Fiona Wilkinson originally comes from Canberra where she studied classical guitar and musicianship at the Canberra School of Music, sang in many choirs and sang lead and played keyboards in a 50s and 60s rock'n'roll covers band, "Silhouette".
After moving to Sydney in 1996, Fiona joined the "Beethoven Society of Australia" mass choir and, from there, became a member of various small choirs, cabaret groups and vocal quartets, performing at gigs all over Sydney, from doing backing vocals for Michael Crawford at the Entertainment Centre to entertaining the footy crowd before a Swans game at the SCG.
It was during this time that Fiona developed her love of singing close harmonies in small vocal groups, and from here she joined a cabaret-style girl trio "Deluxe", where she picked up the art of arranging music for voices and bands.
At the same time Fiona was being coached in performance and stage craft by cabaret singer Tami Lind, and took classical singing lessons with Anthony Winter, ultimately gaining her Performers Certificate in Singing through Trinity College.
It was in 2002, after singing in a cappella gospel choir "The Elementals", when Fiona and Tony formed Sway, Fiona's first foray into the wonderful world of a cappella.
Tony Watson
Tony Watson has been singing all his life. Born into a musical family where both parents were music teachers, Tony was exposed to music constantly.
Tony has studied piano and musicianship and has a passion for music, both recorded and live.
The son of renowned musical director/conductor Dr Steve Watson, Tony's strengths are his ear for music, his wide vocal range and his ability to pick up new material almost instantly.
His first foray into live performance came in the Freddie Mercury benefit
concert at the Metro Theatre in 2000. This involved performing in the vocal ensemble and assisting with arrangements and teaching the choir.
Since then he has been a member of vocal ensemble "Voice Australia", and has performed on stage at Carols in the Domain as backing for Doug Parkinson, Christmas at Darling Harbour and many other live performances.
He was also a member of popular Sydney a cappella gospel group "The Elementals" where he performed many concerts at venues around inner Sydney as well as weddings and festivals.
After leaving "The Elementals" in 2002, Tony, along with fellow- "Elemental" Fiona, formed Sway.
Sara O'Connor
Sara O'Connor studied creative arts at Wollongong University, majoring in music performance and acting, and has also completed a sound technology course at the Australian Film Television & Radio School.
Post University her interest in music took her around the world, beginning in Dublin, where she recorded and performed live across the country with a jazz band.
After twelve months in Dublin, she moved to London to study acting and directing at The Globe Theatre where she later accepted a job as a performance-based tour guide.
On returning to Australia, Sara worked as a voice-over artist and singer with the likes of Ted Mulry, Sam McNally and the Freddy Wilson Big Band.
For the past six years she has been working in television in post production in shows such as Australian Idol.
Sara is also a founding member of Three Ways Theatre Company (TWTC) and enjoys the role of producer.
Sara has always had a love for a cappella music and jumped at the opportunity to sing with Sway, which she joined in May 2003.
Chris Kearns
Chris Kearns drove his family mad as a child with his constant singing, attempts to be a human trumpet (later identified by an astute listener as a flugelhorn) and alarming vocal imitations of a rhino giving birth. Chris attributes his love of melody and a good harmony to being raised on a musical diet of his elder sister's records (including Supertramp, David Bowie and Queen) and his father's tapes (John Denver, Charlie Pride). A chance encounter with a community college a cappella course in 1995 was enough for Chris to come out of the harmony closet and bare his voice to anyone prepared to listen.
Chris joined Sway in May 2007.
Influences
The Manhattan Transfer
The Idea Of North
The Real Group
Vox P
and other harmony groups:
Queen
The Bee Gees
The Eagles
The Sweet Inspirations
The Beach Boys
many amazing doo wop groups of the 50s
and some other incredible musicians who have inspired us with their vocals, their rhythms, their harmonies
Since its inception in 2002, Sway has performed in various venues in and around Sydney to very enthusiastic audiences, at corporate gigs, music concerts and cocktail parties.
The four members of the group, Fiona Wilkinson, Tony Watson, Sara O'Connor and Chris Kearns, are all accomplished vocalists with decades of professional and semi-professional vocal experience between them.
They each contribute to the group in very unique ways:
Fiona with her arranging skills and her love of sometimes very questionable retro music,
Tony with his amazing perfect pitch, his sense of humour, and his love and knowledge of good rock music,
Sara with her sweet and playful jazz voice and her decadent scatting style, and
Chris with his experience as a vocal percussionist and vocal trumpeter, and his habit of emulating these instruments anytime anyplace.
Where is the best place to hear Sway?
The best place is in a very large bathroom with tiled walls and floors, in order to get the most amazing acoustics. But chances are you won't catch Sway all in one bathroom at the same time.
But you may find Sway performing at the following places:
a music concert somewhere in or around Sydney
a wedding, either at the ceremony, or as guests arrive at the reception, or even as background music for bridal photographic sessions
a Christmas party or concert
a cocktail party
a theatre foyer before a show or during interval
a jazz club
a restaurant
a winery
a private party
or at any occasion which you think could do with some stylish music to brighten things up
Some of our clients and venues for gigs so far:
a very cool wedding anniversary party
The Short and Sweet Film Festival
weddings of all shapes and sizes and locations
Colgate / Palmolive Christmas party
University of Western Sydney Blacktown campus Christmas party
Glebe Music Festival
Parramatta City Council
Side On Cafe
Woodfire Pizza Cabaret Restaurant
Metropolitan Church in Petersham
Carols By The Tree at Darling Harbour
The challenge is
to give our music uncompromising rhythm, dynamics,
feeling,
drive and
contrast,
using just
our four voices
and our creativity.
DJ ViZion's hit "Rob, Cheat and Steal" from his "Crime" CD plays in the UK on Friday, June 15 at 3:00 pm US EST take a listen! Just log on to www.jazzsyndicate.co.uk for the Karl McNeill Show!
"You Gotta Buy the "Crime" CD! on Sale Now 7.99 for the Month of June Only! Thanks! DJ ViZion
iNtrmzzo promised to release some new song on MySpace and the first one is there: The iNtrmzzo Tune !
Check it out yourself and feel free to leave a comment. We are recording some more songs at the moment and they will also be placed on our MySpace.
The iNtrmzzo Tune is produced by iNtrmzzo and Vyanah (www.myspace.com/vyanah)
In case you get the chance to watch, we are on the AGT Semi Final TONIGHT, Sunday Channel 7 at 6.30pm. Look out for the guys in bright orange suits singing a Beatles tune. It could be us.
Ladies and smellymen, this is a comment to all you lovely folk out there who would be happpy to help out in the jake rush community choir, for my new recording, please message me back if your keen, all your lovely voices are needed to bust a lung in the house of god
