to go on an adventure or climb a tree. I remember thinking that Heaven was a hospital, because this is where we went, on the day my duck died! What I didn’t understand was my mum was about to give birth to my brother! I thought we were going to visit my duck. I used to think there were little bands living inside the radio, so I secretly broke one to try and find these little people. It was like discovering The Tooth Fairy didn’t exist!
I loved performing on top of the old kitchen table in our backyard; it was my own private stage and apparently I used to sing the lyrics to “Cheap wine and a three day growth” as “Cheap wine and a female goat”! I only recently found out that I am not the only one to have misheard this lyric! At least I have the excuse of only being 4 yrs of age at the time.
My family are all music lovers, I’d listen to my dad sing along to ‘Norwegian Wood” The Beatles/ rubber sole album and Queens Greatest Hits, Carol king and Stevie Wonder. I have a fond memory of a narrated musical by Harry Nilsson titled “The Point” a real trip! The first record I ever bought with my own pocket money was Madonna’s ‘Like a Virgin’. My favourite movie was ‘Willy Wonka and the chocolate factory”, and ‘To Kill a Mocking Bird’ was the first novel I ever fell in love with.

I knew I wanted to be on the stage early on, I just couldn’t figure out exactly what I was going to be. I was always singing, and making up songs. I tried my hand at figure skating, gymnastics, acting, roller-skating, (that’s when I joined a limbo roller skating team). You’d roll under a bar, inches from ground level, while holding your ankles in side splits. I remember my mums’ not so happy reaction when I announced my latest goal.
For a short while, (maybe a week) along with several others, I held the world record for ‘7 inches’. We were invited to display our skills on the David Frost show. It was filmed out here, but aired in England, so we never got to see it. When I got news that some American girl had cleared 6.5 inches, I knew it was time for a career change.

Dance School beckoned, along with Singing lessons. I had found my calling at last. I just loved it. I became obsessed with Singing and Tap dancing. Eisteddfods, amateur theatre, competitions and local shopping centre shows ensued. I got my first singing gig when I was 16 at Australia’s Wonderland. I was so excited, we all were! Except for the oldest cast member, who announced on our first lunch break that this job was just a bit better than the dole! I was mortified at the time.

The gigs, competitions, experiences that followed, ranged from exhilarating, funny, disastrous, to plain embarrassing. I’ve joined a lot of different bands in my career! The first rock band I joined played a bikie festival. This was not a fun gig for me. I’m not a debaucherous type. Anyhow, a photo of me singing at this gig found it’s way into a motorcycle magazine, onto a page titled ‘Bikes; boobs; and babes’. I cried, but find it rather amusing when I think about it now. I don’t get why they bothered using my photo? I was the only sober, clothed person on the page!
The most obscure gig I’ve experienced to date was working at a theme park in South East Asia, which was still under construction. I lived there for 6 months with 7 other cast members, and basically did three shows a day, 6 days a week, to absolutely no one. The Park never opened! The entrance tollgates weren’t even built, and we had to wear hard hats while we were performing! One of the construction workers decided he didn’t like our choreography, so demonstrated his suggestion of doing cartwheels instead. Before our first performance we made a request for our stage t