| My name is Stasia Very. I am a mother/singer/pianist/recording artist/grandmother/songwriter – all in that order. I have been singing for audiences since age 10 when a Catholic nun of the Josephite order sent me for competition in both voice and piano from Our Lady of the Rosary School, St.Marys near Penrith in 1958.
Listen to "Adyna" sung by Stasia Very & Halina Gad
I married Gabe Very (footballer for First Grade Parramatta) in 1967) who played as a Winger. We were both very young and the family began to grow. We had 4 beautiful daughters (the third Gabrielle also became a singer with me on recordings) My singing career was on hold while my husban’s blossomed for awhile. Still, during family life I was able to continue the music “hobby” with playing organ and singing at weddings, leading small choir groups for Church while joining some friends in a Trio group called “The Mystics” which became a hobby band for 15 years. After Medjugorje I left this group and had serious voice training for 3 years and wished to bring my own style of music to the world with the message of God’s love for man and began the first recording of CD “Cry in the Wilderness” which became available through Larrikin Records (now Festival).
My daughters are very supportive of me now that many commitments are reduced even though there are 9 grandchildren.
I have recently been asked by Bogmila Filip to be part of her group called Pope John Paul II group singing mainly in Polish. She is an inspiration to me with the work she does and her great passion for bringing concerts to the people – the Polish community in particular who help to facilitate her in this endeavour. I was attracted to the “Divine Mercy” content she presented to me.
When Bogusia heard of me, I had already staged a concert at the Polish Memorial Church at Maryong one Sunday in May 2006 in the Church Hall with Adam Ostrowski’s and Fr Kristoff’s help. This concert although not very well attended was very well received. People marveled that a religious concert could be so entertaining and so touching of the heart at the same time.
My mission then was to promote my newest CD called “Mother Sweetest Best” with a song recorded in Polish called “Badz Pozdrowiona” (thanking and praising Our Blessed Mother). I chose the Polish language because of my love for the Pope (John Paul II) and wanted one song to be in his native tongue (which was also mine). This CD is loved by many and has the most loved songs of Our Lady therein, e.g. 2 Ave Maria’s. I then felt called to set up a website to spread the news of Our Lady’s love for us and to sell the CD’s to a world market.
This website is called
www.HeavenlyMotherMusic.com
Stasia Very, Jindabyne, Kozzie Fest 2009. Photo Bogumiła Filip |
I am of Polish/Ukrainian heritage. My Polish father Stanislaw Holub had a good ear for music but was not a musician himself. My Ukrainian mother Maria Krivecs from the Chernichow region met him in Germany after she was forced to travel there from her homeland and work under Hitler’s regime. I was born after WWII on April 13, 1948 and we came out to Australia on the ship the “Nellie” in November 1949.
My mother embraced the Polish language and culture (hiding her own for fear of the Russian reprisal). The Polish language was used in our home and my brother Eddie and sister Linda were also encouraged to learn it for a time in Polish school as I was. We had some Polish culture through concerts, Church and priests, Polish friends and gatherings and Maryong Polish festival times. My dear father who died at age 63 left me with a wonderful heritage of prayer and children’s poems in Polish and devotion to the Mother of Jesus.
Both my mother and father encouraged me to learn to play the piano and to sing in my school years and I was often chosen to perform at concerts, especially when the Polish Youth Organisation was formed with some wonderful people, the Lipinskis and Mr Ostrowski and also Mr Kubiak in about 1961-1966 who wished to encourage the “youth” in good formation and Polish culture. We performed some good concerts of the youth (choir which I conducted with uniforms sewed and made by Mrs Lipinska herself). Mrs Lipinska introduced us to and taught us Polish songs for choir and solo for me to perform in musical drama. I remember these times as being very fruitful for me and the organisation generally.
Since 1991, after a visit to Medjugorje in former Yugoslavia I have produced 5 CD’s, of special music and song, the latest was for World Youth Day as I was given to know that Australia has been called “the Land of the Holy Spirit” for generations.
I have enjoyed performing some of this music recently at concerts with the Pope John Paul II Group under Bogmila’s direction at Essendon, Vic, near Mt Kosciuszko NSW, and recently at the Shrine of Divine Mercy at Keesborough and local Polish Dom.
The website is of assistance to some people and they may purchase CD’s there and enjoy free downloads and words to songs they love. It is a work for the Lord as are the CD’s and now also as I see it, this work of Bogmila and the wonderful talent in the Pope John Paul II group in presenting concerts of classics with Kristoff Malek and Halina Gad as examples of giving performers including myself. I have been amazed at the generosity of the Polish Comminity generally in giving of themselves and their work for the Lord. Thankyou serdecznie.
Please ring (02) 8113 5794
or email stasiavery@rhodeswaterside.net for further information. | 
