Colleen Hewett features on The Best of Bandstand Volume 4 (1967–1970), available from the Jukebox Saturday Night store
Melbourne, summer of 1971. Godspell is packing out the Playbox Theatre and every second car radio is playing the same song. ‘Day by day’. The voice on it belongs to a Bendigo girl who’d been singing in public since she was 12.
That one song made Colleen Hewett a star. It’s also only a small part of her story, which runs from The Go!! Show to Bandstand to Prisoner and on to a jazz and blues album in her sixties.
Colleen Hewett today
Hewett was born in Bendigo, Victoria, on 16 April 1950, so she’s 76 in 2026 and still performing. Her most recent studio album, Black & white, came out in May 2015. It was her first in 14 years and debuted at number one on the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) Jazz and Blues chart, according to her biography. She still turns up on concert bills too, including a seniors festival show in Shepparton.
Bendigo, The Go!! Show and a lot of bands
She started at 12, singing with the Esquires at the Bendigo YMCA. By 13 or 14 she was on The Go!! Show, first with a Bendigo band and then on her own. In 1967 she formed the vocal trio the Creations with her sister Glenys. After that came the soul outfit Dice, later renamed the Laurie Allen Revue, and a stint with Ian Saxon and the Sound. Years of pubs and dances, basically, before anyone outside Victoria knew her name.
The Bandstand year
Her solo career began in 1970, and Bandstand is where the rest of the country met her. She appeared regularly on Brian Henderson’s show that year, and in December 1970 she was named Best Newcomer Female Singer at the Bandstand Awards.
JSN’s Best of Bandstand Volume 4 (1967–1970) lists Colleen among the early appearances, in good company with a young John Farnham, Olivia Newton-John and Russell Morris. Her first single, ‘Super star’, reached number 30 on the Go-Set chart in June 1971.
If you only know her from the 1979 ballad, the Bandstand clips are a bit of a surprise. This is a soul singer who’d spent years in R&B bands, and you can hear it.
‘Day by day’ and Godspell
Here’s the big one. In November 1971 Festival Records released ‘Day by day’, produced by Ian “Molly” Meldrum a few years before Countdown made him a household name, and it went all the way to number one on the Go-Set national chart. It was certified gold. The timing was perfect, because Hewett was also on stage in Godspell, Stephen Schwartz’s musical based on the Gospel of Matthew, at the Playbox from 15 November 1971 to 22 July 1972, and the song turned up on the original Australian cast album in March 1972. Radio, stage and record shop were all pushing the same tune at once.
TV Week readers voted her Queen of Pop in 1972 and 1973. Collectors should look out for her 1972 cover of the Beatles’ ‘Carry that weight’, which made number 29 and doesn’t get played nearly enough.
She kept working in theatre. In 1973 she sang the Mother in a staging of Tommy, then played Catherine in Pippin in 1973–74, and co-hosted the variety show It’s Magic with John Farnham. Her self-titled debut album came out in October 1972, with M’Lady following in June 1974.
A second peak in 1979, and Prisoner
By the end of the decade a lot of her Bandstand contemporaries had gone quiet. Hewett didn’t. Late in 1979 her ballad ‘Dreaming my dreams with you’ climbed to number two on the Kent Music Report. ‘Gigolo’ made number 28 in 1981, and in 1985 she joined the all-star Incredible Penguins on ‘Happy Xmas (war is over)’, which got to number ten. In between, in 1983, she recorded ‘Wind beneath my wings’, a few years before Bette Midler made it a worldwide hit.
Then there’s the role a whole different audience remembers. She played Sheila Brady in 11 episodes of Prisoner in 1984 and 1985. Later stage credits include Return to the Forbidden Planet in 1992, The Boy from Oz in 2006, Chicago in 2007 and Shout! The legend of the Wild One, the Johnny O’Keefe musical, in 2008. She was in the 2011 racing film The Cup as well.
If her sound is your era, our seventies jukebox collection is worth a spin, or you can request a song for the show.
Frequently asked questions
Where is Colleen Hewett now?
She’s 76 in 2026 and still sings live, including seniors festival concerts in regional Victoria. Her last studio album, Black & white, came out in May 2015 and debuted at number one on the ARIA Jazz and Blues chart.
Was Colleen Hewett on Bandstand?
Yes. She appeared regularly on Bandstand from 1970, when her solo career started, and was named Best Newcomer Female Singer at the Bandstand Awards in December that year. JSN’s Best of Bandstand Volume 4 (1967–1970) lists her among its early appearances.
What was Colleen Hewett’s biggest hit?
‘Day by day’, from Godspell. Festival Records released it in November 1971 with Ian “Molly” Meldrum producing, and it went to number one on the Go-Set national chart. It went gold for shipping more than 50,000 copies.
Was Colleen Hewett in Godspell?
Yes. She was in the Australian production at Melbourne’s Playbox Theatre from 15 November 1971 to 22 July 1972. ‘Day by day’ was on the original Australian cast album, released in March 1972.
Did Colleen Hewett have a hit in 1979?
She did. ‘Dreaming my dreams with you’ came out late in 1979 and reached number two on the Kent Music Report, her best chart result since ‘Day by day’. ‘Gigolo’ followed in 1981 and made number 28.
Who did Colleen Hewett play in Prisoner?
Sheila Brady, in 11 episodes of Prisoner across 1984 and 1985. Overseas the show was known as Prisoner: Cell Block H, and it’s how a lot of viewers outside music circles first came across her.
Did Colleen Hewett work with John Farnham?
Yes. Around her time in Pippin (1973–74), where she played the widow Catherine, she co-hosted the TV variety show It’s Magic with John Farnham. They’d both come up through Bandstand in the late sixties and early seventies.
Is Colleen Hewett still alive?
Yes. There are no credible reports of her death as of September 2026. She was born in Bendigo on 16 April 1950, turned 76 in 2026 and is still singing live, mostly concerts and festival shows in Victoria.
Did you see Colleen in Godspell, on Bandstand or at a concert more recently? Tell us in the comments.
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Disclaimer: The information provided is for educational and entertainment purposes only. While we strive for accuracy, music history is often based on available documentation and interpretation.
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