Key risk worth taking

It has been said there is nothing like a broken heart and being down on your luck to spur a writer into creativity.

Songwriting performer Elliott Wilshier appears the walking embodiment of that old adage in the wake of the twists and turns his life has taken in recent times.

Last year he broke his heart after ending a long-distance love affair in the UK. Then on the way to Heathrow Airport, he had all his possessions stolen.

Since arriving home, Wilshier gave up his 15-year gig as pianist for TV’s Play School, choosing instead to work as a waiter by day and write music by night.

The mid-life crisis he suffered upon turning 35 has spurred him into a creative cycle, with no fewer than 50 songs now completed.

Wilshier is about to give the 10 songs he believes are the best of the bunch a public airing when he performs at Slide on 25 July.

“At a certain point in your life, you find your voice as a writer,” he said. “After the events of the past 18 months, I seem to know how to write great songs, and this is the chance to play the 10 that I think stand out.

“It is an hour of my own material, and then there are other songs from such artists as Jimmy Webb and Petula Clark that I also think fit in with what I am trying to say.”

Wilshier calls his songwriting style “a cross between musical theatre and pop. I like to say I am on the Kate Bush side of Stephen Sondheim.”

It has been in recent years that he has stepped out from being an accompanist – on TV and for such singers as Paul Capsis – into being a singer-performer in his own right.

He said his 35th birthday made him more prepared than ever to take risks with his life.

“I feel I am leading life differently now,” he said. “In your 20s, you think you have a lot of time left, but I don’t feel that any more.

“Now I am focused on what is that thing I am meant to do, the passion that drives me – and that is writing songs.”

Elliott Wilshier plays Thursday 26 July from 7pm at Slide. Bookings on 8915 1899.