Lesley Rae Dowling

Lesley Rae Dowling is a pop rock singer-songwriter and pianist from South Africa.

She was born Lesley Rae Shirley in 1958 in South Africa. She attended high school in Mossel Bay, a smallish town on the south coast of the Cape Province, in South Africa and matriculated in 1974. She says of herself she was a a shy student, interested in poetry and literature.

She was discovered in the university town of Stellenbosch in 1980 by artist manager Paddy Lee Thorpe. She released her first single (The Spaniard / Grips of Emotion) and album (Lesley Rae Dowling) in 1981. Many of her albums have been produced and co-written (and accompanied) by Tully McCully. Her music has won many South African music awards, including various Sarie (South African Recording Industry) awards, several SAMA awards, 3M Scotty awards, and an FNB SAMA award.