Shirley Abicair

Shirley Abicair (born 26 October 1928) is an Australian-born singer, musician, TV personality, actress, and author.

Shirley Abicair was born in Melbourne, Australia. Some sources show her year of birth as 1935, but a contemporary account shows she was 23 or 24 on arrival in England and, as she had completed tertiary studies in Australia, the earlier date seems more likely. She was the only daughter of a Wing Commander in the RAAF.

She resided in Adelaide prior to pursuing studies at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music and/or Sydney University (as with her year of birth, accounts differ), where she studied philosophy, languages and the arts.

While studying in Sydney she began singing at parties and private functions to support her studies, accompanying herself on the zither. Self-taught, she is said to have found the zither whilst rummaging in a cupboard as a small child. She then entered and won a Sydney radio talent quest. This led to offers of engagements on radio and in theatre and cabaret.

In 1953, she left Sydney for London. She was photographed by a newspaper photographer looking for pretty faces whilst disembarking at London airport. Her photo was spotted by a radio producer in the newspaper and within weeks this led to her appearing on BBC television. Not much later that year she had her own programme in which she sang and played the zither. In December, she also appeared in the title role of the pantomime Cinderella with George Martin, the Casual Comedian, at the Brixton Empress Theatre. The zither was, along with her Australian-ness, to become her trademark. She released her first record "Careless Love" that year. During 1954 she co-starred with comedian Norman Wisdom in the film One Good Turn.

...
Wikipedia