Interviewes

01 July 2008, Tuesday - CENK ERDEM  İSTANBUL

Bonnie Tyler warming up for comeback album in 2009

The ballad “Total Eclipse of the Heart” is one of those songs that are timeless, with special importance for thousands of couples around the world, and the legendary voice behind this song, Bonnie Tyler, is getting ready for a comeback with a brand new album.

In 2003, her duet with Kareen Antonn on “Si Demain,” a French and English bilingual version of “Total Eclipse of the Heart,” hit No. 1 on music charts in France and stayed there for 12 weeks, selling a total of 2 million copies across Europe.

Tyler’s upcoming studio album is currently in the works, and the Welsh rock diva has already embarked on warm-up tours with concerts across the globe. One of those gigs will take place on July 6 in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (KKTC) as part of the ongoing 12th Gazimağusa (Famagusta) International Culture and Art Festival. But before rocking Northern Cyprus, Tyler spoke to Today’s Zaman in an exclusive interview.

As a legendary voice of rock ballads, you have built a career of over 30 years. Do any of your songs still excite you on stage?

Whenever I sing “Total Eclipse of the Heart,” the way people sing along with me still excites me. It’s one of the songs that audiences know all the lyrics to and they sing along with me and it makes me so happy. People also know my songs “Holding out for a Hero” and “Lost in France” and this gives me so much joy on stage.

What significance does “Total Eclipse of the Heart” hold for you?

Many people know that it was written by Jim Steinman, but he also directed the video and it became the top-played video on MTV in the year it was released. I know a lot of people chose this song to be played in their weddings -- even some of my friends. I don’t know whether you have it in your country but on the reality show “Big Brother” in Britain people in the house competed with each other singing “Total Eclipse of the Heart” all day long. I feel so happy to see that this song is still so popular.

You have a unique voice. In 1977 you were diagnosed with nodules on your vocal chords and the ensuing story is really surprising. Could you recount this story?

It may happen to many singers; I was diagnosed with nodules, too. I was not allowed to talk for six weeks, but I couldn’t help myself talking, I couldn’t follow the doctor’s orders. Then I came up with this husky voice of mine. I thought it was the end of my career. About six months later, I was in the studio recording “It’s a Heartache” and everyone in the studio was like “Oh gosh, you put a lot of emotion [into the song]”; and “It’s a Heartache” became my first hit ever.

“It’s a Heartache” opened the doors to the US music market for you. So do you think you express yourself best singing torch songs?

I know I express myself best singing love songs, and Jim Steinman gave me my rock style, which I have always wanted. I can express myself best putting a lot of emotion into singing rock songs.

You started your career at the age of 18 in a talent contest, singing Mary Hopkins’ hit “Those Were the Days.” Who encouraged you to participate in that contest and singing in general?

My mother was the only one who encouraged and inspired me for singing. She was singing all the time in the house, playing records also. She was my inspiration, now I am looking at her picture sighing.

You grew up listening to the Motown sound and the likes of Janis Joplin and Tina Turner. What do you think about the recent music scene?

I am still a big fan of Tina Turner, but currently I feel so excited about the way [the neo-soul singer-songwriter] Duffy sings. She has an excellent voice. She is a Welsh singer, too, and she has beautiful songs. Amy Winehouse is a very talented songwriter and singer but I don’t understand why she is being so self-destructive.

Which celebrities do you have as friends?

Maybe you will be surprised but Catherine Zeta Jones is my husband’s cousin and she is so sweet. I performed at her wedding in New York. She is Welsh like me.

Legendary names of the ‘80s have been making successful comebacks recently one after another. Cyndi Lauper’s new single reached No. 1 on club charts in the US; Paula Abdul hit the dance charts again and all of them are collaborating with dance producers. Do you think you could also make dance versions of your songs?

One of the most popular producers in Germany proposed exactly the same project you are speaking about. Why not? I didn’t know that Cyndi Lauper was on the charts again, but I have already started to work on my new album.

Your duet in 2003 with Kareen Antonn on “Si demain” sold more than 2 million copies throughout Europe. How did it feel to become so successful again with this song?

It was number one for 12 weeks in France, and I enjoyed this success much more this time. When it was a hit in 1983, I had to work hard for promotion all around, and had concerts all the time. I was nervous also. Now, I am more confident and enjoy every single moment of my career. The new video shot in Montreal for the French version is so beautiful and romantic, with scenes of snow everywhere.

In 2007 you recorded a song for the project “Over the Rainbow.” What was the purpose of this project?

It was a charity album project for disabled children. On the album, each artist was supposed to choose a song from a popular musical, and I picked a song from one of the musicals I love most, “Jesus Christ Superstar.” I recorded the song “I Don’t Know How to Love Him” for the project.

I know you are collaborating with Jim Stein again for your upcoming album. When do you think you will release it?

We are trying to finish our recordings before the summer of 2009. So far we have recorded only four songs. Jim is a busy man. But I am taking my time because I would like to have very special songs in the end. So it takes time, but it is going to rock.

You are now on warm-up tours for your upcoming album and you will perform in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus on Sunday night at the International Famagusta (Magusa) Culture and Art Festival. What would you like to say to the Turkish audience?

I am going to keep on singing. I have no intention of retiring. Actually, I always wonder whether people know my songs in the different countries I visit. I feel nervous over whether they will sing along with me or not. My concert is going to rock people and it’s going to be full of energy.

Sunday Mirror By Rhiannon Vivian 22/04/2007

INTERROGATION: BONNIE TYLER

Husky Welsh singing legend Bonnie Tyler tells Celebs about singing at Catherine Zeta Jones’ wedding, meeting Macca and the marvels of make-up and botox…

You’ve just released your greatest hits album. Do you ever get tired of belting out the same songs?
Bonnie Tyler: No. And that’s the truth. I do loads of live shows, so how could I when everyone’s singing along with me? The atmosphere is fantastic.

What’s your favourite?
BT: Well, it would have to be Total Eclipse Of The Heart, because it won two Grammys. Then again Lost In France was my first hit record, and the first time I heard myself on the radio, which is quite something.

Do you still get nervous?
BT: A bit, yes. About five minutes before I go on stage I’m like, ‘I gotta pee.’ I’m always glad when I feel nervous, as you give a better performance. When you get too complacent, that’s when something goes wrong.

What’s the most rock ’n’ roll thing you’ve done?
BT: Let me think. I never threw a telly out of a window, I’m too sensible for that. I don’t take drugs. I like to have a few drinks after the show – never before, as I like to be in command – but it’s nice to wind down with my band.

Is it true you serenaded a pilot in mid-air?
BT: It’s not really true. I was on a flight from Mauritius, and I saw one of the captains had a party hat on – don’t forget there’s usually three of them on a big jumbo jet. Anyway, it was his last flight and he knew I was in first class, so he asked if he could get a photo with me. Apparently, these Belgian passengers saw us through the curtain having our picture taken together and obviously thought, ‘Who the hell’s looking after the plane?’ They kicked up a fuss and the story went all over the world. I didn’t sing for him, though.

You’re still touring, do you ever plan to retire?
BT: I said I’d calm down a bit when I got to this age, but it’s not happening. I have things coming in right, left and centre, and I really love being on stage. The travelling gets me down a bit – it’s so time consuming. Right now I’m trying to be off at least a couple of weeks in a month, so I can spend more time at my house in the Algarve.

Where do you get the best reception?
BT: Germany. My German fans are amazing and know all the words to my songs. Having said that I did a gig in Swansea that was wonderful. It was a while ago, but 12,000 people packed out Singleton Park, including my mum and dad. I tried to get mum to come up on stage and sing with me, but she was always too shy. She’s dead now, bless her, but she had an incredible voice.

How do you chill out?
BT: I love food. I love good restaurants. I just went skiing in Italy actually, and the food there was marvellous. I’m not a bad skiier, I’ve been going for 25 years. I love it. My husband Robert does too. He’s a bit of a sportsman – he went to the Olympics with our Judo team in the 70s. But when it comes to skiing, he’s only as good as me. Ha ha.

You’re mates with Catherine Zeta Jones, how did you meet?
BT: I’m more friends with her parents. Her father, Dave, is my husband Robert’s cousin, so we go out with them a lot. Through him we were invited to her wedding to Michael Douglas and I sang. She’s really lovely. Very down-to-earth and a wonderful mother.

What was the wedding like?
BT: It was fantastic. The only thing is I never drink before a gig, so I missed out on so many vintage champagnes. I wanted to do a bloody good job, but I wasn’t singing until midnight, so I had to wait. I made up for it afterwards, though – I went to bed at 7am.

Who are your heroes?
BT: I will never forget meeting Paul McCartney. When I was a girl The Beatles were mega. In the 70s I had my single, It’s A Heartache, out and he had Mull Of Kintyre, and we both happened to be recording in the same studio in St John’s Wood. The girl on reception told me he was in the other studio and I was like, ‘Ooh, what’s he like?’ I spent a lot of time in the communal kitchen hoping to bump into him, but I never did. This went on for four days and the receptionist must have told him, because on the fourth day, he walked straight into my studio and said, ‘Hey, what you up to?’ I couldn’t wait to tell my mum. But when I did she said, ‘Oh, but there’s no one quite like Robert, is there?’ As if I had any bloody chance with Paul!

If you weren’t singing, what job would you be doing?
BT: I’m fascinated with make-up, so something to do with that. I never go anywhere without it. I won’t answer the front door without it. Really, I don’t. Prince Charles could be broken down outside my house, but I’d still be like, ‘Hang on, Charles, I just gotta put my eyelashes on!’

Did you ever have a crap Saturday job?
BT: My first job was for a fruit and veg man, which wasn’t glam. Every Wednesday I’d unload the lorry, but believe it or not, I kinda liked it. I’d sing at night and work in the day, because I never thought I’d make a living out of music. I never got any freebies, though. They’d only give me the bruised fruit at the end of the week.

Who was your teen crush?
BT: I used to love The Beatles. I had a big poster behind my bed, and it was of the fab four in old-fashioned bathing suits. I had it from Jackie magazine. At the bottom of each Beatle was their autograph written in pen, and me – silly sod – thought Paul McCartney’s hand had touched that very paper and I used to kiss it every night.

What were you like at school?
BT: I went to the local comprehensive, because I pretended to be ill on the day of the 11+ exam. Not because I was naughty, just because I was terrified I’d end up at grammar school with the class bully. But I was really happy to go to the comp, because my older sister went to the local school and could look after me. They called me Titch back then, because I was little. I wasn’t a member of the school choir, believe it or not. They didn’t like my husky voice.

Do you have loads of celeb mates?
BT: No. I work so much I don’t really have time to mix with lots of celebs, and I don’t live in London. I tend to commute from Portugal or Wales to wherever. All my friends have normal jobs.

Do you get lots of fan mail?
BT: Yes, most people want autographs. I have got weird stuff in past. One little girl in Australia always sent me Mothers’ Day presents. She was convinced I was her mum and I gave her away. Another girl from Germany wanted me to adopt her as she didn’t like her own mum. That’s quite sad – I had such a wonderful mother, I can’t imagine why anyone else hasn’t. My biggest fan is my husband, to be honest.

How do you stay looking youthful?
BT: I’ve had botox and fillers for 12 years now. If you start at the first sign of lines you can’t develop them. I’m marvellous compared to how I should be at 55.

Doesn’t it hurt?
BT: I’m not squeamish about it at all. I remember telling Jonathan Ross about it on his radio show and he said, ‘Doesn’t it hurt?’ and I said, ‘No, they give you two balls to squeeze,’ and he’s like, ‘Two balls? Ouch!’ I said, ‘No! Rubber balls, Jonathan!’ It really isn’t that bad. But I’d never have it without numbing cream. Actually, I’m due for some again soon, I mustn’t forget.

BONNIE'S REALITY CHECK

Can you cook?
Did you see GMTV the other week? I cooked Bara Brith (a Welsh fruit bread) on the programme. I usually get a bit of help from M&S or Sainsbury’s, though.

How many cars do you own?
Do you want my husband’s as well? OK, a Porche 11 Speedster, a Jag something – I dunno – and the Bentley is outside. My husband has an E-Type Jag, a Bentley and an old Rolls Royce. But we only use one at a time.

How much is a loaf of bread?
I ain’t got a clue. About a pound? About right for a good loaf.

Have you ever worn sunglasses indoors?
I haven’t yet, but I tell you when I will be – I’m having my eyes lasered soon, so I can ditch the bifocals. It’ll cost Ł4,200, but the worst tragedy is I can’t wear make-up for a week! Me? I will be sleeping in those glasses, darling.

Webchats 2006. 04. 26.  You can see the interview here.

Presenter: Julian Fisher (JF)

Chat guest: Bonnie Tyler (BT)

JF: Hello and welcome to today's show, I'm delighted to be joined by the living legend that is Bonnie Tyler.

BT: Hello. How are you?

JF: Hello, very well thank you. Thank you for joining us in the studio today. Now Bonnie's here because this year, would you believe, is her 30th anniversary of being in the business. That's 30 years of great shows, great albums and singles, and to celebrate there is a whole range I believe of celebrations this year - DVDs, CDs, tours.

BT: Yup - my first ever live DVD is coming out 10th July, and I've got a brand new album, all new songs coming out on 22nd May called 'Celebrate' and, something else - oh yeah my single's coming out, I think, I can't remember the date the single's coming out but it's coming out...it's called 'Louise'.

JF: Well we'll listen to that later on in the show, and we'll take all of your questions. Thank you so much for submitting all your questions, we've had dozens and dozens of questions and we'll try and deal with as many as we can but before we do let's take a sneak preview of the DVD that Bonnie mentioned that's coming out later in the year, July I believe. We'll show a few clips from some of the tours around Europe that you've recorded, and a little trip down memory lane looking at some of Bonnie's greatest hits.

BT: With the big hair I suppose...

[DVD of Bonnie on tour plays]

JF: Well, just a few of the fantastic hits from Bonnie's back catalogue. That tour - I mean, how many places were you playing? Some massive crowds!

BT: Yeah, all around really. There's some of Saragossa there from Spain. But basically there's only a couple of places on the DVD. Segal in Paris, which was actually my birthday, just happened to fall on the same day.

JF: There are some clips of everyone coming up giving you presents and cakes

BT: Yeah, well they brought this huge cake on the stage as well, and this lovely little chocolate cake somebody actually brought from the audience. Yeah, it's good. They've added a few things that I didn't know were going to be on the DVD mind. Things like going shopping in Tunisia and eating and drinking and basically made a fool of myself I think.

JF: But it really gives you a real look behind the scenes.

BT: It's my first one ever you know, my first DVD ever, so you know the fans have been asking for a DVD for a long time, but it's out on the 10th July.

JF: Talking about the fans, I mean, you still get fantastic attendance at gigs. A number of questions have come in for the chat, and we will get round to your questions shortly I promise you. It's fantastic.

BT: All my fans are great. They're very loyal, but I have new ones you know as well. Since last year, or just over a year ago I was number one for 12 weeks continually in France, I had a number one for 12 weeks and the audience are like young to all ages you know. So my audience are right across the board, but they've stuck with me you know, my fans are brilliant. They've grown up and they've got children and they come as well.

JF: Well not only just that they're here today, and quite a lot of you out there, so very quickly we're going to try in the next 20minutes to get through as many as we can, answer as many questions.

BT: Come on then fire away!

JF: Let's start off with Wendy. Wendy wants to know, what's kept your music for the past 30 years, do you ever think 'I'm tired of this' and doing something different?

BT: Because I really love what I do, you know? I suppose the difference for me was, when I started singing when I was 17 and a half, I was singing for 7 years before I had my first opportunity of ever going into a recording studio you know? So I had 7 years going round the clubs with my band and everything like that. Well I wanted to be a singer, I didn't want to be famous, you know, I never even dreamt I could be famous. I wanted to be a singer in a band and I was, I was having my dream you know by working with a local band. Then I had the opportunity by chance, because someone came from Chapel music in London, Roger Bell, came into a club where I was working because there were two bands. There was one band upstairs, one band downstairs, and he'd come particularly to hear Vic Oakley singing upstairs.

JF: Whatever happened to Vic Oakley?

BT: He came in on the wrong floor and heard me singing, so how lucky could you be you know!? So I got the opportunity to go to London but you know, I first and foremost wanted to be a singer, not just to be famous, but that was the icing on the cake though you know.

JF: Well excellent, I hope that's answered your question Wendy. Amy wants to know, with Bonnie Tyler not being your real name, why did you decide to change your name when you started, where did it come from - I also heard that you also went under the name 'Shareen Davis'? They find these things out the fans don't they?

BT: Haha, I know I know I know. But, well, my real name is Gaynor Hopkins, right - Gaynor Hopkins. Well, Mary Hopkins was very very popular, for the young ones that don't remember Mary - "Those were the days my friend" - you know that Paul McCartney and it's an old Russian folk song as well.

JF: Is it?

BT: So, she was Hopkins and she lived just up the road from me, you know, so I thought 'Well I'd better change my name' you know, and I didn't ever really like Gaynor when I was a little girl. So I decided 'Now's my chance to change it you know'. But silly me, you know, I changed it to my first little niece's name which was Shareen, and then I changed my last name to my favourite auntie's name 'Davis' - Shareen Davis, do me a favour it's not a very good name is it!? But when I recorded 'Lost in France' and 'It's a Heartache' then, when I met Ronnie Scott and Steve Wolff they said "How do you feel about changing your name, you sound more like a belly dancer than a singer?". I said, "Yeah, alright" so I just got a newspaper out and I made a note of all the Christian names in one line and all the surnames in another one, and I matched them up until I came up with a sound that I like you know - Bonnie Tyler, so that's how it came around.

JF: Well there you go Amy, there's your answer to that one. Tracy's joined us, thanks for joining us Tracy. She wants to know, one thing that always comes across with Welsh musicians is that they're always very proud of their roots and associations with Wales. Is this something that you also feel?

BT: I'm not so patriotic as a lot of people. I know that a lot of people are very patriotic and of course I love going back to Wales because my family are there you know? I got three sisters, two brothers, 16 nieces and nephews, and a beautiful home overlooking the sea; it's great, you know. But do you know I live in Portugal most of the time? I live in the Algarve. And so I commute so much to Europe because so much of my work is not in this country, it's easier for me to commute from Portugal believe it or not you know. And I love it you know, we have a beautiful boat over there in Villamoura which I spend my days off on, you know, it's just great.

JF: You've never lost the Welsh accent?

BT: Me!?!? I'll tell you a story about that later, but that's the answer to your question...

JF: Thank you for that Tracy. Quentin wants to know - obviously Janis Joplin and Tina Turner were huge influences for you. Who else proved to be a big inspiration?

BT: Ooooh....You said Tina Turner and Janis Joplin yeah... Joe Cocker, Wilson Pickett, I loved all that kind of, you know, I loved all kinds of music because in our house, you know, because there's so many kids, there was all kinds of music like my brother was into Elvis Presley, Eddie Cochrane and you know, my sister was into Frank Sinatra, my mother was an opera fanatic - wonderful voice my mother. I could hear my mother singing from down the bottom of the road when I used to come home from school, you know, she'd be doing the house cleaning, you know, singing her head off, you know, getting rid of all her troubles by singing, you know what I mean? People used to stand outside the house just to listen to her sing because she was so fantastic. She had a marvellous voice. Anyway.

JF: Those singers that you've listed all sang with passion didn't they? Joe Cocker's really from the soul, from the heart didn't he?

BT: Yeah, but I tell you who I really like at the moment is ... Katie... Katie...

JF: KT Tunstall?

BT: Yes! She's great she's got real balls hasn't she? And I like Joss Stone, awww...

JF: Oh she's fantastic.

BT: I love that song - 'I got a right to be wrong' is it called? I bought the album.

JF: She broke into the scene when she was a teenager with a huge voice. Did you have a voice like that? A voice like you have now when you were young?

JF: She was asking who your influences were and you've told her. Michael Calzon joins us and says...

BT: I know Michael!

JF: Well he says 'Hello darling' so he obviously does know you.

BT: Aww yeah, he came to see me in...I was at Scandinavia; he runs one of the websites as well yeah.

JF: He says 'I got the DVD from a couple of weeks ago, I simply love it, I've seen that you are coming to Stockholm in November/December for a show. See you in August? Many hugs and kisses'. So no question, just a hello.

BT: Oh he's coming to one of my gigs in August then obviously.

JF: At Schloss Wolffbrunnen.

BT: Ahh, I got so many, you take a look on my website and you'll see them all.

JF: Hah.

BT: But it was great to see you last time. Oh, and you want to see this boy he's handsome!

JF: Is he? Well Michael there you go! Looking forward to seeing you in August. Bulpen wants to know; ah there we go from Sweden to Hungary now. I'm the webmaster of Bonnie Tyler's Hungarian page, this is your Hungarian fan site. We are mostly young people, we love your music very much, congratulations on your work, and we'll bow to your elbow - not a Hungarian phrase I thought.

BT: Thank you very much, thank you for taking an interest in my music and I hope that you like the new DVD that's coming out on 10th July, the album's coming out 22nd June.

JF: Well I know you're touring Europe but at the moment we're doing a very fast tour of Europe from Germany, Sweden to Hungary and onto Belgium. John wants to know "Hi Bonnie, it's great to hear from you. I'm 21 years and a big fan of you."

BT: 21 see!

JF: Yeah. "When will you come to Belgium again for a concert? With love from John."

BT: Oh well, you know I was number one in Belgium for 12 weeks as well about a year ago. Belgium, France, Switzerland, Poland was number one. Anyway, as soon as possible! I got to check my website out so I know where I am as well, but you know, there's plenty of European summer festivals and come on, you're not so far away, you can come and see me somewhere soon.

JF: Why do you have such a big following on the continent?

BT: What do you mean!? Haven't you listened to my albums they're good!

JF: No, I just wondered what it is that gives you that international appeal; do you get the feedback that tells you these things?

BT: Because I'm always out there doing live work you know. I'm not a studio artist; I'm at my best on the stage when I'm performing with my band you know? I have two bands actually; I've got one that's on the video...

JF: They're French aren't they?

BT: They're French yeah. Because I do a lot of work around France and areas like that. But the band that I'll be doing the Harley Davidson rock festival with, they are all British, all from London, and I've been with them for basically like 15 years you know? And but we do most of the German summer festivals, Spanish ones, most of the work is with them you know? And I'm in the Millennium stadium in Cardiff with them on 3rd June.

JF: Bit of a homecoming?

BT: Well it's a Speedway thing, I think it's motorbikes, Speedway is it? I don't know. Motorbikes or rough cars, but I'm doing a show there. Unfortunately the show there is not a...they don't want a full show there they haven't got time for it! I wish they did because my show is one and three quarter hours long normally but they only want half an hour - please!

JF: Well, Selma has actually joined us and actually asked a question, you know, she can see from watching her DVD that you've got fantastic support in many European countries and she was asking why you think that is. International appeal.

BT: Yes.

JF: Moving onto Josephina who wants to know - 'Total Eclipse of the Heart' is an all time classic, do you still sing it?

BT: Course I do! And I love it, I love singing it. Oh and you'll never guess what. I worked with Jim Steinman in New York, I've done six shows over there this year, with Jim Steinman and a band called the Dream Engine and I'll be going back to do more as well. What it is, it's like tribute shows of all Jim Steinman's songs right and there's different artists singing songs, and I went over to do a couple of the ones I've done with him. And it was a blast it was really great.

JF: Will you be bringing that here because we've had actually a lot of questions saying 'Will you ever work with Jim Steinman again?'.

BT: Oh yeah, I mean I'd love to work with Jim again. Actually Jim asked me not so long ago, well about 6 weeks ago when I saw him last. He asked me would I be interested in doing another album with him. But in a totally different field of music you know? And I said, well, let's get the songs together and then we'll decide if I like them or not you know? So, I think he's thinking of completely a different direction.

JF: So you're waiting to see them are you, or hear them?

BT: Yeah I'm waiting to hear them yeah.

JF: Fantastic, well, keep the questions coming in, we'll try and get as many as we can. We've not got that much longer but we'll keep rattling through. Anna from Mallorca says "I met Bonnie last summer, I'd like to know if she's coming back soon?"

BT: Where to?

JF: Mallorca.

BT: Oh Majorca, Mallorca yeah. I got a house in Mallorca as well.

JF: Sorry that's my pronunciation.

BT: Majorca I'm not sure. I don't think there's anything booked at the moment but Spain is a fantastic market for me you know. I hope so because I love, we love being on tour in Spain you know. They go crazy! I just did a show over in Tenerife with my British band and we'd been sold out for weeks you know. When we got there we were in this auditorium that looked like, you know the Sydney Opera House, it looks like that you know! And it was sold out, it'd been sold out for weeks and we had the most fantastic show there. It's great working in Spain.

JF: Well she said her favourite song when she saw you there was 'Loving You's a Dirty Job'.

BT: Ooooh, well somebody's got to do it.

JF: And she's asking if you can sing it but I think...

BT: Yeah I know I don't do that because I recorded with Todd Rungrun, and it's very hard to get anyone to sing it like Todd Rungrun would you know, but yeah...I will be back but I don't know when.

JF: Excellent. Well let's move on. Denise wants to know "I read a quote saying that your strong marriage prevented you from the temptation of drugs during the early stages of your career, I guess your husband has been a huge source of strength throughout your career as he's been with you from the very beginning?".

BT: Well my husband wasn't the only reason why I, influence on me not touching drugs I mean...

JF: There's a lot of musicians who haven't made it to 30 years in the business.

BT: Because I'm not interested in drugs anyway, you know. I mean I drink red wine that's my drug you know. And actually I've given up drink at the moment because I need to lose some weight you know so I'm trying to cut down on the old calories. But... I forgot the question...

JF: She was just saying what's kept you on the straight and narrow, is it your husband?

BT: Oh well I suppose because I was already married to him for 3 years before I had a recording contract you know? So...

JF: Does he come out on the road with you now?

BT: Yeah, he drove me over today you know. Yes, we've been married for 33 years in July.

JF: Congratulations!

BT: Hahaha.

JF: Moving on, I hope that answered all of your questions Anna. Francesca wants to know, you've made about 20 albums up until now, which one stands out as your favourite?

BT: Well of course 'Faster than the Speed of Night' has got to be the tops I mean, that was number one in America for 4 weeks running, number one in the UK for 3 weeks.

JF: That must've sold an awful lot of copies.

BT: And...it sold about 6 million something like that. I was the first girl to go straight in the British album charts at number one, and so that means I'm in the book of records for doing that, somebody else has done it since, I think it was Kate Bush, but I was first! And I knocked Pink Floyd off the number one spot.

JF: Excellent now not many people can say that. We've got about 5 minutes left on the chat...

BT: There's another one that I really like as well. 'Hide Your Heart' is an old album that I did.

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