Article from the 'Online Surrey' website from February 2006.
EVERYONE KNOWS THIS EIGHTIES ICON SO WELL
Barbara Dickson is nothing if not full of surprises - for one thing, she's a fan of the rapper Eminem. The singer, actress and West End star spoke to Caroline Harrap.
It may be all the rage at the moment, but you wouldn't catch Barbara Dickson appearing on a reality TV show for love nor money.
The well-known singer and actress, who shot to fame in the early 1980s with a string of hit singles, says she wouldn't have lasted five minutes on the recent series of Celebrity Big Brother.
"God help me, I would have been dreadful," says the 58-year-old, in her lilting Scottish accent.
"I could never have coped with their childish behaviour, or their smoking for that matter. I'd have just shouted at them all and turned into their mum. In fact, they would probably have thrown me out on the first day.
"Frankly, I'd rather be bound, gagged and dragged through the streets backwards than appear on a a programme like that."
Her loathing of reality TV shows comes largely from her inherent dislike of the whole notion of 'celebrity'.
Dickson is of the oldfashioned belief that people should go into the music industry not because they want to be famous but because they want to sing.
"The idea of 'success', in terms of what it means today, is not something that I like very much," she says.
"To me, success is quite simply the ability to continue working. I never became a singer to make money or become famous. I became a singer because I desperately wanted to sing."
Born in Dunfermline, Scotland, in 1947, she honed her talents on the Scottish folk circuit before moving south of the border to England.
Whilst living in Liverpool, she became acquainted with the playwright Willy Russell, and, in 1974, he offered her a major role in his new musical, John Paul George Ringo...& Bert. After an extended run at Liverpool's Everyman Theatre, the show then transferred to the West End, and all of a sudden, she became an overnight star.
Dickson went on, of course, to become a household name with a whole string of hits in the late Seventies and Eighties, including January, February and her No. 1 Single, I Know Him So Well, recorded with Elaine Paige.
But throughout her career as a recording artist, she has continued to work in the theatre to much critical acclaim.
In 1983, she was reunited with Willy Russell to play the lead role in Blood Brothers, for which she received a Society of West End Theatres Award for Best Actress in a Musical.
In the 1990s, highlights included her award-winning, one-woman show, The 7 Ages of Woman, and her role as Viv Nicholson in the musical Spend, Spend, Spend, which won her the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actress in a Musical.
In the same decade, she added yet another string to her bow with a clutch of high profile television roles including Anita Braithwaite in Band Of Gold, a wealthy ex-pop star in Taggart and Linda Taylor in The Missing Postman.
Then, in 2001, she was awarded the OBE for services to music and drama.
Nowadays, while she wouldn't rule out a return to television, she says the theatre holds less appeal.
"I wouldn't really want to go back into the West End, mainly because I'm busy doing other things now like my music," says Dickson. "Having said that, I wouldn't mind doing a bit more television - maybe a good quality drama - and I'd love to do a feature film, which is something I've never done before.
"Realistically, I'm probably not going to find myself starring opposite Brad Pitt, or my own personal favourite, Gabriel Byrne, but it would be great fun nevertheless. I'd love to play an old mystic, or a witch perhaps, or even just somebody's mum... "
In the meantime, though, she has her work cut out with her music. Not only is she in the middle of a 28-date UK tour, she also has a brand-new album coming out in May. As yet untitled, it will feature a selection of Beatles covers.
"The hardest thing was deciding which ones to do," says Dickson. "In the end, I chose songs that I felt would benefit from my age, vintage and experience, based on the lyrical content. So there's Eleanor Rigby, Here, There And Everywhere and The Fool On The Hill among others.
"Because of my background, they've all got quite a folky edge to them - people will have to judge for themselves what they think."
Her latest live show features an eclectic range of music with an acoustic, folky slant. In fact, this time round, she is promising something a bit different to previous tours.
"I'm on a mission now to perform what I call 'subtle, sophisticated music'," says Dickson. "You see, I'm not a pop artist - I've always been very careful to make that clear to people. You have to remember that I started off in folk, which I did for about 10 years, and that's always been at the heart of what I do.
So we have a bit of James Taylor, some traditional stuff, a classical piece, a few of my own hits and some of The Beatles' music.
"It's a whole combination of things all tied together with a keyboard, accordion, Celtic instruments - such as Irish pipes and whistles - a sax, drums and a bass. It's got quite a subtle, acoustic feel and the response has been wonderful - we always get this lovely 'blissed out' reaction to the show."
Though performing live has always been her first love, she admits that being on the road can get quite gruelling at times. She also misses spending time at home with the family in Lincolnshire.
"I love performing live, but when you're travelling all day and then doing a show in the evening, it can get quite tiring," says Dickson. "Especially when you're staying at a different hotel every night. Put it this way, I'm playing in Basingstoke tonight and then I'm going to make the three-hour drive back home. That shows you how much I value my own bed!"
Married to TV producer Oliver Cookson, the pair have three children - Colm, 19, Gabriel, 17, and 15-year-old Archie. In spite of their showbiz careers, the couple have endeavoured to give their children as normal an upbringing as possible. Interestingly, they even chose not to give them music lessons.
"I just didn't want to become one of those awful stage mums," says Dickson. "They all sing and play, though, simply because there are so many instruments scattered around the house. They've just picked it up as they've gone along. Our eldest is about to go and study sound at the Central School of Speech and Drama, the middle son is doing his AS Levels and the little one is doing his GCSEs."
Life in the Dickson household certainly sounds like enormously good fun. It seems to be the sort of place where an impromptu ceilidh could erupt at any moment.
"We're always having parties where we invite over our friends and encourage them to perform," says Dickson. "They might read a poem, or play a piece of music, and I'll probably do a comic song from Scotland. It's the old fashioned idea of having a party piece."
As far as what she listens to at home, her CD collection is not quite what you might expect. Though folk and Celtic music feature fairly heavily, she is also a big fan of the contemporary scene - and, in particular, the controversial rapper, Eminem.
"I think he's absolutely fantastic," says Dickson. "He's a wonderful performer and a great writer - his lyrics are amazing. He's almost like Bob Dylan in a way. I think a lot of people tend to dismiss him just because he's a rapper.
"I also like Keane and Coldplay - though my all-time favourites are James Taylor and Eddie Reader."
As far as her own career is concerned, she says she is happy to continue just as she is - playing her music and spending time with her family.
Just as long as she doesn't have to do a reality TV show...
