Music helps harmonise Beck’s life

Music has the power to get people through almost everything, from heartache to happiness and everything in between.

Despite baring her soul on stage, for folk-pop musician Beck Tuesley, music has helped settle her nerves.

Tuesley was always into music, learning the violin when she was six and picking up a guitar for the first time when she was a teenager.

It wasn’t until Tuesley turned 30 that she picked up the guitar again and began writing songs.

This time she wanted to share her music with a wider audience.

“It all fell into place,” she said.

“As a teenager I was more interested in writing and not actually performing because I was very shy back then.

“I didn’t realise that performing was a great way for me to overcome that shyness.”

Despite hailing from Melbourne, Tuesley has lived in Geraldton for 14 years, her work at the city’s visitor centre earning her the title of honorary local.

Playing solo since 2011, Tuesley has performed at several events in the Mid West, playing at Funtavia and opening the Nukara Music Festival twice.

“When it’s your own songs you can be quite vulnerable,” she said.

“Music has been my confidence-builder and I don’t mind that I play to people that know me — I like the fact I surprise them.”

And the pint-sized singer is full of surprises, her beautiful and heartfelt originals captivating audiences.

Her unique take on covers helps to re-invent songs that have been heard thousands of times before.

For Tuesley, music is all about sharing a story. Her debut album, Trade, features tales of shipwreck survivors and a killer whale in Eden.

A self-confessed history and lighthouse nut, one of Tuesley’s most emotional songs, I Remain Here, comes from the perspective of a decommissioned lighthouse in Exmouth.

“I was going up to Exmouth for a holiday with my husband,” she said. I love lighthouses and knew there was one up there I wanted to see.

“I knew it wasn’t working anymore, but what I didn’t expect to see was all around the windows they’d put curtains up. It looked really lifeless to me.

“I wanted to tell its story because it was built because of a shipwreck. It served its purpose for 55 years so it’s got significant history.”

Releasing her album at Funtavia in February, Tuesley already has enough songs up her sleeves to head back into the studio and record another album.

Beck Tuesley will perform at Women of Gero today at the Geraldton Hotel.