SHE’S the Aussie Jewish girl with the big, bluesy voice that brought us hits such as “It’s a Man’s Man’s World” and she’s worked overseas with Sting, Chaka Khan and Joe Cocker.

She’s even better-known for the election anthem, “Turn on the Lights”, that helped Malcolm Fraser to his victory over Gough Whitlam in the 1975 Federal election campaign.

Yes, it’s Renee Geyer and she’ll be here soon, performing at The Abbey in Nicholls.

The very mention of the national capital makes Geyer think of politics, and while we’d heard she never talks about that song, instead of the expected rebuff, Geyer is keen to say something.

“That was the biggest and most life-changing incident in my career,” she says.

“From packed-out theatres I went to not even half-full theatres, all because of that.”

In those days, she says, she was “was politically not up on everything” and was flattered by the money and the attention.

“The Lib party song was not really a song, it was an advertisement; I don’t sing tomato soup songs, and I lump that in with all of those.”

Fifty-nine this year and a 40-year veteran of the music industry, Geyer used to feel sorry for people in their 60s, thinking, “they’re going to die soon”.

Now she’s the old one, as found when she performed an Eminem-style rap number “Die, Motherf***er, die!” in “Sleeping Beauty with a Twist” at Melbourne’s Malthouse Theatre. She gained a new lot of young boy fans, but they were shocked to see “an old girl” rapping – and rapping well.

Geyer has had cause to reflect lately, after a successful bout of Herceptin treatment for a deadly form of breast cancer.

“I consider myself a very lucky girl, I was operated on a Tuesday and I was on the stage at Bennetts Lane Jazz Club on the Friday,” she says.

“My breast surgeon was so horrified he came to my show, and he never goes to these things… I sang through everything and I feel better for it.”

Geyer is at home in Melbourne, where she can perform in more intimate venues than the big halls of yesteryear, a change that led her former manager to accuse her of being a sell-out.

“I am a sell-out in both ways – my shows always sell out,” she says.

Geyer expects and gets respect as a performer: “When I work, it’s dead silence,” she says.

Renée Geyer, The Abbey, O’Hanlon Place Nicholls, Sunday, July 22, bookings to 6230 2905.