My surrogate Kyd for Misty
by John Dingwall for The Daily Record - 30 December 2004

When Texas star Sharleen Spiteri chose a little bundle for her daughter from a row of incubators she admits she felt silly - the gift was only a toy

TEXAS beauty Sharleen Spiteri admits she faced something of a dilemma this Christmas - after buying a surrogate baby in New York.

The gorgeous singer paid for the child after choosing from dozens lined up in incubators as nurses stood by and watched.

And within minutes of stumping up the cash, she was strolling through Manhattan with the swaddled baby under one arm.

But it wasn't a case of Sharleen losing her marbles in order to provide a little sister for daughter Misty Kyd.

She was merely playing along with the latest craze for toys to sweep America - surrogate baby dolls.

Sharleen, 37, picked up the child with full adoption papers at New York's famous toy store FAO Schwarz as a present for two-year-old Misty.

She laughed: 'I bought Misty's present when I was in New York.

'I got her a baby doll which was hilarious. I went in to FAO Schwarz and had to stand in the queue.

'It was chaos. There were all these women dressed as nurses in what looks like a maternity ward.

'There was a glass wall with all these dolls in incubators and you had to choose your child.

'You could have any skin colour, any colour of eyes or combination that you want. It was like having a surrogate baby.

'I wasn't sure if I was down with this or if it was cool at all. But all these little girls were naming their babies.

'My partner Ashley was going mad. He said, 'That's terrible. That's putting women into a bracket'. I just replied, 'You know what, Misty loves her dolls. She likes feeding her doll and putting it into her bed'. Misty likes guitars and stuff as well, but loves her doll.

'So I'm not pushing her down that road. It's just the way it is. If she likes a doll, she likes a bloody doll.

'I got her the doll. The nurse gave me the baby after I'd paid for it.

'But the best laugh was they didn't give me the baby in a box or a bag. The baby came swaddled. So, I'm walking through New York with a doll the size of a baby in its little hat. It was just gorgeous, but I felt a bit ridiculous.'

She added: 'Coming home I put it in the suitcase and it was so lifelike I had visions of being stopped at customs after they scanned the suitcase at the airport.

'I was waiting for someone to say, 'Would you like to come this way, please? There's a baby in your bag'.

'But it was worth it to see the expression on Misty's face.'

Enjoying a relaxing break with Ashley and little Misty at their London home, Sharleen explained: 'I'm spending New Year at home with Misty and Ashley, doing nothing.

Christmas was the same.

'We're putting the movies on with a big warm blanket, lazing around the house.

'If anybody wants to visit they can, but I ain't setting foot outside the door.

'The mums and dads will probably visit and I'll see my sister and two nieces and Johnny McElhone and his two kids.

'Misty is great and has had a bit of a cold, but she has had great fun. She's realised that Santa Claus isn't a big scary guy anymore.

He's now the guy who brings the presents.'

Sharleen also revealed she and Johnny are almost finished work on the next Texas album.

They'll make a comeback with the new record in the spring after being holed up in the studio in recent weeks with top songwriters Brian Higgins and Miranda Cooper who, together, masterminded many of The Sugababes and Girls Aloud hits.

'We are nearly finished the new album, which is coming out with a new single in March and April,' Sharleen told me.

'Initially, the four of us were going in to write one song and we ended up hammering out a load of great songs.We are just trying to make a really good record at the end of the day.'

With the album almost in the can, Sharleen admits it is the perfect end to a year which started on a high.

In January, she raised £250,000 at a charity auction by agreeing to perform a private Texas gig for Scots tycoon Tom Hunter.

Her annual Burns supper with Ewan McGregor in aid of the Children's Hospice Association for Scotland and Sargent Cancer Care raised £342,000 in total.BUT despite keeping a relatively low profile during the rest of 2004, Sharleen still got your vote as Scotland's Best Female in our Razz awards.

'I was shocked at winning the award and it is lovely to win the Razz award,' she said. 'I'd say the quality of competition was very high. I'm happy to have won it.' Sharleen also branded Elton John a windbag for throwing a tantrum at this year's Q awards. She reckoned Elton's criticism of Madonna's live show was a crashing bore despite being one of the most memorable outbursts of the year. The raging Queen of pop hit the headlines when he claimed Madonna should 'f*** off' for miming . But Sharleen said: 'Who gives a flying f*** what Elton thinks? People bitch. 'It is easy to bitch and much harder to be positive. 'People are always scared of those who could be bigger than them or seem bigger than them, so they bitch about it - but why should anybody care?' And she hailed Franz Ferdinand as her band of 2004 by far. Sharleen said: 'There's no denying the Franz Ferdinand record Take Me Out was the best single of the year. Whenever you hear it, you just want to get up and dance. I loved the Keane album, too. At first you hear it thinking you don't know Keane's songs, then you realise you do know them. 'I also loved the Snow Patrol album. A lot of Scottish bands do their own thing and don't follow formula or fashion which is nice to see. 'They are leaders rather than followers. Bands in Scotland get into their own groove and sound completely different from everybody else which is what makes it really appealing.' Unlike bands such as Wet Wet Wet and Lloyd Cole & The Commotions, Sharleen hasn't had to put Texas through a reunion to make a return to the charts after 18 years together without a break. 'The thing is, you have to split up to have a reunion and in that respect we are doing alright,' Sharleen giggled.


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