It’s Kamahl who, as a longstanding north shore resident, is there to plead for the rescue of the Marian St Theatre at Killara.

“This theatre has helped develop the careers of many thespians,” booms the familiar deep voice which makes a microphone redundant.

“How do we pass our soul on to the next generation? What defines us, our values and beliefs?

“The Marian St Theatre is an icon that can’t be replaced. It defines us as a people committed to the telling of stories.

“We reveal ourselves in the importance we pay to the arts and culture.

“The Marian St Theatre is where we nurture and protect our soul.”

The Malaysian-born entertainer is as passionate about the north shore as he is about his adopted country, having lived at St Ives, Turramurra and now Warrawee for a total of 50 years.

It’s where he and his wife Sahodra raised their daughter Rani, who now lives in Singapore, and son Rajan, a composer who created the music for the new Sir John Monash memorial at Villers-Bretonneux in France and, as a sideline, does “the best Kamahl impressions”.

He bristled with pride when he recited poetry in the latest Anzac Day “Soul of Australia” presentation on Channel 9.

He still seeks a role in any public display of national pride, styling himself as the “Morgan Freeman of Australia”, and has served as an Australia Day ambassador multiple times.

He was “devastated” when he did not get an invitation to take part in Australia’s 1988 bicentennial TV special because he felt he had “the runs on the board” and wanted to show his sentiments.

“It was devastating; call it depression or whatever. For the next few months I was moping everywhere. Life had no meaning at that time,” he says.

He describes Australia as the best country in the world, and why not?

His hits including The Elephant Song, When A Child Is Born, Sounds Of Goodbye and Heart And Soul have helped push his record sales over 10 million.

He has performed for royalty and appeared at New York’s Carnegie Hall, the London Palladium and the Sydney Opera House, as well as collaborating with The Wiggles and judging on The X Factor.

He has so many gold and platinum plaques (more than 80) that the walls of his home cannot house them all and he keeps extras in a garden shed behind his swimming pool and cabana.

But it was not always plain sailing after he arrived in Adelaide from Malaysia in 1953 to complete his schooling.

In those days students had to return home if they failed in their studies, and Kamahl had “failed constantly” for five years, supposedly studying arts and architecture at university.

He eventually gained Australian citizenship but back then returning to Malaysia was not a palatable option, the keen cricket fan feeling it would be “like walking back after making a duck”.

It was also the days of the White Australia policy and a time when native Australians were only just becoming official citizens.

KAMAHL RECITES LINCOLN’S GETTYSBURG ADDRESS

In 2009 Kamahl had a well-publicised run-in with Daryl Somers’ Hey Hey It’s Saturday TV show — where he was a regular guest — after its “red faces” segment became “black faces”, offending visiting US star Harry Connick Jr.

The FBA (foreign-born Australian) with an OA after his name also says he is an OBE.

He jokes that it once stood for Outstanding Brown Entertainer but now, sadly, means Over Bloody Eighty (he is 83).

He does, however, remain sensitive about racism and says, “It’s with me until I die”.

“Prejudice is a pigment of our imagination. In some areas I’m treated as royalty while in others I’m regarded as an untouchable,” he says. “It’s either feast or famine.”

He is a Barack Obama “tragic” and when he met the then US President in Canberra in 2011 he told him: “You have always left me spellbound and often tear bound.”

Obama’s book The Audacity Of Hope left a lasting impression on him.

“The white man doesn’t have to hope — it’s part of his privilege,” he says.

“If you are black you can only dare to hope. The stench of that is still pretty far and wide.

“History will eventually have Obama on a par with (Abraham) Lincoln, or one millimetre ahead,” says Kamahl, who has been called on by US ambassadors to recite Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address.

When I visit him at home he favours me with a stirring, word-perfect rendition, which I enjoy while sipping a cup of tea — Dilmah, of course, the Ceylonese brand he has advertised and which presumably makes many people associate him with Sri Lanka.

Kamahl’s home features photos of the rich and famous he has rubbed shoulders with, including the Queen, Prince Charles, Princess Anne, President George Bush Sr, former Australian prime minister John Howard, opera singer Joan Sutherland, author Bryce Courtenay, media mogul Rupert Murdoch and cricket great Sir Donald Bradman.

Each one provokes a tale, sometimes many tales. At one point he says: “That’s another story. You’ll be here forever.”

He enjoyed a long friendship with Bradman and keeps a folder of his voluminous correspondence with The Don, a great music lover who, in one letter, referred to his “precious little granddaughter”, then aged nine, who became opera singer Greta Bradman.

He sang at Bradman’s 90th birthday party, where he met visiting Indian great Sachin Tendulkar.

Kamahl still laughs about the mix-up when he took Bradman and his wife Jessie to lunch at fancy Chloe’s in Adelaide.

But a reticent Bradman thought he meant Cleo’s, where the waitresses served “half-naked”.

“Do they show one breast at a time?” The Don asked.

Halfway through lunch at the correct venue, Lady Bradman quipped: “I think Don would be happier at the other place.”