Singers-EP.5-Yvonne Barrett

Australian Music Archives

Recording-wise, this is a relatively short episode because Yvonne Barrett was woefully under-recorded for an artist of her talent. Most would be aware of the circumstances of her tragic passing; murdered in a Birchgrove, Sydney apartment in 1985. In some ways, this is a story of a child-star moving into an adult world; Yvonne's stage career started at the age of 10. In 1964, just before she burst onto the pop scene, Yvonne told Teenagers' Weekly that her dream was to move into musical theatre; to play the lead in the musical, Gypsy, to be exact. So there's an element of unfulfilled ambition in this story. There's also many gaps in the story; not the least of which is why there was a ten-month gap between her 1st and 2nd GO!! label 45 releases. Finally, there's the question of how, the Vietnamese refugee, Hoang Van Truong, jailed for life for Yvonne's murder, managed to get unconditional parole in 1995 and then apparently vanish from sight. I do have some comments to make on this situation that may bring some finality to the mystery. It is a case of; enjoy the musical talents of Yvonne Barrett, and hopefully learn a little about how a life, so full of promise, could end so tragically.