Deborah Conway: ‘Paul Kelly is in love with the idea of love’

Now that I’m 64, it’s hard to watch physical beauty fade. I do yoga and walk a lot and I’ve tried to let nature take its course, but it’s not like I don’t look in the mirror and think, “Oh my god, I am so old and wrinkly.” I feel you need to embrace each stage of your life. The thing I wish I did have, however, is better posture. It’s something I find incredibly attractive.

Loading

I enjoyed both a friendship and relationship with [late Crowded House drummer] Paul Hester. He was a very funny man, incredibly sharp and a really good mimic. He was also a great dad, but he had demons. He kept them at bay as long as he could and then, unfortunately, he couldn’t any more.

I moved from Melbourne to Sydney, where we formed Do-Ré-Mi, in 1981. In the mid-’80s I was friends with, and had an affair with, Paul Kelly. Paul is in love with the idea of love; he writes these beautiful love songs. You can understand why someone who finds love such a powerful creative force would seek out a lot of it.

Two years after Do-Ré-Mi broke up in 1988, I signed to Mushroom Records as a solo artist. Michael Gudinski had an amazing passion for the music business. He was a very good businessman and I think he made sure he was always the beneficiary of the best part of the deal.

I met my husband, Willy Zygier, in 1991 when I needed a guitarist to tour my first solo album, String of Pearls. He’s a very beautiful man, a generous and warm human being and a wonderful father to our three daughters, Syd, 28, Alma, 25, and Hettie, 23. He’s also a really good cook; he’s been vegetarian since he was 18 and can cook anything. He cooks as an act of love.