Geldof inspires Perth muso
It was a conversation with Bob Geldof that inspired Sarah Turnbull finally to pursue her long-held dream of recording her own music.
In her role as destination public relations manager for Tourism WA, Turnbull was chaperoning the rock legend around the Kimberley for the Ord Valley Muster last year when they began talking in-depth about all things music.
"I was asking him about songwriting and what his process is and he was like 'You're very interested in this'," the local identity told Access All Areas.
"I told him that I wrote songs and I loved talking to musicians, quizzing them about what they do. He just said to me 'If you've got that passion and you have that talent then you shouldn't let it go to waste'. After that night I was like, all right, done, I am going to do it."
Though she is a classically trained singer and has been writing songs for the past 15 years, it was always something Turnbull did in private.
So when she made the decision to team up with producer Joel Quartermain from Eskimo Joe and head into the studio under the name St Music, her friends were understandably shocked.
"Especially people at work who know me in a corporate sense - when I said I was taking a month off to go to the studio they were like 'What?'" Turnbull laughed.
"But I have had nothing but support. I kind of feel like it's no longer a secret passion of mine; it's there to be heard and shared."
The result was Turnbull's debut single Flawless, which she said was "like reading my diary".
And the blonde, who lives in Mt Lawley, recently took things even further by shooting a glamorous video clip in the industrial Midland Railway Workshops.
"I didn't know how I would go because, working in PR, I am always the behind- the-scenes person organising shoots," Turnbull said.
"It was very different to be the star of the show - it felt like I was playing dress-ups because of all these amazing dresses that I got to choose from. We had a really small team so it was a great day."
While Turnbull said she was not planning on leaving her "dream job" in PR for the music industry any time soon, the exotic locations she travelled to for work were providing plenty of material for future tracks.
"I went up to the Kimberley recently for a week and I felt so relaxed and inspired that I sat down at my keyboard and wrote a song straight away," she said.
"Sometimes going different places can help you write better."
Flawless is available via Turnbull's website, stmusic.com.au.
