Diana Veness who you may have heard singing at The Quarry Centre, The Pot & Barrel, Ba'Lonkas, Protea Hotel and Hilton's POSH Market days shares the story of her singing, 'I have always had a song in me and the earliest memory I have of myself was singing a song "suiker bossie ek will jou he" at about 3 years old on our farm in the then Northern Transvaal. We then moved to Natal when I was 7 years old, to a farm in Bishopstowe and the Zulu's gave me a Zulu name (as they did all of us)"Umhlabeleli" which means "singer".
My father Sandy Wilson was an accomplished musician and singer. I loved to sing while he played the guitar. My younger brothers Michael, Graeme and Colin ended up all being able to play guitar and sing while my brother Graeme has written over 20 songs and is a very talented musician and singer. Before I married Danny Veness on the 9th May 1968, I had sung at Art in The Park, Ansonia Hotel and Imperial Hotel in Pietermaritzburg for a short while. I stopped singing and sold my microphone when I got married so I had had not much time to follow my dream to sing. I never sang solo in public again except for in one of the Pig and Whistle productions at Epworth in the early 90's.
Then on 30th March 2012 lying in hospital after having more stents put in my heart I decided that I wanted more than anything to sing again, so Danny bought me all the equipment I needed on my 44th wedding anniversary on the 9th May 2012. With the help of a friend I purchased backing tracks from the UK and now I spend two hours practicing daily. At last I am fulfilling a childhood dream...SINGING MY HEART OUT !!'
This year Diana will be singing at the Protea Hotel Hilton bar area during the ever popular Hilton Food & Wine Fair, see you there. Tickets are available at The Quarry SuperSpar , at Hilton Pre-Primary and at the door from 7.00pm on Friday night.