Tell us about AViiDa. AViiDA is a husband and wife soul duo from Perth, Western Australia. They have spent the last ten years working across music and theatre, carving out a successful career and name for themselves. Genre and performance style can be described as smooth motown sounds from Clay Darius teamed with powerhouse vocals from Paula.
Why did you choose to celebrate Stevie Wonder and Aretha Franklin in particular? Stevie and Aretha are our greatest living vocal influences. We wanted to stretch ourselves vocally and really push our limits.
Is there any fear or worry in interpreting such classic and well-known songs? Absolutely. Both Aretha Franklin and Stevie Wonder are the ones at top in terms of soul musicians/idols and up until now we’ve steered pretty clear from interpreting their music. We didn’t want to disrespect their songs or their creativity. If you’re going to perform these songs, you need to understand the music, where it has come from and treat the music with love and respect.
What is your ultimate Stevie Wonder track? Right now a show favourite would be ‘Isn’t She Lovely’. It’s a moment in the show where I dedicate this song to my beautiful grand-daughter Aurora-Jade. It’s so special and I love how my voice sits in this song.
What is your ultimate Aretha Franklin track? Right now my ultimate Aretha Franklin song would have to be ‘Never Loved A Man’, it pushes me to my absolute limits vocally. Power, passion and then softness all in one massive song.
