YOLANDE GIBSON has always held the music of VERA LYNN close to her heart.
The New Zealand-born vocalist has been performing Lynn's tunes for more than 20 years and bears a striking vocal resemblance to the Red Sails In the Sunset star.
``I find her songs stirring, exactly the effect they were meant to have,'' Gibson said.
``I feel them this way every time I sing them.
```I always get a lump in the throat and I don't try to fight against it. I feel the words, I feel the music, I give it everything I've got.'' When Gibson sang two of Lynn's songs during an appearance on a special ANZAC television presentation in New Zealand in the late 1970s, she was tagged as ``New Zealand's Vera Lynn.'' She has also been compared to starlets such as LIZA MINELLI and BARBRA STREISAND. She released an album called Yolande Gibson Sings Vera Lynn in 1976 which was followed by the release of singles such as Save Me and Beyond The Fields We Know. Gibson has shared the stage with some of the greats and toured with HARRY SECOMBE in the late 70s, who was quoted as saying, ``Yolande sounds more like Vera Lynn, than Vera Lynn herself''.
Gibson has played alongside DICK EMERY, ROY ORBISON, SOLOMON KING, GENE PITNEY and MAX BYGRAVES. She has appeared on every major television show in New Zealand and Australia, and hosted her own show called A Girl To Watch Music By. Gibson continues Lynn's music in her 90-minute tribute show.
It features songs such as Wish Me Luck, Red Sails In The Sunset, Bless 'Em All, Nightingale Sang In Berkley Square, White Cliffs of Dover, We'll Meet Again, Lilli Marlene and Thank You For The Music. She first played the show in March 2003 in New Zealand before a capacity crowd.
Gibson will present her tribute to Vera Lynn at ADAMSTOWN RSL CLUB on April 16 in a special dinner and show.
Tickets are $27.50 and include a two-course meal and live entertainment. Bookings can be made at the club.
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