Deborah Conway is a significant and eloquent contributor to Australian music, singing songs that chronicle the essential elements of life, love, loss, memory, the mundane and the spiritual. Restless and confounding, her powerful voice and presence has fascinated audiences for the past 30 years. A rare female agitator in a time when the music industry was male dominated; Conway continues to be a role model for young women and a mentor to emerging artists.
From the moment her band, Do Re Mi released the iconic Man Overboard, off their debut album Domestic Harmony in 1985, Conway has always followed her own path. The song was radically different to radio playlists, a rant on gender politics and without a chorus, yet it sat at the top of the charts and introduced her as a compelling force.
Willy’s first recorded appearance was with his band Tootieville on the Cooking With George Mark Too compilation record, released by radio station Triple J in 1985, though he had been spotted haunting Melbourne’s live music venues long before that. Tootieville followed this up with an album entitled Basic in 1990 that was The Age’s Green Guide album of the year.
He first appears in the Deborah Conway story (officially) on the credits of the Release Me single as co-performer of the live version of Will You Miss Me When You’re Sober.
Willy came into the limelight proper with the release of Bitch Epic in 1993. He co-wrote the record with Deborah & co-produced. The notes for the album simply say “thanks especially to Willy for always getting me across the bridge”.