Sharleen’s back with new album of classic movie songs
from The Evening Times by Jonathan Geddes - 25 February 2010
She may have moved to London 15 years ago, but Sharleen Spiteri’s Glasgow accent still rings out with authority.
“Producing great bands is in Glaswegians’ blood,” says the Texas frontwoman, reflecting on the city’s vibrant music scene.
“There are always gigs on, bands getting formed at school, DJs – music is such a big part of culture here.
“We’re poets from Burns right through to now, and that music is really relevant to the way we live.
“I miss loads about Glasgow – my family, my friends – but I’m still there a lot. I’ve still got a studio up there so I’m up and down constantly.”
It isn’t just her location that’s changed for Sharleen in the past 15 years.
She’s been through the break-up of her long-term relationship with magazine editor Ashley Heath, given birth to a daughter and released her first solo album, Melody, with a second record on the way next week.
Texas have always been there in that time, clawing their way up over the years to being true Scottish rock icons, having played nearly every venue in Glasgow along the way, while the likes of I Don’t Want A Lover, Say What You Want and Summer Son were rarely off the radio.
Sharleen’s own mix of rock star feistiness and chic led to her becoming a style icon too.
But the band’s future was in doubt last year, after guitarist Ally McErlaine suffered a sudden brain haemorrhage that left him fighting for his life.
Thankfully, he pulled through, and according to Sharleen is on the road to recovery, with plans already under way for another Texas album.
“He’s out of hospital and is doing really good,” she says.
“He needs to go there once a week for rehabilitation but he’s doing really well, he’s walking round and still has that sarcasm and wit about him.
“Everything’s good, so we’re all ready to make another Texas record – that’s in the pipeline at the moment.
“We’ve got no dates or a timescale for it but we’ll hopefully get something out next year. I’ll always have Texas, whatever else I do.”
For the moment, Sharleen has plenty of other things on her plate. On Monday, she will release The Movie Songbook, an album that ties her twin passions of music and film together.
On the album, she tackles a string of classic film songs, from the Sound of Silence to What’s New Pussycat.
And Sharleen is most pleased with the diversity it lets her embrace, from Top Gun’s Take My Breath Away to Oh Pretty Woman, as originally sung by Roy Orbison.
“The thing I’m most proud is that it sounds together as a whole album,” she says.
“I think, hell, who’d put Xanadu and God Bless The Child and Many Rivers To Cross on one album, because technically that shouldn’t really work as a complete record.
“But because I put a lot of love and respect and honesty into it, it works – I love these songs.
“It wouldn’t have occurred to me to make this sort of record 10 years ago. Back then, I didn’t have the opportunity to do the sort of things I’m doing now, like singing at the Proms with an orchestra. I sung at the classical Proms and by being in a different place like that it enabled me to make this record.”
The cinema has always influenced Sharleen, to the extent that the Texas band name was chosen as a homage to Dutch director Wim Wenders’ classic 1984 film Paris, Texas.
Yet the record itself appears to have been more of a happy accident than any grand plan to pay tribute to the movies.
“After I did Melody I was asked to sing the Godfather theme tune at an anniversary concert and then I was asked to do a show about the 25th anniversary of Saturday Night Fever, where I did I Can’t Have You.
“It was just such fun, and I remember Johnny (McElhone, Texas bassist) and I talked about doing other film stuff, and obviously we’ve been inspired by film stuff going back throughout the whole of Texas, right from naming the band.
“So one thing led to another, and I thought why not do a film album – it was something I really fancied doing.”
However, the collection of “amazing iconic songs” proved tougher to record than Sharleen expected.
“It took a lot of respect and love to make the songs work, because you didn’t want it to sound like karaoke.
“But at the same time you didn’t want to remove the songs away from what they were so much that it killed the song.”
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