Lynne Kieran
16.5.1960 - 8.12.2013
Lynne has left us, suddenly and unexpectedly, but painlessly and peacefully. In mourning, we still insist that Lynne's life, creativity, productivity, joy, and most of all, her music be reflected upon and celebrated. Not only was she a consummate singer and stage performer, but also a prolific composer, arranger, a gifted painter, and a generous, playful, loving and caring human being. Although she lived in Vienna for over two decades, she never lost touch with her siblings and her mother in London. Her relationship with her family was very strong and she especially loved her mother dearly. Everybody who met her instantly liked her; everybody who had the privilege to get to know her loved her. When she entered a room her smile and her eyes lit up the whole house, like the sun. She inspired all of us with her cheerfulness. Her state of mind was, incredibly, almost always positive.
Lynne grew up in London and studied classical music at the Guildhall School Of Music & Drama. She first came to Vienna in 1989 to sing Hair, and then again in 1990 to sing Carmen Negra at the Kammeroper. Lynne then stayed here from 1991 and for the rest of her far too short life. She became a fixture in the Vienna music scene almost immediately, singing lead as well as backing vocals and scoring chart successes with pop and dance music groups Beat 4 Feet and Count Basic (All Time High and Jazz in the House), among others.
But it was with the Rounder Girls that she would remain for over 20 years, and with whom she would celebrate some of her greatest successes and achievements. With the Rounder Girls, she sang in the Wiener Staatsoper, the Wiener Konzerthaus, at the Burgtheater, Theater an der Wien, at Heldenplatz in Vienna for at least tens of thousands of people, both for Pope John Paul II during his visit to Vienna in 1999, and during a huge demonstration against racism in 2000. In the same year, Lynne and the Rounder Girls represented Austria at the Eurovision Song Contest in Stockholm. In the following years, they played around Europe, in the USA and Hong Kong. Lynne invented the name "The Rounder Girls" and as the Rounder Girls always say, being round is not just a look, but a state of mind.
The Rounder Girls produced eight long-play albums and four singles, with many if not most of the songs composed or co-composed by Lynne. She was an accomplished lyricist and a composer, and it is through her recordings and her songs that she will live on. Her musical styles ranged across an enormous spectrum including soul, pop, blues, jazz, folk, rock, gospel and much more. Some of her most unforgettable songs are among the very finest recorded and performed by the Rounder Girls, for example Lay Your Hand in His, For Friends, Everybody, Leave, Glory, Freedom to Come...
With Christoph Schlingensiefs Mea Culpa she captured new audiences at the Bayerische Opernhaus in Munich, the Komische Oper in Berlin, in the Vienna Burgtheater and elsewhere. Lynne also sang lead vocals in her own band, Lynne's House, and with Black Rose, Prime Cut, and A Tribute To Black Icons. As a solo performer, she opened the Wiener Festwochen at the Wiener Rathausplatz with piano legend Joe Sample in 2009 and with Jazzchor Wien and the ORF Radio-Symphonieorchester Wien in 2011. She gave her first great solo performance already at the age of 14, singing acapella at the Royal Albert Hall in London.
Lynne, if you can hear us now, we want you to know how much we love you!