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Growing up, Shelley Minson
would find any excuse to put on a
pair of earrings and “some lippie”.
She would happily be described as a
girlie girl. “I’ve always worn a lot of
pink,” Shelley told Belle Vie. “Any-
one who knows me, knows I love
pink.”
She developed an early love of
music, influenced by the old-time
bush dances around Muswellbrook.
“We always went to the family danc-
es at Wybong and McCullys Gap,
where the Ray Boys Band would
play,” she says.
Shelley (nee Watts) went to
St James’ Primary School, then
Muswellbrook High. “I started do-
ing casual work in the library at the
high school when I was about 18,
and a lot of my teachers were still
there, so I always felt at home,” she
says.
But it was love that led Shelley
to leave Muswellbrook in 2006,
making her new home in Australia’s
country music capital, Tamworth.
She had met her future husband,
singer-songwriter Lawrie Minson,
and requested a transfer to work at
a school in Tamworth.
“In 2010 a work colleague
showed me a website called Pin Up
Girl Clothing,” she says. “I loved all
the 50s-style rockabilly dresses and I
started researching the fashion. We
started going to nostalgia and rocka-
billy festivals and now it’s just how I
dress all the time.”
Shelley admits she may be found
watching TV at home in her track-
suit pants, but whenever she goes
out, her outfit is vintage-inspired.
And she isn’t the only one embrac-
ing the look, the pin-up style is en-
joying a resurgence, with more and
more women opting for flattering
structured dresses and retro hair-
styles and accessories.
“I think it’s great that some of my
friends in Muswellbrook are getting
into it,” Shelley said. “It’s not eve-
ryone’s cup of tea, but I think lots
of girls are wearing the 50s and 60s-
style dresses. They might also have
brightly coloured hair and some have
tattoos, I love that people are making
it their own.
“It’s really about doing what
makes you happy and having a bit of
fun. I love that it’s so feminine and
I think the style suits women of all
ages and body shapes, I really love
that,” she says. “It was such a colour-
ful era. I love the cars and the music
– I’ve always been a huge Patsy Cline
fan – she’s my favourite female artist.
I also think that even though things
are better in this day and age, there
was a lovely simplicity about the era.”
And it seems her wonderful, vin-
tage look is the perfect complement
to her budding singing career. Shel-
ley credits her husband with giving
her the confidence to get behind
the microphone. “Lawrie has been a
professional musician for more than
30 years,” she says. “He plays sev-
eral instruments and has won four
Golden Guitars at the Tamworth
Country Music Awards. If I hadn’t
met Lawrie, I would never have had
the confidence to sing on my own.”
Shelley took singing lessons and
mustered up the courage to take the
stage at the students’ concert.
“I was nervous,” she admits. But
breaking through those nerves seems
to be paying off, because Shelley won
a Golden Medallion for Best New
Talent NSW at this years’ Country
Music Awards for the ballad The
Dance at the Old Wybong Hall,
which she wrote with Lawrie.
Shelley also has a new single, Bet-
tie Bang, which is a tribute to 1950s
pin-up queen Bettie Page. Now the
husband and wife duo are making a
name for themselves as dynamic live
performers. This month Shelley and
Lawrie will go on tour with Aus-
tralian country music legend James
Blundell. The duo will be his sup-
port act and Lawrie will also play in
James’ band.
Even as a little girl on her parents’ Castlerock
Road property, Shelley Minson loved to dress
up. Not much has changed. Our first Belle Vie
cover model spoke to DAYARNE SMITH about
fashion, music and finding her niche.
IN STYLE AND
ON SONG
Shelley Minson has embraced the 1950s rockabilly style, which looks
right at home on stage at country music gigs.
Image by Andrew Pearson Photography Tamworth.
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Shelley’s single Bettie Bang is available on iTunes
