Wilma Reading

Wilma Reading is a singer from Cairns, Queensland, Australia.[1]

Reading in 1972

Reading began her singing career in 1959 after singing for friends at a Brisbane jazz club.[2]

Reading performed on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, had a residency at New York City's Copacabana nightclub and toured with Duke Ellington. Additionally, she made numerous appearances on The Morecambe & Wise Show in 1973 and 1974 and played Julie in a West End production of Show Boat, taking over from Cleo Laine. She has performed with the national orchestras of Belgium, the Netherlands, Iceland and Germany and toured with the Moscow Symphony Orchestra. She appeared alongside Jim Brown in the film Pacific Inferno.[1] She has appeared in variety at The London Palladium and performed on BBC TV's, The Good Old Days.

Reading is of Australian Aboriginal, Torres Strait Islander, English, Irish, Jamaican, Afghan and Scottish ancestry.[1] She is the niece of Heather Pitt (singer) and Georgia Lee.[3][4]

In August 2019, Reading was inducted into the National Indigenous Music Awards Hall of Fame.[5]

On 2 November 2019, Reading opened the Sydney International Women's Jazz Festival.[6]