Scottish "Evening News" interview from 11 December, 2003.
SHE'S BACK BUT THERE'S NO SONG AND DANCE ABOUT IT
Barbara Dickson's laid-back style reflects her attitude towards her career - and her age.
Interview by Miranda Fettes.
The Point is one of those places where cool, trendy stars like to hang out when they come to Edinburgh. Kylie Minogue, Boy George, Patsy Kensit and Liam Gallagher are just a few who have frequented the Bread Street hotel.
Which is why it's a bit of a surprise to meet Barbara Dickson there. For while she may well have 14 hit albums, dozens of musicals, several best actress awards and an OBE to her credit, the curly-haired singer has never really been considered "cool". Not even in the 80s when she was at the height of her album-selling success, and had that huge number one hit with Elaine Paige, I Know Him So Well.
But here she is, sitting on a sofa, looking relaxed in jeans, a brown V-neck jumper and brown suede cowboy-style boots, and more than willing to admit she's never had any desire to be considered trendy. Nor does she want to still be young. And what's more, she never even wanted to be famous.
"I never wanted fame, I just wanted to sing," she says. "It's like Russian dolls: the little one in the middle is Barbara Dickson singer and that's the one that can't be split in two. I was always a singer - I was a singer when I was a schoolgirl in Dunfermline, and I would have sung if I'd never become famous.
"I didn't like the fame when I was younger. I didn't like the intrusion and I couldn't deal with it very well. I just wanted to be left alone. I'm much more laid back about it now - I don't care. I know what I am and I know I'm good at what I do. It's part of the work and you need to draw attention to what you're doing."
There's an added irony to her feelings about fame. Two years ago, she claimed she was retiring from musicals after 30 years in showbusiness. It was a lifestyle choice, she said, adding: "I don't think I'll change my mind in the foreseeable future." Yet, from next week, she will be appearing on the Edinburgh Playhouse stage as Miss Sherman in the hit musical Fame.
So what's changed? "When they asked me to come here and do Fame, I thought it was a great idea because I love Edinburgh and I have lots of friends here," she explains. And the fact that the show is being staged solely for Edinburgh, rather than being part of a lengthy tour, was the primary persuading factor. "A four-week run is fabulous. Four weeks is doable; four years is not.
"The show is about people embarking on a career. My character in Fame is the sensible one who says: 'You've got to get an education, you've got to learn; your education's the most important thing'. I think that's fabulous because I think it's true. I've got three teenagers and it's important to get an education: it broadens your outlook; it gives you choices. I would love to do a history or literature degree."
Born across the Firth of Forth in Dunfermline, 56-year-old Dickson is the daughter of a strong-minded Liverpudlian mother and a Rosyth dockyard worker father. "My parents are a very interesting mixture," she smiles. "My mum is an outgoing, opinionated Liverpudlian. My father - who sadly died in 1985 - was a shy, quiet Scotsman. I grew up with this funny dichotomy - one saying: 'Stand up and be counted', and the other saying: 'Keep your head down'. I got this intensity of genuine meaning and feeling from my father, and the ability to stand up and do it from my mother. So you have the Scots and the Scouse mixed up there."
The family's strong interest in music led to Barbara taking up the piano from the age of five. By 12 she had taken up the guitar and when she left school at 17, she moved to Edinburgh, living in Northumberland Street and combining a job in the Registrar General's office with evening spots as a folk singer in local pubs and clubs.
And despite her enormous success in musicals, she doesn't think of herself as a stage actress, but "as a folk singer who's had a bit of luck". "I'm in a really enviable position nowadays in that if something appeals to me, I do it and if it doesn't, I don't," she says. She doesn't take any of it for granted, either, for it all involves hard graft. "Being a working-class Scots person myself, that's what I'm grounded in and grew up in. To enjoy your work and find it stimulating is wonderful."
Success came to Dickson when, disillusioned with the fading local folk scene, she left her flat in Fountainbridge at the age of 25 and moved to England.
She became a professional singer, but her big break came in 1974 when Liverpool playwright Willy Russell offered her the singing and commentary role in his musical John, Paul, George, Ringo and Bert. After an extended run in Liverpool, the show transferred to the West End for a highly successful year, and launched her career.
