Contact: Direct P: 03 9710 1129 M: 0407 439 959 E: leslieav@bigpond.net.au W: www.leslieavril.com

Piano Bar and Country Star
Leslie Avril is an amazingly versatile entertainer who has dazzled audiences around the world with her country music, piano bar and jazz shows. Based in Melbourne, she is one of Australia’s leading singers – and a headline act every year at the famous Tamworth Country Music Festival. The up-close atmosphere of cabaret also suits her seductive charm and steamy vocals perfectly. Her versatility is rare among modern artists … moving effortlessly from blues, jazz, standards and Broadway to French love songs and country.

Career highlights 1995 – 2005:
~ "Under Milkwood" Athenaem Theatre Melbourne
~ National Gallery of Victoria Opening
~ Sydney Cabaret Convention
~ Nominated for CMAA Independent Entertainer of the Year in CMAA Australian Country Music Achiever Awards
~ Nominated in Judges’ Top 10 for Golden Guitar for Female Vocalist of the Year at Country Music Awards of Australia
~ Dual finalist in Victorian Country Music Awards: Album of the Year, Female Vocalist
~ Six songs chosen for soundtrack of ABC-TV series ‘Something in the Air’
~ Her signature song Ticking Of The Clock featured on the Beyond The Bitumen country CD released by Festival
~ Australia Council Grant Recipient

Albums:
~ Cowboy In My Bed (1998)
~ Leslie Avril Live (1996)
~ Champagne & Desolation (1994)

Live dynamite
Leslie Avril has the voice and charisma that puts her in a class of her own – whether she’s belting out raunchy rockabilly in a crowded honky tonk, or distilling her magic in intimate cabaret.

She’s sexy, bluesy and sheer dynamite live. An extraordinary singer who’s been compared to legends from Janis Joplin and Edith Piaf to Bette Midler and Billie Holiday.

Her stunning vocals electrify an audience with power, depth and aching honesty. And she’s earned the respect of great musicians who’ve worked with her such as Ross Wilson, and Greg Macainsh of Skyhooks fame.

Leslie is now preparing her fourth album and a new cabaret show.

Show reviews:
“She shimmied, she shook, she strutted, she flaunted, and she flirted … but most of all she sang. Searing ballads followed by driving rockers, all delivered with a voice full of power, style and class. This dynamic and powerfully sensuous singer makes every song her own. Avril is one of the great live acts in the country.” - Northern Daily Leader, Tamworth

“The effect is instant. The girl is dynamite. A rich, throaty voice that can make a Patsy Cline classic like I Fall To Pieces sound as if it was written for Janis Joplin.” - Daily Telegraph

“Leslie Avril pores over her piano and sings the blues, prompting comparison with Joplin and Holiday.” - The Age

“Miss Avril has sense of rhythm, melody and lyrics second to none. Her timing and feel for Le Jazz Hot is spot on. She reminds me very much of the late, great, divine Sarah Vaughan. And her rendition of Piaf’s La Vie En Rose brought tears to my eyes.” - Toorak Times

Album reviews:
~ Cowboy In My Bed
“Leslie is a legendary singer with a sultry voice. She has captured the atmosphere of a rocking honky tonk on this great CD.” - Aussie Post

“From the raunchy opening title track through to the closer, Leslie Avril delivers the goods with one of the gutsiest voices around. There are no frills, just genuine honesty and a feel for a great song.” - Capital News

“A little stunner. The bar-room opener, the title song, bites like a surly Doberman.” - Beat Magazine

“Rubenesque Leslie Avril has produced an excellent album full of humour, pathos and dance music. Avril’s voice, as much bluesy-rock as country, can be raunchy, gutsy and sensitive.” - Art Streams

“Avril has a reputation for delivering country music with a passion, drive and gutsy sound rare among female singers.” - Country Update

~ Leslie Avril Live
“The intimate feel of a small club, a voice laced with vinegar, and a band (including ex-Dingoes guitarist Kerryn Tolhurst) as hot as a blowtorch sum up Leslie Avril’s second album.” - The Age

“A fine interpreter. Cowgirl’s Heart and Tangled Up In Love have an evocative appeal. Billy Came Back – a World War One vignette about a devastated digger – is drenched in pathos. Leslie cleanses the sinfulness of Trashy Women with Randy Newman’s epic Guilty.” - Inpress

“Leslie Avril, toast of the Tudor Hotel at each Tamworth festival, is in her element live. Her full-throated vocals are renowned and this album features 16 favourites. Released independently, it was snapped up by Larrikin. Hear it and you’ll know why.” - Country Music Roundup