Tangled Magazine

So Much Beauty, And More - An Interview with Kate Ceberano

Interview and Written by Jamie Evangelista

It’s no exaggeration that Kate Ceberano is an Australian entertainment icon. Beginning at the age of 15 and a career that has spanned for 25 years, there is no stopping her. She has appeared on Channel 7’s hit singing show, It Takes Two, for three seasons and was recently named the runner up with singing partner AFL player Russell Robertson. During the rigorous routine for the show, she managed to record her triumphant 17th album, a collection of contemporary song covers including three original songs, called So Much Beauty. We chat to Kate about her album, being on It Takes Two and juggling work and motherhood.

Congratulations on being the finalists for It Takes Two, tell us about your experience on the show and singing with Russell Robertson.
I found this year’s experience on TV amazing because Russell turned flexible as a person because considering he’s an AFL player, I thought he was a really great singer and really put an effort in being able to, as a performing artist on TV to get like a whole range of different things going. I’m glad that Julia [Morris, comedienne, the winner of It Takes Two] won, she definitely deserved it. In all fairness to Russell, Julia’s had about 20 years of performing experience and he had none so I thought Russell handled himself beautifully. I couldn’t have been happier for him. Obviously, because I got so involved, I was so delighted by his experience and he was moved and had one of the best experiences in his life, actually he said.

Are you planning to come back next season?
I would love too. I find it hard to match up that experience, I’ve got to say. I really fell in love working with Russell. I love singing with him and I think our voices really match. In fact, I even went as far as to invite him to record something on this album and I really take my professional music quite seriously and I wouldn’t just invite anyone on just because he was a mate but I really believe in him as a singer. I think he has more experience to be had but generally he is a great singer and really enjoyed it. I don’t know how I’ll be able to compete with that maybe I’ll get back on again. Who knows? With Mossy, you’ve got the most highest caliber of professional singers in the country on the show now. It’s pretty amazing, you’ve got the leading opera star and one of Australia’s most beloved rock and roll artist, Ian Moss and Wendy and I, for years, been around the field, and Ricki Lee as well. I think the show generally has really come up into such a high level, it’s amazing.

Onto your album, So Much Beauty, why did you decide to do a cover album?
I thought it was a really good idea for the record company to invite me to do interpretations of these contemporary songs, Snow Patrol and Maroon 5, are still playing regularly on the radio with those songs. I’m like, ‘Are you sure? You really want to have a go at this?’ And they’re like, ‘Really’. As a singer, your interpretation of it is highly different to the original artist, and yet the song is worthy covering. They’re just beautiful songs so I love ‘em.

You recorded the album in three weeks, why so quickly and was it difficult?
I tend to tour all the time, working and the band I work with is the band I tour with and is the band I record with, we’re like a family. Doing it over three weeks is not too hard because we’re used to putting up a whole set every night. The hard part is knowing when to know when something is finished and it’s like painting a picture, how do you know when it’s done? Fortunately I had my favourite producers around me and management while I was doing the show. They were able to take a lot of control overseeing the production, making sure the mastering was complete. We sort of piled the same amount of work you do over three months. This album is my favourite album I’ve ever recorded to date because in there there’s a certain tranquility. In all the chaos in this past couple of weeks, making that album was so calm and peaceful and I think in the music, it sounds like that too. It was sort of my personal quiet space. It’s really nice.

How does it feel to be up to your 17th album?
If I’m tired, then I have an excuse [laughs]. I consider that to be quite a triumph considering our disposable culture this day in age. Things come and go, we fallen out of love very fast with things. It’s proof that some things just don’t go away [laughs]. They can’t get rid of me that easily! I love what I do for a living. I’m still in wonder about the things I do for a living. I’ve never gotten really tired or bored or gotten too cranky. Everyday I get to do this and it’s pretty cool.

In an industry where a lot of performers only last a few years, you’ve stood the test of time. What do you attribute your longevity in this industry to?
Envy [laughs]. I always look at someone like Madonna and Kylie and all the great singers in my time going all the way back to Aretha Franklin. I’ve always desired something in them, desired the same opportunities that they’ve had. I’ve desired all that time to go out and invent things and I just don’t want the play to end. It’s envy. Outright green envy.

Do you think you have a different audience now to when you began, or has it moved with you?
I think I have the same audience but they’ve grown older. Now their children are sort of getting into it especially the kids. It’s a big joke to me but they go, ‘Oh Mum, there’s that dancer!’ [laughs] I’m not a dancer! I’m the Bridget Jones of Australian dance television. They relate to the performing. Kids, they’re not into what’s cool and not cool, what they’re into is entertainment. They turn on the tele and see someone with lots of colour and bright lights and appearing to be really enthusiastic about it and they’re like ‘I want to be that like that’.

How do you balance working and motherhood?
Fortunately most of my work happens at night. I wake up and do all the normal things, taking her to school and pick her up if I can and then I’m off to work or like today I do press and then I come home and see her later tonight. It isn’t your average upbringing. She’s actually named Gypsy, because I always intended for her to travel and be part of our travelling circus. She seems to playing the part really comfortably.

Do you think Gypsy is going to emulate her mum?
At this point, all I can see in her is she is eager to start her life. I know exactly how she felt. I left school really young and I started performing really early because I just wanted to be amongst it and wanted to be a part of it. I can see she inherited my same desire.

So Much Beauty is in stores now.