My cousin upstaged my singing at parties ... but look at me now ;
Sharleen's so thrilled to headline T in the Park
from The Daily Record - 6 July 2001

SHARLEEN SPITERI will lap up the adulation from a 40,000-strong crowd at this weekend's T In The Park.

The Texas singer admits the homecoming will be a defining moment in her band's career.

The band's success is beyond Sharleen's wildest dreams.

She admits she never spent her teenage years dreaming of fronting a rock band.

Yet, two decades on, she's the face of one of Scotland's all-time biggest selling acts.

Growing up, budding artist Sharleen preferred watercolours to the Waterboys, but now cites raucous parties in the Spiteri household as the catalyst which set in motion a chain of events leading to her fame.

Sharleen, 33, says: "I've always been a singer. There was always music at home and every fortnight we'd go to my grandparents and have a party.

"I remember singing Olivia Newton John songs and trying to impersonate Englebert Humperdink's Ten Guitars. I used to hate doing it, though. I'd feel like a performing puppet.

"The funny thing was I would do all those songs, then my cousin would sing a heartbreaking folk song about a woman who died.

"All the aunts would cry their eyes out. I used to think 'she's upstaged me again!' because it was always the same song and it was always the showstopper.

"Now my cousin can't stop laughing about the fact that I'm in Texas and we are doing so well.

"Perhaps deep down I was getting even."

Sharleen had no intention of singing for a living. Instead, she set her sights on gaining a degree at Glasgow School of Art, but needed cash to buy ink for her etchings.

She recalls: "I never thought I'd be a musician and I certainly didn't want to be a singer. I was going to Saturday classes at the art school and planning to study there full time.

"But I needed money for ink and that's why I got a Saturday job in Irvine Rusk's hairdressers. I found the job so glamorous.

"It was the early Eighties after all and the salon was always busy. We'd all go out clubbing afterwards and have a great time. Before long, I realised music could be the perfect career for me."

Her friends from then have never forgotten their trainee snipper.

Sharleen says: "People from the salon came to see me at the band's recent shows at the SECC, then popped backstage. The girls said I hadn't changed a bit.

"That's because I didn't acquire an ego - I've always had one.

"I had an ego before I was a pop star, so at least I can say I'm still the same person I was ... I haven't changed."

Home for Sharleen is now a plush residence in the trendy Primose Hill district of London where she rubs shoulders with celebrity neighbours such as actor Jude Law and his wife Sadie Frost.

Led Zeppelin legend Robert Plant is another near neighbour, but despite having attended a charity bash with Prince Charles and Camilla Parker Bowles the night before, she insists she's no party animal these days.

Sharleen says: "Yes, I was there, but I'm not really into these things. I don't keep up with the London social scene. It's just not my thing.

"I'm not interested in meeting Prince Charles and Camilla and I couldn't care less if they get married. It's not going to change my life.

"I prefer to wind down at home by closing the doors, having my mates over. The kids run around and we all have dinner.

"Sometimes we'll sit in the garden from 11 in the morning and still be there 12 hours later, catching up with friends on what has been going on in our lives."

With four million copies of the band's Greatest Hits album sold since its release last November, Sharleen has good reason more relaxed than ever.

She says: "We are close on selling four million albums, which is six times platinum in the UK alone.

"There are not many bands who can put out a Greatest Hits album and not many of them do so mid-career.

"We're the kind of band who have always been a pain in the a*** in that we don't do what is expected of us."

Texas headline T In The Park on Sunday night as part of a star-studded bill. They'll line up alongside Coldplay and Beck on the main stage. Other acts at the Balado weekender include Welsh rockers Stereophonics, Placebo, Paul Weller and Catatonia.

Sharleen says: "It'll be the greatest hits at T In The Park. I won't be nervous, but I will get really excited beforehand, especially because I'm playing in Scotland.

"When we last played T In The Park, it rained all day until we came onstage. Then the sun came out. After we went off, it started raining again, so I was quite happy. Let's hope it's a good omen for Sunday night."

Sharleen snapped up the chance for Texas to headline the event for the first time.

The festival's promoter, Stuart Clumpas, booked the band's very first concerts in the mid-1980s, encouraging them to invite record company A&R men to their shows.

Sharleen recalls: "Stuart has been with us since the beginning. He is a businessman and if we were s***, he wouldn't have us headline the festival.

"That's the way it works. At the start, we played in Dundee and there was a pillar right in front of the stage, so I couldn't see the people I was singing to.

"There weren't many people there, but that didn't bother us. We carried on regardless.

"There have always been ups and downs for Texas and we take nothing for granted.

"Even when we signed a record deal it wasn't cut and dried. In Britain, nobody wanted to know us.

"Fortunately, we sold a million records in Europe and that meant the record company couldn't afford to drop us.

"Like every other band, we had a tough time at the beginning. And it doesn't matter how big you are as a band. You are never guaranteed hits."

"That's why I laugh when I see Hear'Say complaining about how hard things are for them. If they think that's hard, they should try doing it the real way.

"Everyone knew who the Popstars group were before they'd even released their first record.

"There are so many talented bands who can't buy that amount of exposure."

Meanwhile, Sharleen believes she could have some competition from an up-and -coming Scots singer - her actor pal Ewan McGregor.

Sharleen turned down the chance to star opposite Ewan in the Baz Luhrmann musical Moulin Rouge. But she says: "I've heard Ewan on the soundtrack album and I think he is fab.

"I was blown away by his singing. He could be a rock star. I could easily see him doing that. He has the personality and the talent."

In turn, Sharleen may well take up acting soon with the help of Alan Rickman, who appeared in the video for the band's hit In Demand.

She says: "I've spoken to Ewan and Alan about getting involved in acting.

"They told me that if someone gets a script to me that I think is great, I should do it.

"It has been talked about and I have had so many offers that I have been bamboozled by it all.

"Who knows, I might have a wee shot at it.

"I'm not going to start taking acting lessons, though I know some people spend years perfecting the art.

"For me, it would be very different to Texas because I would no longer be in control.

"I wouldn't have a say in the edit even if I didn't like it and that's something I'm not used to.

"But it's nothing ventured, nothing gained.

'Besides, the band are behind me in everything I do."


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