When Grace Knight became a household name in her 20s as the frontwoman for Perth band the Eurogliders, it was thanks to two significant albums: 1984’s This Island and Absolutely, released a year later, which put the band on the world stage and kept them there for close to a decade.
Songs such as Heaven (Must Be There) and Can’t Wait to See You became a part of pop history, weaving their way into the Australian public’s psyche and parking their pop sensibility in the nostalgia lane ever since. They climbed the ARIA charts and the US Billboard charts, touring the US, UK, Europe and Japan.
At 58, and now based in the Yarra Valley (she was in Byron Bay for nearly 20 years), Knight looks back at those years with affection. But she says there was more going on than met the public gaze.
As a 20-year-old, Manchester-born Knight left England to travel before arriving in Perth to reunite with a sister who had migrated a few years earlier. She started singing in various bands and playing solo shows until she met fellow musician Bernie Lynch, who asked her to be the lead singer of his band Living Single.
They changed their name to Eurogliders in 1980 and became lovers, then husband and wife. They had a son together but the marriage didn’t last. Jackie, now 24, works in the film industry and, according to his mum, loves to ski with his father.
“The ’80s were a fantastic learning curve,” says Knight, who has continued to make music since the band split in the late ’80s. There was a momentary line-up revival in 2005 and a few albums recorded, but no more since then. Now Knight keeps busy recording as a jazz artist, touring solo or with Lynch.
“It was my apprenticeship, so to speak,” she says of the ’80s. “I learnt the rules of the trade and went to the school of hard knocks and survived. I am really fond of those memories and I wouldn’t change a thing.”
Chart success in Australia, the UK and America meant the band was in demand and constantly on the road. With that lifestyle came the regular availability of booze, drugs and late-night shenanigans.
“When things took off with the band and we started touring nationally and internationally, I would say I was at my most insecure,” admits Knight.
“I mean, let’s face it, you’re young and in the public eye. I was worried about what others thought of me. It was a very insecure time. These days when I record I don’t get half as panicky. As a 58-year-old I am not precious about hitting the perfect note or saying to myself I could have done better. It’s a case of get in the studio and enjoy yourself as you hit the record button. I have always been a strong-minded girl and stuck with what I loved. I got mixed up in the partying life but was as much involved in all that silliness as the next person.
“For me, when I fell pregnant with my son, it was the most wonderful thing that happened in my life. That gave me a real shake-up and fantastic focus.”
Playing shows five nights a week was nothing out of the ordinary for Knight. “It’s what you did. We had hit records and it meant playing very often. We didn’t know whether it was luck or being in the right moment. Whatever it was, we had to run with it; it was a fantastic opportunity,” she says.
Knight loves to perform. It’s all she’s done during her 35-plus year career. While chart success matters little these days, she is quite simply happy to head into the studio and make music, tour and live a quieter life an hour’s drive from Melbourne.
Her album Keep Cool Fool, nominated for best jazz album at the ARIA awards in 2012, was inspired by the ’60s era of Mad Men – where women and men strolled to a different beat and when etiquette and dress code were status-defining.
“I loved the clothes and hairdos and I get my own inspiration from that time. That’s what prompted me to delve into that era of music this time around,” she says.
In Keep Cool Fool, Knight takes on the cocktail hour, luring us with her jazz sway. Songs such as Sentimental Journey (made famous by Doris Day) and I’m a Woman (sung by Peggy Lee) as well as Your Cheatin’ Heart (by Hank Williams) and Down by the Salley Gardens (a William Yeats poem of the same name) all appear here with Knight’s own seductive allure.
“I have always considered myself a storyteller rather than a jazz or pop singer,” says Knight. “I like telling other people’s stories. It’s a chance to share something that I can relate to and something I recognise in myself. Whether it’s lust, love or heartbreak, I know the listener will also relate to it and know we’re all affected by the same thing.”
In 2010, Knight decided it was time to delve into her past and confront her demons. They had nothing to do with rock’n’roll, but a lot to do with family. She named her book Pink Suit for a Blue Day – after the Eurogliders’ debut album – and here she delved into a topic she had long held close, being sexually abused by her father from the age of five.
“Sometimes it does bother me that I have exposed myself,” says Knight, who is now open about the topic. “When I say bothered me, only from the point of view that if I met someone new, I would wonder how much this person knows about me. They may know more about me than I do about them. Other than that, I am really proud of the number of people I have helped by writing this book.”
Knight admits you can’t keep everybody happy when you write about personal experiences. She reconciled with her father (he had remarried and moved to Greece) and dealt with the situation as best she could.
“In terms of how it affects me now, well, you know my family are not at all happy that I have exposed that part of our life,” she says. “Some feel quite insulted, but I did not write about anyone specifically. It was my story, what I saw. The conclusion I came to was, although I was going to be uncomfortable with it, I thought my discomfort was a small price to pay. In terms of exposing what happened in my family, it was important to help people who suffered like I had.”
» Grace Knight and Bernie Lynch play the Flying Saucer Club on May 2. Reserved seating $45+bf. General admission $35+bf, door $38. www.flyingsaucerclub.com.au/gig/eurogliders-unplugged/
