An icon of the ‘80’s, Mari Wilson, will be appearing at the Marine Theatre in Lyme Regis this week.

Mari Wilson first appeared on the UK music scene in the early eighties with her trademark skyscraper beehive hairdo, bizarre sense of fashion and twelve piece band The Wilsations. In 1982. her records began entering the charts and she soon had six hit singles, the biggest being Just What I’ve Always Wanted and Cry Me A River, both taken from her album Showpeople.

In the mid-eighties, Mari reduced the size of her hairdo, and her band, and found a new direction as a jazz performer, playing Ronnie Scott’s and the Royal Festival Hall, alongside jazz greats Stan Getz, BB King and Ray Charles. Mari has toured in musical theatre, released several albums during the noughties, appeared in the outrageously camp Girltalk, with Barb Jungr and Claire Martin, and has now co-written a one-woman show, The Love Thing, which will be her next venture.

Mari Wilson’s Threesome, her show at the Marine Theatre, is an intimate affair, with Adrian York at piano and Matt Backer on guitar. They will be performing early hits, songs from Mari’s latest album, Emotional Glamour, and her unusual choice of covers (including the showstopping Wild Horses, and the sublime Be My Baby), sprinkled with storytelling, witty repartee and limitless glamour.

Marine Theatre Director Ian Stephens said: ”Mari is an icon of cool kitsch. As a child of (OK, fan of) the eighties, I really can’t wait to see one of the stars of the period here on our stage. Fans of retro pop, jazz, soul and irony – this is a night for us!”

Mari Wilson will be on stage at the Marine Theatre on Friday, June 18, at 8pm. Tickets cost �14, available from Lyme Regis Tourist Information Centre on (01297) 442138, online at www.marinetheatre.org.uk, or on the door. TheatreFriends two tickets for the price of one.