Desna Sisarich (born c. 1947)''Studio One''
1968 - Sisarich composition (and info about her age) appears at 3:55 in part 2. NZ On Screen is a New Zealand pop singer who released a handful of songs in the 1970s. She was one of New Zealand's first woman singer/songwriters.Marc Saxon
''Desna Sisarich Profile''
18 November 2015,

AudioCulture AudioCulture is a New Zealand On Air funded online project billed as the "''Noisy Library of New Zealand Music''". Working with artists, historians and music industry people, the website tells the story of nearly 100 years of New Zealand popular ...

Bruce Sergent
''Desna Sisarich''
sergent.com.au

Biography

Sisarich was born in

New Plymouth New Plymouth () is the major city of the Taranaki region on the west coast of the North Island of New Zealand. It is named after the English city of Plymouth, in Devon, from where the first English settlers to New Plymouth migrated. The New Pl ...

to Croatian parents. Learning piano and guitar at a young age, her musical talent was not always obvious to her school peers due to her shyness and reluctance to perform publicly. She won The Auckland Easter Show Top Song Contest talent show in 1964, and subsequently began singing with New Plymouth band the Nitelites while working as a court reporter for the Transport Licensing Authority. In 1968 she appeared on the ''New Faces'' portion of the New Zealand talent show ''Studio One'', and also had one of her compositions performed by Yolande Gibson. In the early 70s Sisarich relocated to

Wellington Wellington is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the third-largest city in New Zealand (second largest in the North Island ...

and worked at

Victoria University of Wellington Victoria University of Wellington (), also known by its shorter names "VUW" or "Vic", is a public university, public research university in Wellington, New Zealand. It was established in 1897 by Act of New Zealand Parliament, Parliament, and w ...

. There, she was in demand as a session vocalist and sang on many radio and television ads. She was one of the main characters in the Wellington-based rock opera Jennifer in the early 1970s. In 1972 and 1973 she released three singles under her own name, ''Thought He Was a Friend of Mine'', ''Some Time in the Morning'' and ''Take My Life'', and had three songs on a rare live album recorded at the

Christchurch Town Hall The Christchurch Town Hall, since 2007 formally known as the Christchurch Town Hall of the Performing Arts, opened in 1972, is Christchurch, New Zealand's premier performing arts centre. It is located in the Christchurch Central City, central ...

with Lutha, Blerta and Quincy Conserve. She was a support act for

Kenny Rogers and the First Edition Kenny Rogers and the First Edition, until 1970 billed as the First Edition, were an American rock band. The band's style was difficult to singularly classify, as it incorporated elements of country, rock and psychedelic pop. Its stalwart memb ...

. In the 1970s she and her long-time partner, drummer (and later music historian) Roger Watkins became involved in managing the Wellington rock music venue Ziggy's. The club, largely financed by her day job, ran at a loss, and eventually folded in the late 70s.John Dix
Ziggy's
18 February 2015,

Her last release was a 1976 New Zealand promotional record entitled ''You’re Our Way, Naturally New Zealand'', and her last television appearance was in 1978 on ''Song for the Pacific'', recorded at the Christchurch Town Hall. She has since retired from music.

References

External links

Sisarich at Worldcat Identities
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sisarich, Desna 1946 births Living people New Zealand women pop singers New Zealand women singer-songwriters New Zealand singer-songwriters New Zealand people of Croatian descent People from New Plymouth