STAYING POWER Kate Cobrano

After four decades in the music industry, Kate Ceberano's still going strong. The singer talks about career highs and lows, and making peace with what might have been.

- SUSAN HORSBURGH

In  the resurrected glory of St Kilda’s historic George Ballroom, Kate Ceberano beams that brilliant signature smile for the camera, revelling in the nostalgia of the moment. She’s back where it all began. These days, with its ornate ceilings and gilded mirror, the Victorian ballroom plays host to sumptuous wedding receptions and the odd photo shoot, but in the ’80s it was a seedy, decrepit live music venue for the likes of INXS and Midnight Oil – the place where Kate used to “fang it” on stage as the teenage front woman of I’m Talking. A few years later, just before the Fitzroy Street building was forced to close, she filmed the music video for her smash 1989 hit Bedroom Eyes upstairs in an abandoned apartment.

“Everything about this is a fullcircle moment,” says the 56-year-old jazz, pop and soul singer, as the stylist and make-up artist buzz about her at The Weekly’s shoot. “I’m feeling very grounded in the fact that I’m a survivor … I’ve gained and lost confidence a thousand times but I just keep coming back.”

Kate is swimming in memories as she celebrates 40 years in the music business and releases her 30th album. A dream collaboration with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, My Life Is A Symphony reimagines the songs most meaningful to her, including her hits Pash and Brave. With its surging orchestral strings, the Pash of 2023 is less youthful pop-rock and more midlife longing, with a hint of melancholy. “In a way, you’re singing for the girl you were and the girl you’ve become,” she says, “and the woman you’re about to be. Those transitions are really deep.”