Diamond delivers double bill

This Saturday, get ready for a double Diamond musical performance.

Veteran children's musician Charlotte Diamond returns to the stage at Lansdowne Centre for her Family Holiday Delight Concert. And this year, she will be accompanied for the first time in concert by her son, Matthew Diamond.

"Over the years he's always been my webmaster, technician, and producer," said Diamond, laughing.

"There was just a turn of events that he started spending more time recently on the music side of things. When the opportunity came to add another member to my group it worked out really well."

While it may be the 37-year-old's first time performing live, he and younger brother Thomas have previously starred as singers in numerous tracks like "Laundry Monster", a song Diamond said she wrote in protest to the voluminous amounts of laundry the siblings created daily.

The duo also co-wrote some of Diamond's most well-known hits like "Slimy the Slug" and "Dicky Dinosaur".

Matthew Diamond will be lending his electric guitar and vocal talents as he, his mother and long-time keyboardist Bob Wishinski perform past favourites as well as two previously unreleased tracks - "Ti-U", a song Diamond described as a "funky melody that makes it easy to get up and dance," and "I Have Shoes and I Can Walk", an "action song" that inspires people to put on their shoes and walk, run or dance.

The songs are planned to be on a 14th album that is currently in the works.

A former schoolteacher in the Fraser Valley and the Lower Mainland, Diamond said this year has been as busy as ever in her musical career that has spanned 27 years.

"You always develop and evolve. My ability to interact with the audience is at its peak, getting people who will sing along. Having the three-part harmony with Bob and Matthew will make a big difference."

Diamond said she has also implemented a comedy component to her performances over the years, adding to an already eclectic repertoire that includes playing guitar, piano, and singing songs in French and Spanish. She attributed her love of music to family influence.

"In my home we sang all the time. We gathered around the piano, and my auntie and mom sang a cappella all the time.

Singing like that teaches you to become very good on pitch."

You can catch Diamond, her son and Wishinski's one-hour show by the Lansdowne Centre kiosk stage on Saturday, Nov. 24 at 1 p.m. For more information, visit www.charlottediamond. com.