The Australian entertainment industry has lost one of the greats of publicity. Our friend Suzie Howie has lost her battle with cancer.
Suzie Howie at the Mary Poppins rehearsal: Photo Ros O'Gorman
Melbourne based Suzie and her husband Paul Taylor are legends of the Australian entertainment industry. They worked on the biggest productions Australia has seen including ‘Mary Poppins’, ‘Wicked’ and ‘Jersey Boys’.
She also personally took care of Lord Andrew Lloyd Webber’s PR in Australia and worked with the theatre legend on his recent ‘Love Never Dies’ production. The Australian production format is now the production Lord Webber is using around the world.
Everyone will have a Suzie story. I met Suzie 10 years ago when she was working on ‘We Will Rock You’ with Brian May and Roger Taylor. Like anyone who met Suzie, you could not help but love her. She had an immediate warmth that made everyone feel special.
It was funny how we became her introduction to online media back in 2003 and even recently Suzie still talked about Brian May’s reaction to the publication of his interview within an hour of recording it. “I still can’t work out what you do, but Brian May loved you,” she said.
Suzie’s death has cast a blanket of sadness over the Australian entertainment industry today. She was one of the greats.
