Aged just 21, Port Lincoln’s Charlee Watt has been zipping all over South Australia – and even over to Perth – making the most of Fringe season in both states by offering not one, not two but three different shows.

This interview is a rare moment between events both in the capital cities and in regional areas including Cummins, Whyalla, Port Noarlunga and Loxton.

The cabaret vocalist and producer said her appetite for performing began with her parents, who enrolled her in music lessons, raised her on the Wiggles and took her to cabaret “because it was cheaper to get me a ticket than hire a babysitter”.

“It definitely shaped who I am now as an artist,” Charlee said.

“I didn’t want to sing in pubs, I didn’t want to have drunk people screaming over me.

“I worked really hard on my craft, I took it seriously for a really long time, and I did want to be taken seriously.”

Receiving the Nathaniel O’Brien Class of Cabaret Scholarship – which supports regional students with travel, accommodation and tuition to perform in the Adelaide Cabaret Festival – in 2021 kicked things into gear for Charlee.

“I think about it daily, and it’s the main thing that really got me into the industry,” she said.

“Without that, I wouldn’t have been able to do it.

“When living regionally and working across metropolitan spaces, there are often extra layers of travel, cost and logistics that aren’t always immediately visible, and those can create additional barriers within an already challenging industry landscape.”

Since then, from age 16, Charlee has forged her path in the Fringe circuit, having created Both Sides Now (2022) with the music of Joni Mitchell and Carole King, Make Your Own Kind Of Music (2023) incorporating Cass Elliot, and Beating Up The Beatles, which she also toured with Country Arts SA in October 2025.

“Having the venues, accommodation, and other logistics organised by Country Arts meant I could focus more fully on the performance and the audiences,” she said.

“The tour also gave me insight into the efficiencies of professional touring structures, and it allowed me to visit places I hadn’t performed in before.

“There’s a level of recognition that comes with a Country Arts tour, and that credibility genuinely helps open doors.”

One of those doors was being part of and winning a weekly award at the 2026 Perth Fringe – as well as receiving a 2026 Adelaide Fringe grant to perform Beating Up The Beatles, Australian women in music tribute She Rocks and coffee cabaret Caffeine Fiend.

She will be premiering yet another show Rolling the Stones at Port Lincoln’s SALT Festival in April, thanks to a Regional Arts Fund grant.

Charlee is also passionate about paving the way for the next generation of up-and-coming artists, and is facilitating this by having a predominately teenage regional band for She Rocks.

“In 2024, with a grant from Country Arts SA, I invited local musicians and young people to be part of Beating Up the Beatles at SALT,” she said.

“That collaboration was a huge success and I wanted to keep building on that model.

“This is so important me, because I can only imagine what that would have been like for me as a 15-year-old.

“That was never an option, that was never an opportunity that was presented to me, and now with the grant support, being able to do all these things is quite incredible.”