Sing us a song you’re the piano man, sing us a song tonight, we’re all in the mood for a melody, and you’ve got us feeling alright.
Billy Joel’s hit Piano Man could easily be about 74-year-old Stuart Warner, who’s tinkled the ivories at Hyatt Hotel Canberra for 35 years, as well as stints at Canberra Casino, various Embassies, the Canberra Centre and private parties.
Remember cash? Well Stuart has had his fair share of generous tips, once having a $100 note thrust into his hand by an emotional fan. He’s played to high-rollers like the late Kerry Packer at the Canberra Casino and diplomats at Embassies but his favourite crowd is high tea at Hyatt Canberra.
He’s always dapper in his Italian suit and tie and he knows 400 songs off-by-heart, all dating back to the 1920s, as if frozen in time when Cole Porter and George Gershwin were still composing and the art deco hotel was first built.
“I can play all 400 songs in two or three different keys but every time I play something, it’s different to the time I played before, you get a different feel,” Stuart said. “People often want to sing along, and off they go with Somewhere Over the Rainbow. It’s a very spontaneous event because you just don’t know who’s going to be there when you arrive and who’s going to be part of your four-hour set.”
Once, the world famous pianist David Helfgott (portrayed in the movie Shine) stopped by to pay Stuart a compliment and give him a hug. Stuart has also shaken hands with Wolf Blass (the man and the wine). Nice work if you can get it.
Stuart has also played in the Hyatt’s opulent presidential suite for heads of state and private parties and he doesn’t mind doing a bit of name-dropping – the late Barry Humphries, TV stars Dr Harry and Steve Liebmann, to name a few.
When he gets home, the daily piano practice continues (long enough to “sip on a silver-walled whiskey”).
“At the end of every day, I’ll probably sit down for half an hour or so and play a couple of my favourites,” he said.
At 74, Stuart doesn’t even have a hint of arthritis. 57 years of piano playing is a great health regime. Stuart was playing regular gigs with a jazz trio in bars at age 17 and he’s never stopped.
They sit at the bar, and put bread in my jar, and say man what are you doing here?
“I was playing away one afternoon and a lady was listening to everything I was playing,” Stuart said. “She came up and she was crying – not because I was playing badly but it must have been moving. She just put money in my hand and continued to walk out of the hotel. When I looked at the note, it was a $100 note. That must have triggered something.”
As we walk through the grand old Hyatt Canberra, staff and guests greet Stuart by name and shake his hand. He’s a part of the furniture here (he even has his own key to the hotel’s Yamaha piano). When he’s not serenading guests, he’s a radio DJ at community radio ArtSound FM (he owns a staggering 700 CDs – mostly piano music).
Every Friday morning, from 10am to 12 midday, Stuart broadcasts his two-hour show Senior Memories from the Manuka studios. He’s far from retired.
“If you have a creative mind, it wants to work,” Stuart said. “I think music is important to continue for me. Emotionally I do need it because it just becomes so much part of your life.”
Stuart can also sing, but he’s modest about that. He still plays in jazz bands when needed and the occasional private party but mostly you’ll find him at the Hyatt’s tea lounge on Sundays from 11am to 1pm.
“I really look forward to walking in there and the staff saying hello and then everyone saying it’s nice to see you again,” Stuart said. “Then you sit there and you start playing and you just know that you belong there.”
