Jean Stilwell and Patti Loach - the story of a friendship that grew

Jean Stilwell and Patti Loach: collaborative biography

the story of a friendship that grew

Most singer-pianist relationships begin with music and then, hopefully, evolve to include friendship. But singer Jean Stilwell's relationship with pianist Patti Loach began the other way around; it started with a friendship and then grew to include their very different styles of music.

Over dinner with Patti and her husband John, Jean talked about her life "on the boards" performing concerts and operas in halls around the world.  In contrast, Patti's loves were Brahms, Chopin, jazz, and musical theatre.

But the more they talked, the more the two women realized that the life of a diva was not so different from the life that Patti had led; they were both daughters, sisters, lovers, wives, mothers, friends, and "women of a certain age". 

Even though they had walked very different paths to bring them to that fateful dinner in October of 2002, Jean and Patti realized that they had even more than that in common: they recognized in each other women who choose to live rich, full lives. Honest lives. Lives full of passion, good coffee and belly laughs.

Conversations over dinner - and perhaps the odd glass of Chianti - led to musical collaborations that have included five shows which they performed across Canada, and in Vietnam, Cambodia, France, and Spain.

For more information, please visit www.jeanandpatti.com.