Musicians to unite for Jimmy Little memorial

A STATE memorial for entertainer Jimmy Little next month will be followed by a concert featuring some of the country's top musicians.

Jimmy Little

A STATE memorial for entertainer Jimmy Little at the Sydney Opera House next month will be followed by a concert featuring some of the country's top musicians, The Australian understands.

A public memorial service for the veteran country musician, who died last week, will be held on May 3, and will culminate in an evening celebration gala in the Opera House's Concert Hall, according to the late singer's manager, Buzz Bidstrup.

Bidstrup says he has been putting out the word about the concert to Little's many peers, collaborators and friends in the industry.

While the list of performers is not yet complete, Bidstrup says it will comprise a who's who of Australian music. "There will be a pretty impressive line-up of people," Bidstrup says. "Jim was a very, very well-loved man."

Little, the veteran indigenous country musician, died after a long illness last Monday, aged 75, at his home in Dubbo in western NSW.

A private funeral for the popular entertainer will be held in the northwestern NSW town of Walgett this week.

Little's family has requested it be attended only by family and friends. The family last week accepted NSW Premier Barry O'Farrell's offer of a state memorial for the Royal Telephone singer, whose honeyed voice and gentle disposition garnered for him a reputation as the undisputed gentleman of Australian music.

O'Farrell says he is delighted the family had accepted the NSW government's offer, which would "allow (Little's) thousands of fans to celebrate his life and honour his legacy".

"Jimmy Little was a great Australian, a pioneer for the indigenous community and a talented musician," O'Farrell says.

Little, the first Aborigine to have a top 10 single in Australia, is one of the country's most decorated musicians. The ARIA Hall of Fame inductee was made an officer of the Order of Australia in 2004 and appointed a National Living Treasure the same year.

Little's family said in a statement the musician had requested that, on his passing, people make a donation to the Jimmy Little Foundation rather than purchasing floral tributes.

The singer, who played his last concert 18 months ago, set up the foundation to assist indigenous people with renal disease following his own kidney transplant in 2006.