Mum inspires Bassingthwaighte sisters

By Michelle Hoctor
Updated November 5 2012 - 5:25pm, first published May 10 2008 - 12:58am
Girl power: The Bassingthwaighte sisters Melinda Sheldrick (left), Nicky Moore, Natalie, Lisa Fogarty and mum Betty, whose encouragement, her daughters say, inspired them throughout their lives.
Girl power: The Bassingthwaighte sisters Melinda Sheldrick (left), Nicky Moore, Natalie, Lisa Fogarty and mum Betty, whose encouragement, her daughters say, inspired them throughout their lives.

Rogue Traders lead singer Natalie Bassingthwaighte can call on several inspirations in her career, but none fonder than a living room performance by her mum Betty, as Sadie the Cleaning Lady.The Bassingthwaightes' Mt Warrigal home was always alive with performance and dance, involving Natalie, 32, and her sisters Melinda, 33, and twins Lisa and Nicky, 26, but on occasion their inspirational mum joined in."Once we were all sitting at home putting on shows for everyone," Natalie said."All of us got up, including mum after a bit of encouragement, and sang Sadie, complete with a broom and a few cool dance moves."Melinda said an enduring image of her mother was the many hours she spent hand-sewing sequins onto each of the girl's eisteddfod costumes."She'd sit down at the dance shop and sew sequins all day. The amount of time and effort she put in was unbelievable," Melinda said."Mum's just such an inspiration. She was a nurse in theatre, a beauty therapist, a hairdresser. She instilled in us the importance of following our own dreams."Mrs Bassingthwaighte, 55, said the proudest gift she could receive for Mother's Day was respect, for having encouraged her daughters to reach their full potential."I've always been a willing audience because it made them creative and if they are creative they can achieve any goals," she said.Natalie, of course, is a household name as lead singer of rock band the Rogue Traders and as a television presenter. Mother-of-two Melinda is a nail technician and mother-of-one Lisa Fogarty is an accountant.Nicky Moore, a mother-of-two and political philosophy student, combined with Natalie to write a book, Sistahood: A Journal of Self-Discovery, which was inspired in part by their mother's approach to life."The whole message of the book was to celebrate our differences and to be who we are - and that's something we definitely got from our mum," Nicky said.Mrs Bassingthwaighte, 55, said it was always a thrill to turn on the radio and hear one of Natalie's songs, but stressed she was equally proud of each of her girls."The most important thing to me is that they have achieved exactly what they've wanted to achieve," she said.

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