Helensburgh singer-songwriter Jennifer Taylor had the most remarkable start to her performance career.
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She played the part of Lisa Marie Presley, arriving at gigs in a pink 1960 Cadillac coupe with fins and a massive V8 engine.
Taylor, 32, would sometimes accompany her father Paddy Twohill, who was one of Sydney's best-known Elvis tribute artists.
Twohill, an accountant by day, would transform himself into Elvis with a fringed jumpsuit and belt out the King's biggest hits at clubs, pubs and birthday parties for kids through to senior citizens.
Twohill was an Elvis impersonator on the Sydney circuit for around 25 years, presenting 90-minute shows complete with a backing band.
Taylor, who sang alongside her father from the age of 14, said the experience gave her good grounding as a musical artist and in personal relationships.
"The relationship I have with my dad is really good," she says.
"We are good mates and that helped me to feel more comfortable and confident around other people.
"Without me realising it at the time, I learnt a lot of life skills and how to fit in with different crowds."
As well as playing Lisa Marie Presley, Taylor also performed contemporary music, including songs from her favourite artists Jewel and Sheryl Crow, who were strong influences on her craft.
Taylor is now a preschool teacher at Big Fat Smiles Helensburgh Community Preschool, yet her passion for singing and songwriting is as strong as ever.
She recently released the single Yipidee, written by herself and her musician husband, Arthur "Artie" Taylor.
Yipidee, a duet featuring award-winning vocalist Daniel Thompson, tells the story of a gambler's relationship and his passionate love and loss.
Jennifer Taylor wrote the chorus to the song when she was 15 and it remained unfinished until this year, when she and her husband revived it, adding deeper storytelling themes and musicianship.
"It changed from being a happy, innocent love song to a song about a gambling man who has an addiction and a wife who just can't help but love him," she says.
"It's interesting to imagine how different the song would have been if I had finished it at 15 rather than 32."
Yipidee was included on the Country Radio Singles publicity CD for December. The CD is a promotional compilation of new country music single tracks for radio airplay.
The B side of the single Fool For Love, also co-written with her husband, is about a girl in a troubled relationship who finds the courage to leave.
Both songs are an introduction to Taylor's soon-to-be-released 10-track album, Good Girl.
The album, which was recorded at Stuie French's Swinging Doors Studio in Sydney, features Peter Clarke (drums), Artie Taylor (upright double bass and electric bass), French (baritone, acoustic and electric guitars, pedal steel guitar), Michael Hawke (acoustic guitar), Big Daddy Roy Payne (acoustic and electric guitars) and Eric Rasmussen and Jo Elms (backing vocals).
The album is being produced by French and Artie Taylor.
Jennifer and Artie Taylor met while he was on tour with Deborah Conway's Always Patsy Cline show. He was in the show playing double and electric bass and she was a nanny.
They have been married for 12 years and have a seven-year-old son Jacob, who attends Helensburgh Public School.
"Artie has been a big influence on me musically," says the singer.
"He is a teacher as well, so we have a lot in common. He has encouraged me hugely and he has always been a good songwriter.
"We both give each other the energy to keep writing something new and he's had a lot of different life experiences and that has encouraged me to see things a different way or outside the square."
Growing up in the Sydney suburb of Dural, Taylor learnt a little bit of guitar from her father - who now teaches guitar in the Port Stephens area - yet she was more influenced by piano.
"I learnt piano up until about grade two and then continued teaching myself," she says.
"Then my singing took over and my dad always used to sit down and play with me but because he was an accountant, who owned his own business, he couldn't be around all the time so I went on to teach myself chord progressions and write my songs through being able to play piano."
In her teens, she would spend her lunchtimes at school at Loreto Normanhurst in the music room penning songs with a friend.
She was introduced by her father to Stewart D'Arrietta, who has been in the music industry for more than three decades and is well-known for the John Lennon show Looking Through A Glass Onion, which he put together with his great friend John Waters.
Taylor co-wrote her first 12-track album I Don't Want To Sleep Alone with D'Arrietta when she was 17.
The subject matter for her songs is drawn from life experiences.
"Sometimes I will talk in first person even if I wasn't the one to necessarily experience what I am singing about," she says.
"Someone close to me may have gone through love and loss or a broken heart and when that is personalised, it can have a powerful effect in a song."
Earlier in her career, she toured with the Young Stars of Country showcase and she spent several years in music theatre performing in the children's music group, The Flower Pot Gang and BabyCino.
Yipidee can be bought at Songcastmusic.com and iTunes.