The following interview with Barbara was published in "The Yorkshire Post" newspaper in May 2002
BARBARA IS GOING BACK TO HER ROOTS
With two Olivier Awards as best actress in a musical and a string of hit records, Barbara Dickson is a class act. But, as she tells Eric Roberts, she was always a difficult artist.
One of Barbara Dickson's most successful solo shows was "The Seven Ages Of Woman". Which is she now at?
"I'm certainly not at the end, an outrageous old lady. I'm in the middle of my life, and the advantage of that is that I've got the depth of experience, and I'm a lot calmer than I used to be. I don't get so angst-ridden about stuff; I used to get very worried about men whistling at me from building sites, and it's such a relief when that stops; I like being a bit more anonymous. But then two men started chatting me up in the street the other day, and that was reassuring."
She describes her career thus far as "a series of happy coincidences". Having moved to Edinburgh from her native Dunfermline, she worked in the Registrar General's Office by day and sang in clubs at night.
Then Willy Russell, who has had a huge impact on her career, offered her the singing and commentating role in his musical 'John Paul George Ringo...& Bert', which transferred from Liverpool's Everyman Theatre to the West End.
A string of hit singles followed, but strangely she says the most requested song, and the one which gets the biggest response, is 'Caravans': "It's got an anthemic property, and people like the sentiment and the words". Most of her singles have had a lasting quality - only 'January February', she feels, sounds dated, although it was a good record for radio.
"It's a matter of being discerning about certain things," she says. "I'm not a snob, but when I was a pop singer I took myself a bit more seriously, so that I wasn't only as good as my latest top ten hit. It wasn't like Will Young, where you are destined fo obscurity almost before you become successful. I started by playing the guitar, singing songs by fine writers - I had a vast history under my belt."
So how did this attitude affect her relationships with record companies? "There were conflicts of interest - I was always a difficult artist," she laughs. "I wasn't a frothy pop star, which would have been a lot easier for them. I wanted to have some kind of dignity."
That man Willy Russell then gave Barbara her biggest break in theatre, offering her the lead role of Mrs Johnstone in his musical 'Blood Brothers'. "I wanted to do the show, as it was very different from anything else, but I was very worried whether I could pull it off as an actress. My mother was from a similar background to Mrs Johnstone, from quite a tough area of Liverpool, so it wasn't as if she was some character plucked from a Noel Coward play. I was standing there thinking 'This is crazy; I don't know what to do', but it's second nature to me now, and I can pass the techniques on when I'm helping to direct my son's school play."
'Blood Brothers' won Barbara the first of two Olivier Awards as best actress in a musical; the second came for her role as Yorkshire pools winner Viv Nicholson in 'Spend Spend Spend'.
"Castleford, where Viv comes from, is like Dunfermline, and it was the best show I have seen since 'Blood Brothers'. I'm not a great fan of musical theatre - I'm more Brecht than Broadway - but this is a cohesive, intelligent and soulful piece of theatre."
Now Barbara is touring solo, arriving at Leeds Grand on Sunday. Although her shows always give the impression of a seamless and utterly relaxed experience, she insists their creation is a more chaotic process.
"I have a pile of paper on which is written the lyrics. I take them to the rehearsal room, and we go through the ones that have to be in, and then operate a process of elimination until we have about 22 songs. It's all to do with dynamics: I want you to think 'aren't these people excellent at what they do?'
"I don't pander to the audience's taste; my first criterion is, do I like this, does this move me? But I think the audience now trusts me to give them songs which are witty, well-written and enjoyable."
