Out of all the girls that shot to fame when reality TV’s Popstars formed pop group Bardot, sexy Melbournite Katie Underwood remains one of the most known and visible. While stars can never really leave their pasts behind, Underwood has done well to step out of her reality TV shadow and carve out a much brighter and more successful career for herself.

The hits she penned with dance producers Disco Montego ( Beautiful and Magic ) and T-Funk ( Be Together ) launched a whole new Katie, and helped her become a household name. She’s made many appearances in the queer sphere of clubs and festivals, making her a popular favourite amongst the gay and lesbian community. However since then, the star appears to have been laying low.

“I know it seems that I have been a bit quiet recently, but that’s not really true. I’ve just turned away from TV and dance music a bit, and I’ve been exploring my hunger for live experiences,” explains Underwood.

That’s true – her recent activity includes live theatre and cabaret offerings like Dolls, Doves And A Diva with lesbian magician Cath Jaimeson, and more recently Valentino where she starred along side former Bardot member Tiffani Wood.

This week Underwood opens Swing Both Ways, a live music event featuring jazz and swing at gay bar Priscilla’s. Each Wednesday for the next two months she’ll join forces with jazz outfit The Matt Dwyer Trio to create a night of chilled out jazz and cocktails. It’s an exciting show concept for Melbourne’s Commercial Road gay strip, different to anything else that’s around for queers in that area, and Underwood is certainly one of the biggest names to ever lend themselves to a regular night on the queer calendar.

“I’ve known Mitch Daly (Priscilla’s Owner) and his partner for a number of years,” says Katie. “I think it’s really great what he has done with the former Diva club. It’s certainly a lot classier, and I love the stage set up!

”[The Commercial Road strip] is all drag and dance… which is fine, we all love that, but I just felt it was missing something… There was definitely room for something different. It seemed so obvious to me that what was missing was live music and in particular jazz, swing… you know that chilled out cocktail environment. Nobody is doing it. So I approached Mitch with the idea for a weekly Wednesday and he said yes.”

Underwood lights up with excitement as we chat about the show, and in particular when she mentions working with the Mark Dwyer Trio. She seems genuinely happy about having a creative home to play with music and performance of work by jazz greats like Ella Fitzgerald, Nina Simone and Billie Holliday. Each week will have a different flavour, going beyond the jazz standard, and even incorporating contemporary reworked hits and original compositions. And the ensemble will be taking requests from the audience too.

According to Underwood, Priscilla’s Mitch Daly has put a suggestions box for people to put their requests in, which he has cheekily called ‘Katie’s box’.

“I love that people get to put their requests into Katie’s box,” she jokes, cheekily. “Live performance, live theatre and direct contact with an audience is what really helps make a great artist, and it’s always been what really turns me on.

“I sort of came through pop the wrong way around. I’ve always ached for live performance and working with a band. The more I’ve done live theatre and cabaret, the more I’ve realised how much I love it. When it was all first happening for me with the reality TV shows (Pop Stars, Thorpies Angels) and pop group, there really wasn’t a lot of room for anything live. It was often just live vocals on backing tracks. I’m so much more excited about the upcoming gig than I’ve been about any project for a while.”

Fans of Underwood’s dance music will be happy to know that she isn’t throwing away those dancing shoes just yet – she’s currently working on some hot original tracks with none other than hit makers Mr Timothy and John Course, and is still writing original music.

“I’ve had a lot of success with my dance music. And I have loved doing it. But I’m at the stage where I want more than just backing tracks and dark clubs. I wanna be live and out there. When I do release my next dance single… which is in the works… I’ll be really ready to do it justice, and I’ll know I’m putting my best dancing foot forward,” she says with a wink.

Swing Both Ways featuring Katie Underwood and the Matt Dwyer Trio opens this Wednseday April 1 from 9pm at Priscilla’s Bar, Commercial Road, Prahran and will continue weekly on Wednesdays until the end of May.

Check out photos from her first show here.