Hideaway Presents Aretha Soul Diva (Saturday)

Saturday, 17th Jun 2017

Hideaway presents Aretha Soul Diva - celebrating the music of Aretha Franklin for a three night residency featuring the vocal talents of Lily Dior and Mary Pearce with Hideaway's MD and keys maestro Janette Mason and an all-star band.

Lily Dior

Recognised as one of Australia’s finest singers, Lily Dior has shared the stage with a remarkable list of outstanding musicians from Australia and around the world and has performed at many of Australia's best venues including The Opera House Concert Hall, The State Theatre, Sydney Town Hall and The Domain. A finalist at The National Jazz Awards she is also an experienced radio personality and host of The Freedman Fellowship Jazz Awards. 

The daughter of professional musicians who met and married in London, Lily spent her first five years touring the world with her parents who then settled in Australia. Returning to her roots in 2014, Lily has spent the last year in London building her reputation and has already established herself as an in demand performer appearing at  iconic jazz venues such as Ronnie Scott’s, The 606 Club and Pizza Express Soho.

Discovered by the late great Jackie Orszaczky as a teenager, performing a show she wrote and produced on the life of Billie Holiday, Lily became a seminal member of Sydney’s hottest Soul/Funk outfit, ‘The Godmothers’, wowing audiences with her electric stage presence and powerful voice.

“If you see only one local band this year, make sure you catch this shimmering and wonderful soul funk act” (Bruce Elder, SMH)

Mary Pearce

Mary has worked with artists such as Lionel Richie, Grace Jones, Courtney Pine, Boy George and Donna Summer. In 1994 she made her debut on the West End Stage in “The Original Blues Brothers”. Her love for the stage and passion for singing has led her to work with Andy Hay on the touring production of “Hold On”.

In 2004 the release of underground smash “Young Hearts” with Kujay Da Da, once again brought Mary to the fore front of the dance music industry. In 2009 Mary's vocals spread across the dance floors of the world when she featured in Calvin Harris' single 'Ready For The Weekend'.

As a solo artist Mary featured and enjoyed success with Leeds based outfit “Up Yer Ronson”. Live/Touring performances: include Primal Sceam, Beverly Night, Kubb, Chaka Khan, Culture Club, Donna Summer, Roy Ayers, Shola Ama to name but a few.

Janette Mason - Musical Director & Piano

If there's an explosion of curly red hair buzzing around at the business end of our beautiful Yamaha grand piano, and a room bursting with musically induced grins, then you can be sure it's Janette Mason at the ivories.

Appointed as Hideaway's first Musical Director in 2012, Janette's talents as a producer, arranger and band leader have left a distinctive and extremely popular mark on Hideaway's in-house productions, a series of sell-out shows that include Showtime Presents Bond, Wall to Wall: Prince and Wall to Wall: Bowie.

Also a talented composer, her Trio's 2010 CD, Alien Left Hand, was nominated for a Parliamentary Jazz Award and her work also features on the soundtrack of award-winning independent film Ruby Blue, starring Bob Hoskins.

Her credits as an elite keyboard player include Oasis, Seal, Pulp and Robert Wyatt, as well as the cream of the UK's jazz talent including Clare Martin and Ian Shaw.