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Peg & her brothers Bill & Rob
Peggy's Story So Far...
Peggy's Story So Far...
Australia’s Queen of the Country Piano, Peggy Gilchrist, was inducted into The Australian Country Music Stars of Fame (2nd September 2023). This exhibition was established in 1991 to honour great past and present performers. It is an honour for Peggy to join other greats she has admired like Jimmy Little, Chad Morgan, Reg Lindsay, Smoky Dawson, Jean Stafford and Slim Dusty.
Peggy has been 'QLD Musician of the Year' on numerous occasions and was crowned “National Artist of The Year” at the Gold Medallion Media Awards, since commencing her professional recording career, as a valued LBS artist back in 2010.
For over a decade now, Peggy has featured on every major country album released by LBS in Australia’s Country Music Capital - Tamworth and has been touring and performing with leading Australian recording artists like Jimmy Little, Jean Stafford, Lindsay Butler, Shaza Leigh, Ashley Cook and many others, which catapulted her onto The Australian Country Music Wall of Honour during the Tamworth Country Music Festival in 2016.
Recognised as one of Australia’s finest backing musicians, Peg has also played with Christina George on international concerts of Daniel O’Donnell and Foster And Allen and has proudly backed Kamahl and The Patsy Cline Tribute Show with Victoria McGee.
Peggy has released 4 instrumental albums, 2 solo piano albums “Queen Of The Country Piano” - Vol 1 & 2 and 2 albums with Guitar Legend Lindsay Butler “Gospel Road” & “Picking On The Irish”.
HISTORY...
Peggy Gilchrist was born in St.George Qld. She and her family moved to Tamworth NSW when she was just 2 years old. Peggy is very proud to have grown up in Australia's Country Music Capital and feels blessed to have been raised by such proactive parents in the local country music scene.
The Gilchrist family were all musical and loved jamming together in their family home’s lounge room all day every weekend. It is here that Peggy first started to learn the art of being a backing musician.
At the age of 9 years she joined her brothers 50/50 cabaret band playing a portable organ – Peg says it was only portable in name, it weighed a ton!! – around the greater district of Tamworth. By 12 years of age she was a regular member of the very popular Tamworth band, The Patti Morgan & Lynette Guest Duo.
Peggy was in her early 20’s when, invited to play keyboards in the local bush band, she developed her own, now recognisable, piano-styled keyboard technique. Since then she has travelled the country; firstly, playing on the “Tamworth On Parade Tour” 1992, where she met Shaza Leigh and they became fast friends; and then as a member of the Jeans Boys, Jean Stafford’s show band.
She has backed many other great Australian Country Music Artists over the years including Desree-Ilona Crawford, Wayne Horsburgh, Denise Morrison, Christina George, Craig Giles, Terry Gordon, Wanita, Jimmy Little, Barry Thornton, Peter Horan, Felicity, Auriel Andrew, Olive Bice, Kamahl, Evelyn Bury, Carter Edwards, Jan Kelly, Amos Morris, Brian Letton, Donella, Brian Young, Angela Hayden, and Pauline Gottani etc.
The highlight of Peggy’s career to date though is being a member of the Shaza Leigh & Lindsay Butler Show having joined them in 2009. Peg will be the first to tell you she never dreamt she would become a recording artist, but the Butler’s have made that fantasy a reality and she now has two solo instrumental albums and two instrumental collaboration albums with her dear friend, Lindsay Butler OAM.
The future is looking bright for Australia’s Queen of the Country Piano, as Peggy continues touring with the Butler Show band and the excitement of an upcoming album due in the New Year and, who knows, maybe an International jaunt too. Watch this space…
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