Suzanne Prentice’s entertainment career has spanned over 30 years.

Aged 12, Suzanne took to the stage in Invercargill, New Zealand playing to an auditorium packed with country music fans. Strumming a guitar, nearly as big as herself, with unbelievable poise and complete vocal control, Suzanne broke into “I’m Little But I’m Loud”, and completely brought the house down.

Two years later Suzanne released her first record and it was an immediate hit. The following year, at the Australasian Country Music awards, aged only 14, she received the Gold Guitar Award for best female vocalist. She then went on to receive this award an unprecedented three times.

Her musical career has been phenomenal. Suzanne can look back on almost 20 years of unparalleled success. Her albums are confirmed best sellers as soon as they are released, not only in New Zealand but also in Australia. Suzanne’s first Gospel album made history, when ‘One Day At A Time’ made platinum status in two weeks and went on to achieve triple platinum status, and secure Suzanne yet another Gold Guitar Award as Australasia’s top selling album of the year. Her album ‘When I Dream’ achieved platinum status within just 10 days of release. In 1984, she was awarded New Zealand Entertainer of the Year.

Suzanne has recorded television specials both in New Zealand and Australia, performed before the Queen and Prince Philip at a Royal Variety Performance in Auckland, and realised a major ambition when she appeared at Wembley Stadium in The International Festival of Country Music. She has also appeared as a special guest on the Grand Old Opry, for which she received a standing ovation and demands for an encore performance.

Suzanne has toured extensively throughout Canada and Australia and has worked with some of the most famous names in the business, including Dolly Parton, Kenny Rogers, Roy Orbison and Emmilou Harris.

Today her repertoire is much wider than the country songs for which she is famous. Suzanne finds herself in great demand worldwide for concert and cabaret work. She stepped in to the lead role in the musical tribute to Patsy Cline, and learnt an incredible 20 songs in just three days.

On a more personal level, Suzanne transformed herself from weighing 80kg into a bronzed and buffed body sculptor, competing at the national bodybuilding championships in Christchurch at a weight of 45kg and against women half her age. Suzanne recently launched her book “One Day at a Time”, which chronicles her pragmatic approach to weight loss and its effect on her life. Armed with her new figure, which embodies her victory over low self-esteem, diet management and fitness, Suzanne is singing a new song. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.