Queen of country music SUZANNE'S DATE WITH DESTINY

The Kiwi icon opens up about her health scare and other showbiz legends

- Fleur Guthrie

In 1971, before an auditorium packed with country music fans in Invercargill, the act that almost brought the roof down was a shy, guitar-strumming 12-year-old called Suzanne Prentice - who had failed to make the school choir.

Now aged 66 and still performing, Suzanne's impressive 50-year career spans TV shows, platinum albums and performances with stars like Dolly Parton, Tammy Wynette and the Beach Boys, to name a few. She traversed the country music genre to become one of our country's most enduring entertainers, but it's her community work fundraising for local charities that she's most proud of.

Away from the spotlight, the mum of two is known as Sue Dalton (or “Nan” to her four grandchildren, Bridie, 18, Blake, 17, Oliver, 11, and George, eight) and has been married to retired cop Steve for almost 50 years.

Over a cup of tea - with Pete, a black miniature schnauzer at her feet - Suzanne dishes up stories to the Weekly about her memories working with showbiz legends and what international heartthrob she'd never sing with again.

Sue, the last time we spoke was after your heart attack in 2022. How have you been since then? Well, I felt like I got through the cardiac arrest. Then, last year, out of the blue, I spent a month in hospital and was diagnosed with an autoimmune disease that I'm battling. It was pretty touch and go at the time, but now I feel really good and I'm still working. So it's just one of those things where I'll try all sorts of medications and see which is going to suit me. But if that's all I've got to complain about, I'm very lucky.

You've always been portrayed as this wholesome gal from down south, but perhaps you've secretly got lots of tattoos...? Ha, well, I have got one tattoo where nobody can see it! It's a little bird with a musical staff of the first three notes of the very first song I sang - On the Wings of a Dove.