Article from The Daily Post newspaper from May 2002.
BARBARA STILL KEEPING HER FANS SWEET AFTER 30 YEARS
By Penny Fray
Despite having a hectic touring schedule and a five hour journey ahead of her, Scottish singer Barbara Dickson is in a sprightly mood.
She has just had a day off to visit her children Colm, 15, Gabriel, 13 and 11-year-old Archie at their boarding school in Lincolnshire. "It's a great place in that they realise the importance of allowing kids to connect with their parents, especially if they are away a lot,'' says the 54-year-old star. "So I spent the day shadowing them around class and was satisfied that they were happy. Both Archie and Gabriel are studying for exams at the moment and I felt the support was necessary.''
Back on the road for a rare solo tour, which comes to Llandudno next week, Barbara realises that she'll have little time to spare over the next couple of months to spend with her family.
"Theatre is a good life for those who are young and single. But when you get to my age it's difficult to sustain personal relationships when you're performing in a long touring show. That's why I usually avoid them because they're intensive and, quite frankly, knackering. But if you focus on the work at hand you realise there is no substitute for audience appreciation.''
Having been on the stage for nearly 30 years, Barbara knows the importance of keeping her followers happy and investing all her energy into live projects.
"When you're a seasoned artist like me with a substantial fan base, you need to keep everyone sweet, from those who like Blood Brothers to Band of Gold enthusiasts,'' referring to her stage and television successes. But with a career that has encompassed acting, recording and presenting, Barbara is glad to be getting back to her singing roots.
"This is the kernel of what I do,'' she explains.
At the age of 17, she left Dunfermline for Edinburgh and worked in the Registrar General's office by day and sang in folk clubs by night. "I grew up in an environment, certainly from my late teens, where I was singing traditional music - stuff from England, Ireland as well as Scotland,'' she says. "So I was enjoying songs that involved important things, as well as songs about romance and just ordinary subjects.''
Indeed, it was as a solo artist that she made her name in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Back then, the former part-time folk singer was riding on the back of her first stage show, staged in Liverpool.
It was singing about "real'' subjects that helped Barbara to advance her career and writer Willy Russell asked her to appear in his Beatles show John, Paul, George, Ringo and Bert, at the Everyman, which later transferred to the West End. She had the singing and commentary role in the musical. "I knew Willy from attending folk clubs and got on well with him,'' she adds.
The 1980s saw Barbara's popularity reach new heights with hits such as January, February and her number one single I Know Him So Well, recorded with Elaine Paige. Tours ensued and her album All For A Song stayed in the charts for almost a year as well as selling more than 60,000 copies in Britain alone. Russell later asked her to appear in a production of the musical Blood Brothers at the Liverpool Playhouse, taking on the leading role of Mrs Johnstone. That led to another London transfer.
While she continued to tour and record albums, Barbara became just as well known for her acting roles, playing Anita Braithwaite in the tough series about prostitutes Band of Gold, a pop star in Taggart and opposite James Bolam in The Missing Postman. She did another stage show in Liverpool - The Seven Ages of Woman - at the Playhouse, specially developed for her by director Chris Bond, her original director from Blood Brothers. And of course, it was a hit.
There was also the West End musical Spend, Spend, Spend based on the tragic life of pools winner Viv Nicholson, a short return to Blood Brothers at the Liverpool Empire and in this year's New Year's Honours she was awarded an OBE. Curious and eager to grasp new challenges by the throat, Barbara says that she enjoys trying different things.
"It's the variety of what I do that I find interesting,'' she says. "I mean, I don't particularly like recording because it can be sterile and I find performing all the time tiring. But I really want to know how things work and I'm always thinking creatively. "I've never wanted to do one particular thing forever. I'm not the product of stage school, so it never occurred to me to stay in the theatre and go from one show to another. "I enjoy diversifying and I refuse to sing old hits in a long frock on stage. And I think that keeps people interested in me.''
Unlike many big names in her business, she's not keen in appearing in celebrity magazines or writing an autobiography in order to maintain her profile.
"I'm not really interested in telling people about my personal life,'' she says. "Maybe because I don't feel that I'm interesting enough. I'm just an entertainer - I haven't split the atom or done anything amazing.'' Yet she holds no barriers up to conversation and happily answers any questions put to her, revealing that she would like to develop further The Seven Ages of Woman.
"It didn't go anywhere physically beyond Liverpool,'' says Barbara. "So I feel it hasn't had a chance to develop its potential. Of course, I'd like to tour with it but I'd have to persuade actor Andrew Schofield to leave Liverpool.''
But the stage and television work has meant fewer concert performances. Now she is back with her own band, the first tour for some time, she says. "It will give me an opportunity to do what I love most, perform live.''
Barbara Dickson will be appearing in concert at the North Wales Theatre, Llandudno on May 22.
