Wiley Reed - Swing Low Sweet Chariot/Hand Me Down My Walking Cane - Solo at The Loft, Gold Coast

Wiley Reed was born in Jacksonville, Florida, USA, in 1944. As a child he sang in his church and learnt to play the piano. He ended up in Australia in the 1960s working in Sydney and Melbourne in the clubs. He toured Vietnam from there, with the Wiley Reed Show incorporating his trio of Maori backing musicians, and singers/dancers The Soul Sisters, Lauren and Lois, entertaining the troops. That tour was the inspiration and basis for both the play and movie written by Tony Briggs, The Sapphires. Wiley settled in Brisbane, Queensland in the 70s, playing there and living with his Australian wife, Zofia, and his three daughters, Jasmine, Syreeta and Mariah, till his death in 2012. Colin Wilson was working in Brisbane’s MultiMedia Recording Studios in the late 70s and looking for a singer for an advertising promotion. He was taken to hear Wiley sing. That was the start of a life long friendship and collaboration. And with Dennis Williams, the first seeds of the Bruce Brothers were sown. In 1983 actor Genevieve Lemon was touring Australia in the play “Steaming”. They were playing at Her Majestey’s Theatre in Brisbane. One night she and some of the cast were taken to the Agency for a supper after the show and heard Wiley singing with some of his band. At an impromptu moment, Genevieve, and actresses Amanda Muggleton and Anne-Marie Gale joined in with some backing vocals and were invited by Wiley to come in on the weekend and sing with his Bruce Brothers band. For the remainder of their season in Brisbane they were dubbed by Wiley "The Brucettes” and performed with the band at their late night weekend residency at the Arcadia Hotel. Another lifelong friendship developed between Wiley, his family and Genevieve. Years passed and Genevieve had been cast in the London production of Billy Elliot on the West End. She was visiting Wiley and his family in the months before she left Australia. She and Wiley with Colin had often talked about doing some recordings together but could never find the budget to hire appropriate technical people or equipment. They didn’t want to wait any longer. Colin had already been recording some audio of shows in the years before. With a couple of old domestic handicams they recorded what they could. So began the collection of recordings that were labelled the BrokenSky tapes. Some were duets with Genevieve, some solo, some with the players from the old days, some with Wiley's then band, including Joe Driscoll, Zyra Wisniewski, Lee Taylor and Cecil Nunis. This is mostly a record of performances from that period. Wiley is so beloved by the blues players and fans in Brisbane, Australia we feel proud to do the little we can to bring more of him to the world. Please share him with your friends and loved ones and let us know where you're listening from! Enjoy…