"Aberdeen Press and Journal" newspaper article from 14 March 2005.
BARBARA RETURNS TO HER ROOTS.
Barbara Dickson sings her way into town tonight as part of her current tour, but it is far more than a return to Scotland and far more than just an important date on her tour. When Barbara Dickson arrives in Aberdeen today for her concert at the Music Hall, the memories will come flooding back since she appeared in the city many times during her days as a folk singer.
"I was a part-time folk singer until I fell out with my employers and then went full-time," said Barbara.
"Aberdeen was a very important area for Scottish folk music and I played here regularly. I wonder if anyone remembers me at the 1965 folk festival, when I played in the Bon Accord?" Barbara did not start out as a folk singer, of course. She was born in Dunfermline, the daughter of a former policeman who had taken work in a local dockyard.
"There was always music in the house and I think that it would have been hard for me not to grow up without some kind of musical involvement," said Barbara.
"As it was, I was given piano lessons, although I did not like them very much. I did work hard, but I could not honestly say that I enjoyed it.
"One of my biggest influences when I was a little girl was Doris Day. I thought she was wonderful and I loved her films. She was what I really wanted to be because she was an actress who could sing and that was really my ambition, although I never thought I would get the chance." Although she worked hard at her piano lessons, Barbara took to the guitar.
"I taught myself how to play and I loved it. It was the start of me becoming a folk singer. I started listening to all kinds of folk music and began to sing. I was only 12 when I started, but my music teacher thought that I had something and was quite encouraging.
"When I was old enough to leave school, I became a civil servant. I moved to Edinburgh and, while working by day in the Registrar General's office, in the evenings, I was doing my stuff in the numerous folk clubs in the area. I often travelled to Aberdeen at weekends because the north-east has always been such a great area for folk music.
"I had been doing this for a couple of years when I was asked to go to Copenhagen to appear in a folk festival there. I asked for the time from work, but it was refused, which I thought was a little unkind, so I gave in my notice and decided that I could scrape a living with my singing." That was how Barbara's career began, but while she still enjoys folk music of all kinds, she has actually emerged as both an actress and a singing star, just like her heroine, Doris Day.
"When I turned professional, I did not become a star overnight," she explained.
"I kept plugging away, but after a while, I realised that I was not actually getting very far. I had recorded some albums and became well known on the Scottish folk scene, but somehow, I seemed to be going round in circles without actually progressing very much.
"It was suggested that I should try my hand in England, where folk music was booming, and it was that move which made all the difference to me. I met Bernard Theobold one evening at a gig in Wolverhampton and he became my manager and has remained so ever since, which is now more than 30 years.
"Willy Russell ran a folk club in Runcorn and we became friends, so when he started to have some success with his musicals, he remembered me and I made my musical debut in his John, Paul, George, Ringo and ... Bert. I suddenly found myself both acting and singing Beatles songs and I felt very at home in that role.
"I think that was a major turning point for me because, since then, I have had a dual career of singer and actress which has sometimes brought the two of them together." With hits like Another Suitcase In Another Hall and January February, Barbara Dickson is well established as one of Britain's major singing stars. Her recent Full Circle albums have met with acclaim and her concert tour is selling out all over Britain.
Her only reservations are leaving her family at home in Lincolnshire while she is touring.
"I have three teenage sons who are in the capable hands of Oliver, my husband, but I miss them all the moment I am away. We talk on the phone regularly, but much as I enjoy the concerts - and I do enjoy them very much - it is always nice to get home and see them all again." In the future, there are more concerts, more recordings and a number of acting projects to consider, but today, Barbara returns to her roots.
"I love being back in Scotland, but especially it is lovely to see Aberdeen again, and I hope that if anyone remembers the folk-club days, they will come and say hello." Back in 1974, Barbara recorded the Long and Winding Road. Little did she know then that her own long and winding road would be the path to international stardom.
