Renée Geyer’s 'Difficult Woman' Coming To Vinyl For The First Time

Released in September 1994, 'Difficult Woman' was produced by Paul Kelly and is beloved by fans.

Renée Geyer – 'Difficult Woman' vinyl(Courtesy of Mushroom Group)

This year, Bloodlines – a subsidiary of Mushroom Group – will honour Renée Geyer and the 30th anniversary of her ninth album, Difficult Woman, by releasing it on vinyl for the first time.

Released in September 1994, the album was produced by Aussie legend Paul Kelly and contains Geyer’s cover of The Beach Boys’ classic, God Only Knows, as well as the tracks Careless (featuring Kelly), Summer, Winter, Spring And Fall (featuring Dori Caymmi), Trouble and more.

While it debuted at #91 on the ARIA Albums Chart upon release, Difficult Woman has become a beloved record amongst fans thanks to its unforgettable blend of R&B, jazz and soul.

Of course, Geyer and Kelly didn’t make the record alone, recruiting guitarist Johnny Lee Schell (Bonnie Raitt), bassist Jimmy Haslip (Chaka Khan), drummer John Molo (Bruce Hornsby And The Range), keyboardist Marty Grebb (Bonnie Raitt, Chicago), and percussionist Lenny Castro (who worked on Toto’s Africa).

Joining Kelly on the production front was Terry Becker, who engineered and mixed the album, while official Woodstock festival photographer Henry Diltz captured the artwork.

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Difficult Woman will be released on limited edition red vinyl on Friday, 15 March. You can pre-order your copy here.

The album’s title track became a signature song for Geyer, with the singer admitting in her autobiography, Confessions Of A Difficult Woman: “I’m a bit of a handful. Paul Kelly didn’t write the song ‘Difficult Woman’ for me for nothin’.”

Renée Geyer passed away in January 2023, aged 69. The trailblazing singer died peacefully, surrounded by family and friends from complications following hip surgery. While in the hospital, it was discovered that she also had inoperable lung cancer.

Her influence on Australian music was incomparable. When Mushroom Group founder Michael Gudinski inducted Geyer into the ARIA Hall Of Fame in 2005, he called her “the greatest female singer of my lifetime in Australia... yes, you’re a difficult woman, but you’re bloody fantastic”.

You can read The Music’s obituary of Renée Geyer here.