Interview: Kym Purling – Induction into the South Australian Music Hall of Fame

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South Australia is known for producing some of the best musicians in the world. Since 2010 the South Australian Music Hall of Fame has recognised venues, groups and individual artists who have played a part in shaping the music industry, not just here in South Australia but on a global level.

This year, at an awards ceremony on Friday 26 September, Kym Purling was inducted into the Hall of Fame for his outstanding work.

When looking at Kym’s career, there isn’t much he hasn’t done. From early days studying a Bachelor of Music in Jazz Studies at Elder Conservatorium through to working the strip in Las Vegas, conducting touring musical theatre productions across America to working as a music director on Broadway. Kym has also worked and toured extensively with industry icons such as Natalie Cole and Engelbert Humperdinck. Most recently, Kym musically directed the Australian premiere of the Broadway smash-hit musical Kimberly Akimbo for State Theatre Company South Australia and Melbourne Theatre Company. 

Kym Purling

Kym spoke to Glam Adelaide in the lead up to the awards ceremony about his career and where his love of music came from.

“It’s probably like so many who get exposed to things when we’re young – you connect with it. That’s what happened to me. My older sister was having classical piano lessons in the house and I was five at the time. I would listen to her play from across the room and when she finished playing I’d go over to the piano and reach up to the keys and play basic versions of what she was playing by ear. That was enough to have my parents and friends say that I should start having classical piano lessons. And that’s what happened when I was six. I continued classical piano lessons all through primary school and high school and into university while playing other things as well. I remember taking all my pocket money to Allan’s Music and Gawler Place and perusing all the music, sheet music there and coming home with lots and lots of music. I taught myself how to read Chord symbols and lead sheets and stuff like that, completely different to the way I was trained classically. I guess that in some ways was sort of a foundation to my love of jazz and harmony – playing off the page.  

“I started studying jazz at Adelaide Uni.  I was interested in working with kids so I considered becoming a primary school teacher, and I was also interested in becoming an architect. But I think It was always music for me. When I first heard Oscar Peterson, the Canadian pianist, I thought then – like thousands of other pianists around the world when they heard him – it sparked something and I knew that’s what I wanted to do.”

We asked Kym about his time touring America came about, leading to some phenomenal career highlights.

“I think in this industry it’s a lot to do with who you know – networking and putting yourself out there. The first place I went overseas was Las Vegas and I was adamant to go out and hear what great musicians were playing around, not only in the lounges and in the hotels but also in the casinos in the showrooms where they have major shows along the Las Vegas Strip. I was only there two and a half years, but within the first six months, I seemed to have known everybody around town. I was being asked to play here and there and it wasn’t just doing gigs with bands in a few venues. I was sort of networking in Vegas and that opened up all the doors literally to the showrooms that I played in with different artists in Vegas as well. 

“I was working with a woman that was singing with Wayne Newton. She had a musical theatre background and she got a call from a theatrical company on Broadway and they asked her if they knew of anyone who could direct a national tour of Footloose. She put my name forward without even checking with me. I left my apartment in Vegas in disarray and ended up flying to Wilmington, Delaware a few days later to join The Footloose company. I was handed two binder folders of Act 1 and Act 2, and was told I’d be conducting the show in two nights. I had never conducted something like this before but I must have done something right because I took that show to 267 cities around America in the next 11 months.”

Kym at the induction ceremony

Kym is extremely honoured to be inducted to the South Australian Music Hall of Fame, but as he shared with Glam Adelaide, wants to dedicate this award to the people who helped him throughout his career so far. 

“I was thinking to myself yesterday, I never liked the word ‘fame’, and I never liked people that go into any industry for fame or fortune. If I had the chance to rename it, I’d call it the South Australian Music Hall of Accomplishments, because for me, this is probably the gist of what I’ll talk about on Friday night at the ceremony. I was the first international adoption to Australia during the Vietnam War before the war had ended, and when I was probably about ten my parents sat me down with a book called ‘Why Was I Adopted?’ I remember going away from that conversation thinking, ‘Well, that’s fine with me. I can handle that. I have a loving family, but I want to now make the most of my life in every way I can.’ I have to say that I’ve done that. There have been little benchmarks along the way. Like in 1996 I won the Outstanding Keyboard Player of the Year at the South Australian Music Industry Awards. In that room were my teachers who had taught me. So for me, this award is about the people that helped me get there. It’s the people that lifted me up and taught me and provided me opportunities. I’ve had so many people that have done that over the years.”

Kym is one of our state’s most in-demand musicians, with several gigs taking up the remainder of this year before he heads back overseas.