ANNE BUSHNELL: THE SINGER and cabaret artiste Anne Bushnell, who has died aged 72, was highly regarded as an interpreter of the songs of both Edith Piaf and Judy Garland.
In 1984 she took the lead in Leland Bardwell's musical play about Piaf, No Regrets, at the National Stadium. The production also went on tour to Kilkenny, Cork, Limerick and Galway.
In 2002 she portrayed Garland in Born in a Trunkat the National Concert Hall, accompanied by the RTÉ Concert Orchestra.
Fr Brian D’Arcy in his funeral eulogy said: “No wonder she loved Edith Piaf, the ‘Little Sparrow’, because it was a good description of Anne too, a plucky little sparrow who made sure to do things right.”
Musician Dave Fleming said she was great to work with. “There was nothing of the diva about her, she was a lovely lady and very down to earth.”
Born in Dublin, she attended St Louis High School, Rathmines, where she enjoyed choral singing. Also as a child she danced on the stage of the Theatre Royal.
In the 1960s she began singing at jazz venues around Dublin.
George Hodnett, reviewing in this newspaper a concert at Liberty Hall in 1968, described her as “a most pleasant singer, partly in the ‘torch’ tradition”.
Also in 1968 she sang the entry Ballad to a Boyin the national song contest. She had two chart hits in the early 1970s, as a member of the folk-oriented group Family Pride.
She continued as a jazz vocalist with big bands led by Noel Kelehan, Jim Farley and Jim Doherty, and regularly performed on RTÉ radio and television.
In 1975 she appeared in the musical Innishat the Abbey theatre; her brother John Kavanagh was also in the cast.
Her next stage role was a year later in Noel Pearson's production of Jacques Brel is Alive and Well and Living in Parisat the Shelbourne Hotel.
In 1978 she featured in a Christmas show with Des Smyth, Ring a Little Bing, at the Eblana theatre. In the meantime she made her first appearance at the Cork jazz festival. In the early 1980s she made several appearances at the Gaiety theatre, and in 1988 supported Frankie Laine at the National Concert Hall.
Throughout he career she was much sought after as a session singer, and sang backing vocals when Johnny Logan won the Eurovision song contest in 1980.
She performed abroad – in the UK, US, East Germany, Norway, Turkey and Spain – and had a part in the film Agnes Browne(2000). In 1994 she received a Cheshire Foundation award in recognition of her services to charity.
She is survived by her husband Tony, son Paul, a session musician, and daughter Suzanne, a member of the Fallen Angelsfemale vocal harmony group.
Anne Elizabeth Bushnell: born March 28th, 1939; died April 21st, 2011