1. Gay Kayler was born on 27 September 1941 and is an Australian country music entertainer - a vocalist, television personality, recording artist, pianist, triple beauty quest title holder, model, scriptwriter and educator.
16 Facts About Gay Kayler
1. 2.
Gay used her maiden name in her professional career until 1978, when she changed the spelling from Kahler to Kayler to maintain a consistency of pronunciation.
3.
Gay Kayler's mother sang and played piano, piano accordion and violin with her siblings in their father's dance band on the Darling Downs, Queensland, in the 1930s.
4.
In 1942, the Kayler family moved to Sydney, where Gay continued this musical tradition when, at the age of two-and-a-half, she captivated commuters on Sydney's trams and buses as she sang for them.
5.
Gay Kayler's reputation blossomed when she was chosen to sing the Alexandra Waltz for Princess Alexandra during her 1959 visit to Australia.
6.
Ultimately, this led to Gay Kayler being contracted to Brisbane's Channel 7 for 3 years, where she appeared in shows such as the multi-Logie-Award-winning Theatre Royal with George Wallace Jnr.
7.
Gay Kayler performed eight times in the main Concert Hall of the Sydney Opera House, including on the first all-Australian Country Music Concert and the first all-Australian Variety Show held in that iconic venue.
8.
Gay Kayler featured her Salvation Army Red Shield Appeal Song, Captain Joe Henry's Happy Hand-Clapping, Open Air Rhythm Band, backed by a 300-voice choir and huge Salvation Army band, when she opened and closed a 1976 concert in that venue.
9.
Gay Kayler recorded the female sound track on the 1978 Little Boy Lost movie, which was released worldwide.
10.
Gay Kayler was the inaugural president of the Toowoomba Bachelor Girls Service Club.
11.
Gay Kayler's recording career began in 1973 when she recorded the EMI album, Faces of Love, with Johnny Ashcroft.
12.
Gay Kayler had a double charting single in 1975 of "Nobody's Child" coupled with the first Australian female trucking song, "My Home-Coming Trucker's Coming Home", composed by Ashcroft.
13.
Gay Kayler's last recording in 1995 was "Child of Koonapippi", a song of the Aboriginal Stolen Generations, written by Eric Watson.
14.
Gay Kayler combined a major part of her career with Australian country music star, Johnny Ashcroft, whom she married in 1981.
15.
In 1981, Gay Kayler received the Queensland Country Music Awards national trophy for Service to Australia's Country Music Industry.
16.
Gay Kayler was imprinted in the Australian Country Music Hands of Fame in 1994.