Su Cruickshank

Susan Cruickshank (31 August 1946 – 8 December 2009) was an Australian jazz and blues singer, actress, writer and entertainer. She was well known though her live performance's with her group Trios Los Conchos and her appearance's in TV, film, and radio. Regarded as one of the finest female jazz singers in Australian history, she was nicknamed The Queen of Jazz and The Diva on the Hill

Early life Cruickshank was born in Newcastle, New South Wales, the eldest of four children of pharmacist Duncan Cruickshank and his wife Joyce. She grew up in the suburb of Adamstown in a musical family. Her father played double bass and her paternal grandmother had been a singer.

She subsequently appeared in many Australian film and television roles and was especially well known for her role as Mrs. Einstein , the mother of Yahoo Serious in the 1988 surprise hit (in Australia) film Young Einstein and, from 1992, for her regular appearances on Bert Newton's top-rating nationally-broadcast morning entertainment show Good Morning Australia.

In 1993-4 she hosted her own talk show on ABC TV called In Company with Su Cruickshank and she continued to make frequent guest appearances in a wide variety of Australian drama, comedy and light entertainment programs for the rest of the decade, as well as appearing in a number of TV commercials.

Death Cruickshank suffered from a long-term illness in her last years and she died on 8 December 2009. A memorial concert was held to celebrate her life in her home town of Newcastle a week after her death.

Personal life Cruickshank married and divorced in the 1970s and never remarried. She had two stepchildren, Effie and Saabeah Theos, to her Ghanaian partner of eight years.

Acting roles Film Somewhere in the Darkness (1998) Your Move: An Emergency Life Saving Adventure (1997) Young Einstein (1988) Those Dear Departed (1987) Playing Beatie Bow (1986) Undercover (1984) Fatty Finn (1980)

Television The Mike Walsh Show (1980) Guest as herself E Street A Country Practice The Young Doctors as Bathsheba Smith (1981) Stock Squad

Publications Cruickshank, Su, Bring A Plate to The Mortdale Scout Hall – The Autobiography of a Fat Tart Complete with Recipes, Sun Books, 1992,