By MICHELLE HERBISON
SINGER Rhonda Burchmore responded in valiant style to an online impersonator with a “wicked tongue” posing under her name.
The Aussie diva simply embraced the situation when she discovered Melbourne comedian Thomas Jaspers posing as her on Twitter, writing “really crass, just out there” comments.
“Everyone was texting me – Anthony Callea and Tim Campbell – saying, ‘Oh my god is that you? He’s crazy.’ It was just outrageous,” Burchmore recalled with a laugh.
After contacting Jaspers urging a name change, who promptly changed his Twitter name to Rhonda Butchmore, Burchmore appeared in a comedic Youtube skit alongside Jaspers, both dressed in blue sequins and heels.
“I said to him, ‘I thought if I can’t beat you I’ll join you’. Sometimes that could backfire but I thought he’s pretty harmless.
“And I actually follow him (on Twitter). Fortunately I’ve got more followers than he has.”
Burchmore spoke to the Independent amid a hefty touring schedule in the lead-up to her Geelong Performing Arts Centre Musical Mornings concerts on 13 and 14 November.
Her most recent album, Cry Me a River, a tribute to 1950s songstress Julie London, made number four on ABC’s jazz charts.
Burchmore said she had just returned from Japan where they dubbed her “the eighth wonder of the world” due to her signature long legs.
“It was quite a novelty. They just smile and laugh,” she said.
“I couldn’t understand a word but they were really lovely people. It was really nice to have a lovely reaction there where no one knows me as such.”
Burchmore said her Musical Mornings shows would be “quite relaxed” but she promised to don a gorgeous dress for the occasion.
“This will be intimate and very personal in terms of a far more candid presentation than big budget musicals,” she said.
Pianist Ray Alldridge would accompany Burchmore on a range of songs, including “everything from musical theatre to contemporary to Gershwin to Cole Porter”, she teased.
She would also reveal anecdotes from her career, right back to the days of Hey Hey it’s Saturday, and featuring names such as Mickey Rooney and Bill Clinton.
