Popular singer Barbara Trzetrzelewska, known as Basia, is billed in her home town of Jaworzno, southern Poland, on 27 February.

She will perform in the 1, 200 seat Cultural and Sports Centre during the annual Days of Music organized by Jeunesses Musicales in a concert that will also feature the Cuban vocalist Mili Morena and the trumpeter Kevin Robinson, who used to work with Ray Charles, Paul McCartney and Annie Lennox and has performed with Basia for two decades now.

Both Basia and Robinson have declared their fees will go to the town’s hospice.

It was in Jaworzno that Basia made her debut in 1969, at the age of 15, with a local rock band. She later was a member of the popular all-girl vocal group Alibabki and sang with the rock band Perfect in the 1970s.

She left Poland in 1979 and, after a brief stay in the United States, developed a successful career in Britain and the United States with jazz-pop crossover hits and an incredible vocal range of almost three octaves.

In 1983, Basia performed with Mark Reilly and Danny White as the jazz-pop group Bronze, later changed into Matt Bianco. Their debut CD ‘Whose Side Are You On’ sold over 1.5 million copies. In 1985 Basia started a solo career. Her albums Time and Tide, London Warsaw New York, The Sweetest Illusion and Matt’s Mood have sold millions of copies worldwide.

On her first tour of Poland in 1994 she was promoted as the only Polish vocalist who has made a career in the West. In 2005, she received an award from the Polish Ministry of Culture for promoting Polish culture abroad. (mk)