"There's a difference between a singer and a performer. A singer gets up and sings. A performer’s business is to entertain." Wilma Reading is a performer who has entertained the likes of jazz extraordinaire Duke Ellington and the Queen of Jazz herself, Ella Fitzgerald. In her 40-year career she has conquered the international show business world from New York to London.
From small beginnings growing up in her hometown in North Queensland, Reading has travelled the world exploring her passion for performing and is now living proof of her unwavering belief that music has no age.
It is the ability to communicate with the audience that Reading loves most about performing. “I love people, I’m a people person. To see how your songs can swing people into different moods … you might touch an area of someone’s life. Maybe you’ve sung their favourite song or you can excite them with swing or jazz.”
"There's a difference between a singer and a performer. A singer gets up and sings. A performer’s business is to entertain."
Reading fondly tells the story of when she met the legendary American jazz singer, Ella Fitzgerald, just one of the many famous names who has helped shape Reading's love of singing and supported her rise to international stardom. "I met Ella at the Ronnie Scott’s Jazz Club in London when I was living there. By that time she was quite elderly. I said how do you feel about singing and she said 'what else am I gonna do, girl?’ She just said sing ‘til you drop, so that’s what I’m going to do."
The first big kick of her career came when she was invited to sing with celebrated American composer and jazz orchestra bandleader, Duke Ellington. Reading was sent to audition with Ellington’s friend and famous jazz composer, Billy Strayhorn. “He gave me the hardest song that was ever written to audition with - Lush Life. I sang the song and I was thinking Oh gosh, I’ve messed this up! After what seemed like an eternity he turned to me and said ‘Thank you for singing the song the way I wrote it and yes, you’ve got the job’. I was so happy.” Reading remains to be the last performer alive to have performed with the Duke Ellington Orchestra.
In her glory days, Reading would perform in long, sequined gowns with flared sleeves and would sing with an infectious energy and showbiz smile. To this day, she maintains the beauty of a woman who spent years in the spotlight.
Reading's musical career began when she travelled from Cairns to Brisbane as a 17-year-old. After singing a few songs in a small coffee shop for a friend’s birthday, she was approached by the conductor of a 17-piece swing band, who offered her a job singing at the Ritz Ballroom.
"Mum and Dad asked if I’d be interested in making singing my career. So I said 'yeah, okay’ but I didn’t think I was good enough for someone to offer me a job." What started out as a profound appreciation of music, encouraged by her musically oriented family, had now turned into a lifelong passion that took Reading’s career from Australia to the international stage.
During the 1970s, Reading’s success reached new heights as she performed in venues as famous as the Copacabana nightclub in New York and on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson. “Oh yes, that was another great thing,” Reading exclaims as she goes on to list another of her proudest achievements – helping compose and sing the title song for the Julie Andrew’s film, The Tamarind Seed.
Reading also ventured into acting, taking over a role from jazz and pop singer Cleo Laine in a West End production of Showboat in London. While Reading enjoyed uncovering different areas of entertainment, she found her true passion and the most success was in performing. “I found by moving from country to country I had to adapt to certain ways of working on stage,” she says. “I’m used to looking at people and being able to connect with the public but in theatre when the lights are down you don’t see anybody.”
While in recent years Reading has enjoyed a quiet life in Cairns, occasionally performing for local charities, she is currently preparing to return to the stage at the 2015 Brisbane International Jazz Festival, where she will perform with a jazz band comprised of local musicians. Andrew Butt is a jazz saxophonist who arranged for Reading to perform at the festival. "To work with a singer of Wilma's calibre and experience is a rare opportunity. She’s such a humble woman, you would never know that she had worked with all those amazing people and done all the things she has done. Her story is one that needs to be told."
While she happily shares stories of the many triumphs her talent has earned, when it comes to talking about anything but her career Reading becomes less candid. “I’d rather not mention my personal life because I don’t like to mix it with my business,” Reading says with a serious edge. She is unwilling to even reveal her age. “People put you in a box when they ask how old you are.”
Since returning to Australia, Reading has been able to pass on her extensive musical knowledge through teaching at the North Queensland TAFE institute. “I love seeing the young ones really bloom. I always say to my students, be flexible. It keeps you as a lasting performer, something that you can keep throughout your life.”
Reading is now putting this into practice as she works towards bringing herself back to an international level for her upcoming performance. “I’m a hard taskmaster so I have to push myself. It’s a challenge for me, and I love challenges.”
"...be flexible. It keeps you as a lasting performer, something that you can keep throughout your life."
