Cliche (Duo/Cover Band)

CONNIE BENTLAGE
Musical Director, Keyboards & Alto andTenor Sax
Connie completed her Bachelor of Music (BMus) at the University of Witwatersrand, majoring in performance on piano and saxophone in 1991.

She has performed in shows such as “The Official Tribute to the Blues Brothers” (which won the best theatre production of the year – Vita award 1997), “Snoopy the Musical”, Rory Rootenberg’s “Cadenza”, “Feeling Groovy”, Carousel’s “Decades”, Emperor’s “Inferno”, “Stage Fright, “The Rocky Horror Picture Show” and was Musical Director and performed in Richard Loring’s, “Girl Talk 1”, “Girl Talk Nite Out”, “Girl Talk 005”, “Girl Talk 007” and Jervis Pennington’s “Scribble”.  Connie was assistant musical director for Janis Honeyman’s Pantomime “Jack & the Beanstalk”.  She has also performed extensively on the Barnyard theatre circuit in shows such as, “Glory Days”, “Roll over Beethoven”, “70’s Revolution”, “Natural Woman”, “The 60’s Revolution” and
“The Boys are Back in Town”. She also musically directed shows such as Jervis Pennington’s “Chef, Rattle & Roll” and the Buddy Holly show “That’ll Be the Day” for Richard Loring at the Globe Theatre, Gold Reef City.  For her work on this production she was nominated in the category “Best Musical Director” for the Naledi Awards.

Highlights in her performing career were Nelson Mandela’s 80th Birthday Gala at Gallagher Estate where she shared a stage with celebrities such as Michael Jackson, Nina Simone, Stevie Wonder and others and opening for Joe Cocker in 2008 with Neill Solomon.

Connie performs with artists such as Neill Solomon (The Passengers), Emmanuel Castis, Phat Brass Big Band, High Definition (8 piece band – www.showband.co.za) and many others. Connie does session work, solo sax & piano work for events, arranges, scores and musically directs shows.  She has taught music for many years and is the Head of the Damelin Contemporary School of Music and Academic, QA and Administration Manager for Damelin Bramley, the creative campus.

ALICIA COMER
Singer, Songwriter, Session Artist and Performer
Talented singer, Alicia, was born and raised in the beautiful city of Cape Town.  After completing school in 2004, she relocated to Johannesburg in pursuit of a career in the entertainment industry.  The dedication and determination eventually paid off for Alicia.  At the age of 21, Alicia has already performed as MC/Presenter and Vocalist in 3 Nationwide Tours, including ‘Catch me if you can’, ‘The FNB Rocking Future Roadshow’ and the ‘Opel Rocking Future Roadshow’.  Sponsors for these nationwide tours included Standard Bank, General Motors, Sony BMG South Africa, Athol Media, PUMA, True Religion and USN to name but a few.

Radio listeners will also be familiar with Alicia’s voice as she has collaborated with Lady Lea and Scotty on ‘You and Me’, which she also wrote the lyrics to and which shot to number 1 on 5FM’s hi 5 @ 5 and Justin Vee with ‘Sunrise’ (written by Justin Vee, Paulo De Barros, Loyiso Bala, Denholm Harding and Alicia Comer) which went to no 3 on Highveld’s top 40 SA and was a top 10 hit around the country.  Alicia also features on Lady Lea’s ‘Catch me if you can’ (David Gresham Records), ‘Natural Groove’ (More Music) as well as local compilation album ‘Hey’ (Sony BMG) featuring South Africa’s biggest hits for 2008.
This versatile songstress performs anything from pop, rock, country, jazz and dance and can entertain any crowd with her energetic performances and sultry vocals.  Alicia entertains at many of Joburg’s hottest spots alongside DJ’s and Musicians such as DJ Lloyd Alicia and Connie, musicians in their own right, but together they form a combination that’s spell binding, unique and just oozes elegance and class, known as Cliché.

Performing a variety of different genres and keeping up to date with the top 40 chart makes this duo a world class act and very popular with audiences.
A dinner set consists of soft background jazz numbers with a few soft ballads and instrumentals such as Imagine, What a wonderful world, Fly me to the moon and many more, creating an ambience that will set the right mood for any occasion.

Popular sing along songs such as Mustang Sally, Perfect, Walking on sunshine, Simply the best and I will survive, will get any audience out of their seats and onto the dance floor.

Current chart toppers from the likes of Lady GaGa, Rihanna, Amy Whinehouse, Kylie Minogue, Christina Aguilera and The Pussycat Dolls can definitely be expected and are performed outstandingly.