The spotlight is on you, blinding you to the audience, but you know they are there watching you. With a skintight dress on and enough hairspray to punch a hole through the ozone layer, you approach the mike stand to belt out the Tina Turner classic “You’re simply the best.”
Suddenly, you realise that you do not remember a single lyric. The only sound coming from the stage is the click of your heels as you step back. Then you hear a voice say “You’re on” and you are shoved back into the light.
“I remember thinking God if there was ever a time I needed you it’s now!” says Tracey Osmond lead vocalist of local band Abbey Road.
“I don’t know how it happened but I just opened my mouth and the words came out.”
Luckily for Tracey disasters such as this have been a rarity.
After being in over 15 bands, Tracey certainly knows her way around a stage. Growing up in a house where her Dad’s band was constantly meeting for rehearsals and her mum was always singing, Tracey says she never had a music ‘aha’ moment. “Joining a band was just what you did in our family,” she says.
Having such strong musically roots certainly paid off. At the age of 22 Tracey received a pivotal phone call from New Zealand band Mr President. They were greatly impressed by one of her performance at the Seaview Hotel in town and invited her to become apart of their act.
Mr President had secured the position as the house band for a club in Rockhampton. As Tracey lived in Townsville, she was flown down every Friday night and flown back every Monday morning.
“It was amazing having that much money spent on me. The fact that I brought so much to the band that it warranted spend that much money…” says Tracey as she rolls her eye in disbelief.
“It was pretty huge.”
“Being this little girl from Townsville who gets flown out every weekend to perform with a band to crowds of 2000 was absolute amazing! It was a complete fairytale,” she recalls.
Eventually Mr President went on to compete at the Yamaha MTV awards where they came runners up.
“We were this close,” Tracey says laughing.
If you are having a hard time imagining what Tracey sounds like, chances are you have already heard her sing. “I’ve got hundreds of jingles out there” she says as she burst into a live demonstration of the television jingle for “Superior Patio Systems.”
She has even worked in clubs on the same night as The Angles and Jimmy Barnes, though she is quick to brush those tales to the wayside in preference for what is happening now.
What Tracey is truly passionate about these days is teaching. “I was never trained so I had a lot of problems,” she says.
After losing her voice at 22, Tracey started to rebuild it herself by seeking out private teachers, studying at the South Bank Conservatorium and completing a degree in vocal pedagogy.
“My goal is to teach kids how to use their voice so that it holds up when they are playing clubs and shows.”
Tracey now teaches nine till five every day and has built a school with over 70 students.
“I also have another teacher with me and she has 22 students of her own,” she says proudly.
“It’s a real full circle, going out into these bars and seeing my own students up there performing,” says Tracey.
“It’s my passion now, maybe even more then singing.”
While Tracey’s current band Abbey Road is in high demand for club work, corporate events and performances at Cowboys games, she says that her favourite gig is the Special Children’s Christmas Party each year.
“When I get on stage, I feel completely overwhelmed, like it is the most magical moment of my life. I feel that every year and I have been doing it for eight years. You really count your blessings,” she enthuses.
Though Tracey loves standing in the spotlight, microphone in hand, it is teaching that has proven to be her greatest passion. At least in the safety of her home studio, it’s no big deal if she forgets the lyrics.
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