Australian jazz singer Kerrie Biddell has died at the age of 67 of a stroke. She had been in poor health since 2001.
Kerrie’s first job was singing backing vocals for Dusty Springfield at Chequers in Sydney. She also worked with Dizzy Gillespie, Don Burrows and Buddy Rich/
Kerrie joined The Affair in 1968 and appeared in Bandstand, Uptight, GTK and The Club Show. The Affair won the Battle of the Sounds and a trip to England. She then joined the Daly-Wilson Big Band and toured Australia with Dudley Moore.
Kerrie became a solo act in 1972. Her first solo album scored her two Australian Record Awards. (The awards were later renamed The ARIAs). She then had her own radio show ‘Kerrie Biddell and Friends’ on the ABC.
That led to a career as Australia’s most prolific studio singer. She sang on hundreds of jingles, film scores and TV shows. Kerrie Biddell sang the them from the 80s Aussie soap ‘Sons & Daughters’.
In 1983 Kerrie joined the faculty of the Jazz Diploma course at the Conservatorium of Music in 1983 and has been teaching there on and off up to the present time.
In 2001, due to ill-health, Kerrie stopped performing but his continued teaching masterclasses and private tuition.
