Kate Ceberano possesses a diverse and ambitious talent which has been a double-edged sword during her lengthy music career.
Ceberano's memoir, I'm Talking, offers an open and honest account of riding the peaks and troughs of her multi-faceted career as a singer-songwriter, stage performer, TV judge (X-Factor) and more recently festival director.
A singer since her teens, she tasted success with funk outfit I'm Talking in the mid-'80s before having solo pop hits (Bedroom Eyes, Pash and Brave), winning awards (ARIAs, People's Choice, Mo Awards, Countdown) and forays into jazz, cabaret, soul and musicals (Jesus Christ Superstar).
The book is at its most revealing when Ceberano talks her beliefs as a Scientologist, a philosophy which she says came to better understand while living in Los Angeles. She credits Scientology with helping her take responsibility for her decisions and "breaking free of the influence of mistakes and depressions and false ideas that are self-imposed".
Of her past triumphs and flops, Ceberano frankly admits: "(I) didn't understand why they had succeeded and so couldn't understand why they had failed. I wanted hit records but at the same time I kept throwing away the chance to make them.
"At some very basic level I simply didn't understand the business of making music, and I didn't know how to take responsibility."
The book also details Ceberano's abortion, her mother's brain tumour diagnosis and the discovery she had a third brother, which her mum had kept secret.
It's Ceberano's mix of candour and revelation which makes I'm Talking interesting, individual and personal.
* Kate Ceberano - I'm Talking (Hachette Australia), RRP $32.99 is out now.
