Three people walked into a bar.

A singer. A keyboardist. The keyboardist’s sister’s friend.

Two of the trio who found themselves in the same place at the same time ended up married.

And for this year’s very special edition of Carols by Candlelight, the local couple will welcome back their third, celebrity wheel.

It was 2002 and Ryan Black was in a band with famously flamboyant singer Adam Thompson, who was between stints fronting Aussie rock band Chocolate Starfish.

He was back in his home town of Shepparton performing a sound check at The Aussie ahead of a gig he and Thompson were playing that weekend.

“My sister came to the sound check with a couple of her friends and Michelle was one of them,” he said.

The pair discovered they had a mutual passion for music.

“We started writing songs together before we were together,” Mr Black said.

Some 22 years, a wedding and three kids later, the couple has played at other people’s weddings, recorded an album, and graced — on several occasions — the stage of Shepparton’s Carols by Candlelight together.

For the event’s 50th anniversary this year, they will again.

This time, however, they’ll be joining Thompson at his first-ever appearance there; Mr Black on piano, Mrs Black on backing vocals, along with four other well-known Shepparton vocalists.

Mr Black, who maintains a close friendship with Thompson after being bandmates for six years and playing with him intermittently over the years since, was tasked with assembling the entourage of back-up singers for the performance and said choosing five from the overflowing talent pool in Shepparton was a tough job.

He is now planning rehearsals for the seasonal ensemble, stepping into the You’re So Vain cover singer’s place for practice purposes until the star himself makes his way to the Queen’s Gardens for the festive family event on December 22.

“It will be great,” Mr Black said.

“And it will be great just to play for Adam because I love the guy and it will be a different context for him and me.”

While the musicians’ reunion at this year’s milestone will no doubt go down in history as one of Mr Black’s favourite Carols memories in his 20-plus year history with the event, it will be hard to top some of the magical highlights he’s already experienced on stage on all those last Sundays before Christmas.

Some include putting together a nine-member strong combined churches band last year that he said he loved hand-picking from various churches and then performing with them.

One year he and Mrs Black performed a medley of songs with an African backing choir.

Another year, about a decade ago, the pair performed at the showgrounds Carols event inclement weather had forced inside with their former band called The Manners.

“We did Mariah Carey’s All I Want for Christmas to the tune of Coldplay’s Viva La Vida and that was a huge highlight,” Mr Black said.

“It was an absolute thrill to do that.

“That song is actually quite rousing and people loved it.

“We still did the ‘woahs’ in it and it’s amazing how the lyrics to another song fitted that.”

Preferring to play instruments, particularly the piano, rather than sing, Mr Black said he’d been grateful to have supported over the years vocalists whose styles ranged from high-end operatic to the energetic mainstream pop-sounding genre.

“There’s been so many amazing singers that I’ve played for, it’s been unreal,” he said.

Mr Black said he couldn’t possibly pick a favourite because they were all so diverse.

“One of the beautiful things about performing arts in Shepparton is that everyone genuinely likes each other’s company,” he said.

“It’s pretty special.”

∎ The 50th Shepparton Carols by Candlelight in Queen’s Gardens will be held on December 22 from 6.30pm to 9.30pm.

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Tuesday, 15th July 2025

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