Lives in brief: JOY WARREN and SYLVIE STERN

Joy Warren

by Tony Magee

Well, January has been a rough month for the arts community in Canberra. We lost founder and owner of Solander Art Gallery in Yarralumla, Joy Warren, aged 92, on 3rd January and broadcaster, writer, photographer, animal lover and arts activist Sylvie Stern on 21st January.

In days gone by, Joy would occasionally call me and say "now darling, I'm having an exhibition launch next week and I'll need sophisticated live music, tasteful and colourful lighting in the garden and trees and two drink waiters". That was the usual request anyway. Naturally, I could arrange all that in no time and I was also always invited as a guest to the launches themselves. One year, Joy was launching an exhibition of works by artist Gerard Manion and my friend Daniel Mitchell accompanied me as a guest, along with his younger brother James, who was a last minute recruit as an extra wine waiter.

A lovely exhibition it was, and Daniel said to me at one point during the evening, "See that painting there? I just bought it"!

I'm currently the custodian of it whilst Daniel is away and here it is. It's called "Simon", by Gerard Manion and the subject of the painting is Australian concert pianist Simon Tedeschi.

Also pictured is Solander Gallery Founder Joy Warren and a portrait of Sylvie Stern by artist Barbara van der Linden from her 2013 Centenary project, “Faces of Canberra.”

Sylvie Stern

Sylvie Stern interviewed me on several occasions as a broadcaster on 2XX, a position which she just loved. She liked a bit of controversy if at all possible in her interviews and on one occasion in 2003, she was interviewing me about the forthcoming production for Canberra Philharmonic of "Sensationally Sondheim", of which I was musical director. 

I started to say something about how difficult it was to get audiences involved and enthused about the music of Sondheim (not on Broadway, but here in Australia) and she waived her arms, flapping madly! I thought she wanted me to stop talking, which I did momentarily, but then she motioned me to proceed, which I did. An excellent interview and as it turned out, we filled the Southern Cross Club to capacity over seven performances of that show.

Two great ladies who will be dearly missed.

Update, Sunday 25th July, 2021: In 2018, I passed the Gerard Manion painting "Simon" onto Daniel's mother, Elizabeth, who has enjoyed having it hung in her apartment in Canberra. And just the other day, Elizabeth called me and said that Daniel would like it hung in his own apartment now, so it will be transported to Perth, WA.

We Are the World

By Brian Mansfield - USA Today

On Jan. 28, 1985, at A&M Recording Studios in Hollywood, following the American Music Awards, more than 40 artists gathered to record a song Lionel Richie and Michael Jackson had written to raise awareness of widespread, life-threatening poverty in Africa. Most of that show's winners — including Cyndi Lauper, Hall & Oates, Bruce Springsteen, Huey Lewis, Willie Nelson, Tina Turner, the Pointer Sisters, Kenny Rogers and the Jacksons — participated

Watch on YouTube. Click here

Inspired by the U.K. all-star charity single Do They Know it's Christmas?, released a few months earlier, We Are the World was released March 7, 1985, and went on to sell more than 20 million copies. The more than $75 million raised by non-profit organization USA for Africa helped to fight poverty on the continent. The song also won three Grammy Awards in 1986, including song and record of the year.

"A great song lasts for eternity," says Quincy Jones, who produced the track. "I guarantee you that if you travel anywhere on the planet today and start humming the first few bars of that tune, people will immediately know that song."

We Are the World soloists in order of appearance:

Lionel Richie, Stevie Wonder, Paul Simon, Kenny Rogers, James Ingram, Tina Turner, Billy Joel, Michael Jackson, Diana Ross, Dionne Warwick, Willie Nelson, Al Jarreau, Bruce Springsteen, Kenny Loggins, Steve Perry, Daryl Hall, Huey Lewis, Cyndi Lauper, Kim Carnes, Bob Dylan, Ray Charles.

These people sang in the chorus: 

Dan Aykroyd, Harry Belafonte, Lindsey Buckingham, Mario Cipollina, Johnny Colla, Sheila E., Bob Geldof, Bill Gibson, Chris Hayes, Sean Hopper, Jackie Jackson, La Toya Jackson, Marlon Jackson, Randy Jackson, Tito Jackson, Waylon Jennings, Bette Midler, John Oates, Jeffrey Osborne, Anita Pointer, June Pointer, Ruth Pointer and Smokey Robinson.

Published at USA Today, January 2015