Colleen Hewett

Early years

Colleen Hewett was born on 16 April 1950 in Bendigo. She has an older sister, Glenys Hewett, who was a pop vocalist from the early sixties to mid-seventies. Hewett began her music career at the age of 12 when she sang with The Esquires at the Bendigo YMCA. At about 13 years old she appeared on TV pop music series, The Go!! Show, fifty years later she recalled "I wasn't of an age at that stage where I could go out on tour with anybody [...] I came down from Bendigo with a band I was working with there [...] then I came down again around my 14th birthday and did a solo spot on it ... they were just cover versions. I was just a little singer from Bendigo who came down on the train with the boys and did this amazing show that everybody watched".

From 1964 to 1966 she regularly performed with The Esquires and, in 1967, she joined a vocal trio, The Creations, with her sister, Glenys, and Michelle Kennedy. That group also backed various solo singers including Billy Adams and then Buddy England, and thereby toured Australia. By April that year, with Kennedy, she joined a soul-based group, Dice, which were renamed as Laurie Allen Revue. Other members were Laurie Allen (ex-Bobby & Laurie) on lead vocals, lead guitar and organ; Harry Henri on guitar (soon replaced by Phil Manning); Barry Rodgers on bass guitar (soon replaced by Wayne Duncan); and Gary Young on drums.

In April 1967 Allen had told Go-Set: "I realized just a three piece group couldn't give me the sound I wanted, so I added two girl vocalists, [Hewett] and [Kennedy], they are an act in themselves and combined to give us a distinctive sound which can't be done by any Australian group". As a member of the Laurie Allen Revue, Hewett was recorded on three singles, "Beautiful Brown Eyes" (August 1967), "Any Little Bit" (April 1968) and "As Long as I Got You" (June). By mid-1968 Hewett had joined Ian Saxon and the Sound, with Saxon on lead vocals; Geoff Oakes on saxophone; Graeme Trottman on drums. In 1969 Hewett left the group and was replaced on vocals by Marlene Richards (ex-Ivan Dayman Band) before the group recorded their debut single, "Home Cookin'" (1970).

"Day by Day" to Queen of Pop

Hewett started her solo music career in 1970, appearing regularly on TV pop music series, Bandstand. Her popularity with viewers resulted in her winning Best Newcomer Female Singer at the Bandstand Awards in December. She signed with Festival Records and her debut single, which was a cover version of Delaney and Bonnie's track, "Super Star" was released in June 1971. It reached No. 30 on the Go-Set National Top 40 Singles chart.

From 15 November 1971 to 22 July 1972 Hewett acted in the Australian musical theatre version of Godspell, at the Playbox Theatre, Melbourne. She recorded two versions of the show's tune, "Day by Day". The first on Godspell – Original Australian Cast had Johnny Young producing the cast album, which appeared in March 1972. The second version was produced by Ian "Molly" Meldrum and was issued as her second single, in November 1971. It peaked at No. 1 on the Go-Set charts and was certified as a gold record with shipment of over 50,000 copies. In April 1972 Hewett was the featured artist on a half-hour TV special performing "Day by Day", "By My Side", "Hey Jude" and "Jesus Christ Superstar".

After leaving Godspell, Hewett toured Australia performing in clubs and during TV appearances. Her debut self-titled album appeared in October 1972 and provided her next single, "Carry That Weight" – a cover of The Beatles track – which reached No. 29. She toured the United States and United Kingdom at the end of the year. At the TV Week King of Pop Awards she was voted Queen of Pop in both 1972 and 1973.

In January 1974, it was announced that Hewett had been signed to Atlantic Records. She released her second studio album M'Lady in June 1974. She travelled to the USA in 1975, after her contract with Pippin expired. In the US Colleen found it difficult to make progress and eventually returned to Australia in May 1977. In September 1977, Colleen was chosen for a lead role in a new ABC-TV series called 'The Truckies'

In late 1979 she issued "Dreaming My Dreams with You" – originally by Waylon Jennings – which reached No. 2 on the Australian Kent Music Report Singles Chart. It was produced by Roger Savage and Robie G. Porter for Wizard Records. In November that year she performed "Day by Day" at the Mushroom Records-sponsored, The Concert of the Decade, which appeared on the Various Artists' album of the same name in January the following year. Her version of "Wind Beneath My Wings" was released in February 1983, which did not reach the top 50. During the federal election campaign from February to March that year, Hewett provided lead vocals for the Liberal Party's theme song, "We're not Waiting for the World".

Stage, theatre and television

On 31 March and 1 April 1973 Colleen Hewett had the role of The Mother (Mrs Walker) in the local version of The Who's rock opera Tommy. The other Australian artists were Daryl Braithwaite (as Tommy), Bobby Bright, Linda George, Jim Keays, Ian Meldrum (as "Uncle Ernie" in Sydney) Doug Parkinson, Wendy Saddington, Broderick Smith, Billy Thorpe, and Ross Wilson. Hewett's other musical theatre credits include Pippin (February 1973, August 1974). Hewett's role was Catherine who is described as "a wealthy, pretty widow with a young son". While performing in Pippin, she and her co-star John Farnham (title role) also hosted a TV variety show, It's Magic, moving between the studio during the day and the theatre at night.

From the 1970s to the early 1990s, Hewett was also acting in TV dramas: Matlock Police (1973), Homicide (1974–76), The Truckies (1977–78), Carson's Law, Division 4, Young Ramsay (1977), Cop Shop, Prisoner (1984-85) and The Flying Doctors (1991).

Later work

Hewett was a guest vocalist with The Incredible Penguins in 1985 for a cover of "Happy Xmas (War Is Over)", a charity project for research on little penguins, which peaked at No. 10 on the Australian Kent Music Report in December.

In January 1992 she appeared in the theatre version of Return to the Forbidden Planet. In the 1990s she was working at radio station, Gold-FM.

From 3 August to 14 September 2006 she played Marion Woolnough, the mother of Peter Allen, in the Australian tour of The Boy From Oz headlined by Hugh Jackman. She also had a role as Matron "Mama" Morton in the musical Chicago with Caroline O'Connor and Craig McLachlan. In 2008, she played Johnny O'Keefe's mum in Shout! The Legend of The Wild One. In the 2011 movie The Cup she plays Pat Oliver, the mother of jockeys Jason and Damien Oliver.

In May 2015, Hewitt released her first album in 14 years, titled Black & White. The album included the first single "Shut Up and Let Me Breathe" which is about domestic violence. The album debuted at number 1 on the ARIA Jazz and Blues Chart.

Personal life

Colleen Hewett married Danny Finley (ex-MPD Ltd, drummer) in 1970, he was also her manager and agent during the 1970s and 1980s. The couple had three children. From 1978 Finley also managed John Farnham; in mid-1979 Hewett, Finley and Farnham were partners in a restaurant, Backstage in Melbourne. Farnham described the venture "[they] were putting their names on the line for a product they had complete trust in. They would have complete control of the restaurant, but would leave the menu management to the master chef". However the venture was "ill-fated" and became a "near disaster" financially. In October 1980 Finley assisted Johnny Young on his Young Talent Time and related TV ventures. Hewett and Finley divorced. She later recalled "I suppose you expect there to be something terrible or a nasty fight, but there wasn't ... I pulled the pin". Finley subsequently became her manager again.

Hewett was married a second time, and then divorced; her second husband had died by 2013. For her third marriage, in 2002 to Ian Aiken, a former Australian businessman: they generally lived in Fiji. In early 2006 Aiken left Hewett and they subsequently divorced with Aiken re marrying his former wife of 30 years Eva Aiken ; Aiken died in Fiji in early 2008.

As of 2000 Hewett has been in semi-retirement, spending time in Melbourne, Bendigo and Fiji, with family and friends.

Albums