Blues singer Dana Gillespie is coming to Golden Grove this Saturday - giving a concert in front of the mansion.

Dana's philosophy of life is epitomised by the advice given to her by Sai Baba - 'Play the game, be happy'.

Warm and earthy, generous, kind, courageous and unconventional, she is a woman who has lived life to the full and met success and disaster with the same spirit and humour.

Aged 13 she discovered the Marquee Club and became a regular there, the doormen would let her in and before the show started she would get a good place at the front, one day Georgio Gomelsky, Yardbirds' manager, asked what she did and boldly said she wrote songs, 'Get up on stage and sing' he encouraged her.

One evening the support act was David Jones and the Manish Boys, he ended up going home with her and they became an on/off item for years. Later Angie became a lifelong friend, and Dana even lived with them in New York for a short time.

Bowie wrote Andy Warhol for her.

She has interests in music, film, theatre and sport. She played Mary Magdalen in Jesus Christ Superstar, has performed Shakespeare and has acted with John Gielgud, Arthur Lowe, Peter Cook and Dudley Moore, Bruno Ganz and is among the organisers of the Mustique Jazz Festival.

She was voted “Top British Female Blues Vocalist” by the British Blues Connection and Blueprint Magazine five times and has now been elevated to their Hall Of Fame. Her new album, Deep Pockets, is her 72nd.

Her autobiography Weren't Born a Man (from her 1974 album) is filled with celebrity names, and her life ricochets with the wonderful chances that more innocent and liberated times allowed.

'They say that variety is the spice of life, and Dana's life has seen more spirit than most. What a life! What a woman!' said friend and fan Julian Clary.