AUSTRALIAN jazz signer Catherine Lambert is known for her fiery red hair - and for her huge talent.

And after being spotted singing at the New York Bar in the Park Hyatt in Tokyo, Japan, by film director Sofia Coppola in 2001, her fame has spread beyond the borders of her homeland. Coppola was moved to cast Lambert as the singer in her highly acclaimed, award-winning movie, Lost in Translation.

That was in 2002; in 2005, she released Back in the Swing, for which she wrote seven songs. The balance is songs by Michel LeGrand and Cole Porter. The album cemented her name in the jazz genre.

But it was no flash in the pan; over the past 28 years, she has earned her stripes as a live performer in Australia and internationally, roaring out of the beautiful South Australian city of Adelaide.

Noted for her command of technical proficiency, as a vocalist with perfect pitch and determined control she has equal command of her audience. Alongside her voice and song-writing skills, Lambert is a fully qualified orchestral clarinettist. She calls on all of these skills when composing her original works. She also does a fine turn singing the tunes of the greats like Gershwin, Sinatra and Bacharach. And her rendition of Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody - sung accompanied by the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra in 2005 - left audiences dazzled.

She shines in musical theatre and comedy, and has acted on stage in Australia and in international films, but jazz is where she sparkles the brightest.

The early years
Lambert's musical education began in the United States, where she took up the piano at the age of seven. She still uses the instrument today for composition, but as a youngster quickly moved on to clarinet, which she was taught by the fine classical clarinet teacher, George Jones, in Princeton, New Jersey.

She also learned classical ballet and gymnastics.

At 14, the Lambert family moved to Adelaide, her mother's home town, and Lambert won a place at the Special Interest Music Centre Marryatville High School. She went on to receive the Elder Conservatorium Scholarship in Clarinet Studies at Adelaide University for three years while completing secondary school.

And in her spare time as a teen, she also studied classical guitar, classical voice and was the principal clarinettist in the Secondary Schools Symphony Orchestra of South Australia.

After finishing school, she sang soprano in youth opera and played clarinet in the South Australian State Opera Orchestra. She also formed her first original alternative band, VA VA VA, which performed at local pubs and clubs.

Success
In 1983, the band moved to Sydney where it had some measure of success. Over the next few years Lambert worked in a number of successful bands, including Sydney's The Party Girls and Adelaide's Spank You Very Much. Then, in 1986, her jazz band, The Hep Hounds, recorded a CD - and her jazz career soared.

In her time Lambert has sung at many jazz festivals across Australia, fronting leading jazz and blues bands; she has appeared on Australian radio and television shows and has performed internationally, growing her fan base exponentially. She has also written several advertisements for radio and television.

Among her achievements she can count performing with some of the world's jazz greats, including Don Burrows, James Morrison, BB King, Diane Reeves and the Phillip Morris Superband.

To quote John Schumann, the renowned Australian performer, "Catherine Lambert pours sweet melody into welcoming souls ... she's not to be missed."

Discography:

• Soirée Deux (2007);
• Back in the Swing (2005);
• Catherine Lambert and the Kym Purling Trio (1995); and
• Hep Hounds (1988).