Deborah Conway: 30 second guide to Willy Zygier

Willy's first recorded appearance was with Tootieville on the Cooking With George Mark Too record put out by TripleJ in 1985. Tootieville then released Basic in 1990. The CD is plastered with Willy's name name, getting top billing on the album and writing all the songs and devising the cover concept.

In 1986 he was approached to be in the recently formed band, Crowded House, who had just recorded their first album. For reasons lost in history he declined.

He first appears in the Deborah Conway story (officially) on the credits of the Release Me single as co-performer of the live version of Will You Miss Me When You're Sober. Willy came into the limelight-proper with the release of Bitch Epic in 1993. He co-wrote most of the music with DC and wrote the music for Now That We're Apart and Only Girl. The notes for the album simply say "thanks especially to Willy for always getting me across the bridge".

from the clip for Basic circa 1991

Willy was producer for the Epic Theatre EP as well as providing guitar and vocals. On Deborah's third "solo" album My Third Husband Willy was co-writer, and credited for arrangements, programming, guitars, synthesisers, samples and vocals.

Years earlier he had been in a string of bands including Blowout, Precious Little, and The Soul Miners.

Unconfirmed speculation also puts him at the Kit Kat Klub as a Saxophonist. Although most people only know him for his terrific guitar work he is also known to be accomplished with the sax, most recently playing the sax part on the recording of You Come to Earth.

Willy is also responsible for the woodwind arrangement of the song The Blue Hour on the Bull Sisters debut album Vika and Linda.

His others credits include being father to Syd Dolores, Hettie Ira, and Alma delRay and being consistently reported as married to Deborah which may one day be true.

Other Willy Zygier trivia is that he was once in the Australian TV show Prisioner as an italian prisioner and once worked as Hector The Cat (for one afternoon)

Willyography

• Member of
  • Blowout
  • Precious Little
  • The Soul Miners
  • Ultrasound

• Writing credits on
  • Tootieville
  • Bitch Epic
  • My Third Husband
  • Ultrasound
  • Mountains (with DC, appears on Wendy Matthews' 1997 album Ghost)

• Peformance on
  • Tootieville
  • Bitch Epic
  • My Third Husband
  • Epic Theatre
  • Ultrasound
  • Jesus Christ Superstar CD
  • Stop (by Graham Goble)
  • Exquisite Stereo
  • Summertown
  • The Songs of Patsy Cline

• Composer
  • The End of Music
  • Ned The Movie Soundtrack
  • a rash of film scores (still trying to work out which ones)

• As Producer
  • Epic Theatre
  • Bitch Epic (with Jim Rondinelli)

• Woodwind Arrangement
  • The Blue Hour (Vika & Linda CD)

added Monday, 23 August, 2004

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