Appeared in Australian Playboy, March 1980.

As submitted by wdawes

The whispers that have been building about Jay Smith since the middle of the nineties are threatening to become a roar. For an unsigned Australian artist there is a rare and remarkable aura surrounding her name.

Those who have seen her find themselves eagerly spreading the word about a striking singer with powerful original songs able to conjure up a mesmerising mood. A mood as potent at the Metro, where she opened for INXS with Jon Stevens and the ornate State Theatre where she opened for Vonda Shepherd, as in the intimate confines of Oxford Street's Club Acoustica, where she weaves a seductive spell in the company of an acoustic guitarist and a cellist.

Some of those drawn and entranced by Jay's breadth of musicality become collaborators as well as admirers. People like Human Nature producer David Rudder, INXS members Kirk Pengilly and Andrew Farriss, former Noiseworks bassist Steve Balbi, young ABC solo artist Mark O'Shea, and multi-platinum singer/writer Jenny Morris.

It was back in 1997 that Black & White magazine observed: "While her extraordinary vocal range matches that of Kate Bush, lyrically Jay Smith exhibits a social conscience and a feminist slant." That, however, was far from the beginning of her impact. By that stage she had performed, and been enthused over, from Britain Isles to the East Indies, Central Europe to the South Pacific.

Dancing by the age of 5 and singing by 13, Jay was only ever truly interested in making music. And for an Adelaide schoolgirl that meant taking advantage of any opportunity that presented itself. "My first television appearance happened when I was 12 and I started singing with bands when I was still at school" she recalls.

From 14 to 17 Jay was a member of an extensively trained dance troupe called The Australian Drill Team. After appearing at the famed Edinburgh Military Tattoo in 1991 she eased back from dance and hooked up with a local covers band to do her first professional gigs in pubs and clubs. "I'd done my HSC and I had to think about the future" she reveals, "and that future had me as a recording artist! So I did that little scene for a couple of years to get the live experience and when I was 19 I left Adelaide, where I had lots of friends, lots of gigs and life was very comfortable, and moved to Sydney, which was very scary because I didn't know anyone.

"I told a few white lies to get my first gig. I said I had this great band. In fact I didn't know anyone, except a couple of people, but fortunately one of them helped me to find a keyboard player. We went out as a duo, playing a sort of cross between jazz, pop and folk. I was waitressing and everything to keep alive but I kept out there performing all the time, and it was a good singing apprenticeship. I was determined not to let Sydney break me so I dug in and met another musician and started writing new songs with him. I still didn't really know what I was or exactly what I wanted to do - I grew up listening to so much great stuff that there was always a whole range of musical possibilities in my mind - but I knew I had something to offer."

Talent will out and so will a voice like Jay's, which soars, swoops and serenades with impressive agility. She found herself singing at global song festivals and competitions and, inexorably, her star rose. She was invited to Indonesia in 1995 and the following year was flown to Romania to represent Australia at the International Golden Stag Festival in Brashov. Performing her original songs Ordinary Day and Wedding Band she came in third behind contestants from the home country and Norway.

In 1999 (by which time she was enjoying popular attention as a part of The Nevilles on Channel 9's The Footy Show) she triumphed in Australia's most prestigious song competition, The Australian Open Singing Championships, beating 15 other finalists to first place and a $75,000 purse. Two months later she was announced as one of 16 finalists the South Pacific International Song Contest (which attracted 3,000 entrants) and went on to win the Best Independent Category with her own song, Down With The Worms. By the end of an extraordinary year she took out first prize at the prestigious Benelux International Song Festival with two songs co-written with Danny McCarthy - Heaven Sent and Wicked Little Way. This led to invitations to perform in Dubai and New York.

By that point of her career she had penned almost a hundred songs – many of them quirky and compelling. When interpreted with her ethereal voice they simply knocked over whomever was listening. Comparisons to the young Kate Bush were not uncommon. "I always loved singing opera" she explains. "I did a bit of light training in Adelaide with this teacher and I really enjoyed it, so I started down a track for a while of trying to combine an operatic thing with a contemporary feel, even though nobody wanted to know about it, or at least nobody who was in a position to sign me up! It was just too different, too way out.

"I have some copies of that early stuff and it really is out there, left of centre. I really loved twisted adult fairy tales and I think they found their way into my lyrics, which were often confrontational, with a twist of dark humour. I tended to depict the harsh realities of life. That's where I started writing and I guess over the past five years I've brought it back to more of a commercial thing, though hopefully still with my own stamp. I loved stories as a youth - that's actually where a lot of this early writing came from. I guess if I was totally self-indulgent but rather than become too deep, too one sided I learned to appreciate the value of songs that provide light and shade."

It was Jay's passion and intensity, overlayed with the beguiling whimsy of such highlight songs as Mermaid and the playful and often show-stopping Spreading Myself Too Thin which captured imaginations at her Big Apple showcases at The Living Room in bohemian Soho, and upstate in Woodstock. "The gigs I did in New York last year made me realise that if I could fit in there I could fit in anywhere. I feel like I'm ready now - the timing is right. I've got the songs. I know there is room here in this country for me to offer something a little different and still be accepted. Perhaps if I'd started in America I might be signed by now because they seem to be more open to different styles. Here it can be more restricted - you're either rock or pop. There's an incredible variety of talent here but its not always nurtured to the degree it should be by record companies."

The year 2000 has seen Jay tour nationally with the Tim Rice Concert Spectacular, in the company of INXS, David Essex, Bachelor Girl, Kate Ceberano and Anthony Warlow. This gave her the opportunity to do some work with Rice's musical director Andrew Powell (who, incidentally, produced Kate Bush's breakthrough debut album The Kick Inside). Though largely unknown to the audience, the "girl with the long red hair and the great voice" stirred more than a little attention from intrigued members of the audience.

The remainder of the year has been devoted to painstaking work on the songs for her first album which she sees as needing to walk the line between commercial accessibility and "where I've come from, the way-left things I've done. I don't want anyone to think 'oh yeah, another lightweight pop act'. I want these songs to have the sort of substance that will last. I'm not embarrassed at all to say that I want the stadium effect; that one day I want to be able to walk out on stage in front of large audiences and have them sing my lyrics. Who wouldn't want that!?"

At the age of 25 Jay Smith has a wide range of musical reference points both heard first hand and learned. Her childhood ears were bombarded by Madonna, Queen, Meatloaf, Duran Duran, Culture Club and Adam & the Ants but she also found her way to people like Jeff Buckley, Joni Mitchell, Nick Drake, Carole King, Cat Stevens, Aretha Franklin, Stevie Wonder, classic soul, an array of jazz, some symphonic sounds, and other "rootsy, folksy kind of stuff".

All of it has coalesced into a vital part of her muse. "I think I'd be quite mad if I wasn't able to write songs" she offers. "I've often thought how crazy you could end up in a 9 to 5 life, as an accountant or something, if you couldn't express your feelings."

Source: http://www.takeoutpop.com/JAYSMITH1.htm

As submitted by wdawes

One of the presenters on the childrens tv show, The Big Arvo on Network Seven

As submitted by wdawes

Queensland stripper who recently ran in the Queensland State elections in the Logan district. She lost.

As submitted by wdawes

Born in 1980. Height: 163 cm Hair: Blonde Eyes: Hazel.

Film & TV:2 Films and 9 Television drama productions - Core and recurring cast roles - NZ, Australia, USA, UK. TV Commercials: - Numerous - Hero and featured roles.

Non Broadcast Video - Lead and support roles. Theatre:13 years Young Actors Theatre Productions - Lead and Support roles.

Award: Best Juvenile Actor - NZ Film and Television Awards 1994 Accents: NZ, American.

Jay has been on the show twice. The first was as a girl that stayed with Ellen's sister. Her return role is that of a staff nurse at the clinic. She went out with Jim on and off until Jim took off. She was dating a doctor at the clinic but got married to another one to allow him to adopt a child.

1999 - Shortland Street as Tasmin Yates

1997 - Hercules as Ocea

1996 - Every Woman's Dream as Samantha (Age 14)

1995 - Bonjour Timothy as Melissa Anreson

1994 - Hercules and the Lost Kingdom as Village Girl

1993 - Deepwater Haven as Georgie Wilson

1993 - Shortland Street as Dominique Coombes

1988 - Navigator as Griffin's Girlfriend

Source: http://www.shortlandst.com/cast/xyz/jay_saussey.htm

As submitted by wdawes