Faye Good Lookin'
from The Daily Record - May 24, 2001
Texas star is the Spiteri image of Hollywood star Dunaway in new video
TEXAS beauty Sharleen Spiteri has revealed her sexiest image yet for the re-release of their first hit I Don't Want A Lover.
Looking more like a classic Hollywood icon than a rock star, she lounges in a hotel room dressed in a silk dressing gown.
A crisp white towel piled high on her head hides her dark hair and a pair of black slingbacks finishes off the new look.
But it's the legs that you can't help noticing - they are long and silky and seem to go on forever.
Always known for being beautiful, 33-year-old Glaswegian Sharleen has now revealed the model's pins she has kept covered since Texas began in 1987.
Back then, she preferred to be pictured with the rest of the band wearing her stage outfit of leather jacket and jeans.
But ever since the comeback breakthrough success of White On Blonde, Scotland's leading female rock singer has enjoyed a more sensual image.
From writhing about on a beach to tangoing with Alan Rickman, Sharleen seems to enjoy acting up for the cameras.
And for the band's last single, Inner Smile, Sharleen even dressed up as Elvis.
But for the cover of the reworked version of the band's first hit, I Don't Want A Lover, she has taken an even more radical departure and has based her look on a 1976 photo of Faye Dunaway.
Sharleen said: "It seems at the moment, especially in London, that every other person wants to get their face in the papers, or to be snapped by the paparazzi. With the Elvis pictures and these new shots, I've just been trying to have some fun, dressing up and doing something a little bit different. The look was based on a famous picture by Faye Dunaway taken the day after she won an Oscar. I love disguising myself."
The pictures of Sharleen were taken at the Metropolitan Hotel in London.
The photographer was Ellen Von Unwerth, who previously took the pictures of Sharleen in a red dress for the single Black Eyed Boy - another image that caused a stir.
The front cover of the I Don't Want A Lover CD has Sharleen peering over a newspaper, sitting on a chair with her bare legs crossed over each other, other papers are scattered around her feet along with a glass of water and a packet of crisps.
The photo will go down as a classic Texas image.
BUT there's more. The Daily Record has been given exclusive access to the full set of pictures taken in the day-long session.
In one shot she's reading a newspaper with one of her bare legs draped over the chair.
In another shot she's pictured in dark glasses and looking every inch the Hollywood star.
It's no wonder director Baz Luhrmann wanted Sharleen to star alongside Ewan McGregor in Moulin Rouge because she looks like a movie star already.
Sharleen declined the offer of her first major acting role and the part went to Nicole Kidman.
But the Scots songbird isn't interested in a movie career - yet.
First on the agenda is the release of I Don't Want A Lover on June 25, which is still the fans' favourite Texas track.
The song, which charted at number eight in 1987, has been given a dance make-over and bounces along.
The trademark slide guitar is still there, but the new mix by London-based production team Stargate will make this a certain dance floor filler for months.
With sales of the Texas Greatest Hits collection over the five million mark, the band has decided the time is right for a worldwide re-release of their debut single.
It was the first song Sharleen and Johnny McElhone wrote together after forming the group in 1987.
Sharleen said: "That song has been such a phenomenon on our Greatest Hits Tour. Concert crowds have always loved that song, but this year I Don't Want A Lover has suddenly taken on a whole new dimension. Maybe for a while the song was a bit of an albatross for Texas. But now we're playing huge arenas and it has emerged as a highlight of our live set."
THE Stargate boys first met Sharleen via Texas' collaboration with Ceri Evans, who remixed some of their past singles.
They have revealed themselves to be huge, long-standing fans of I Don't Want A Lover, and said: "This song is a classic. It didn't need some radical reinvention, just a cool update. Everything the fans loved about I Don't Want A Lover is still there. The slide guitar still defines the tune, but the beat makes it a perfect summer record for the dance floor or the car stereo."
There will also be a new Texas track included in the CD. It is Mr Superwrong and is taken from last year's Miami sessions with TLC guru Dallas Austin.
Fans will also be able to buy a limited edition CD single which will include live highlights from the current Texas Greatest Hits Tour. Despite blazing a trail across Europe with their tour, Sharleen and the lads haven't any plans to put their feet up over the summer months.
They will be headlining T In The Park and V2001 in Leeds and Chelmsford.
Texas' international success story has now extended to the Far East in Singapore and Hong Kong particularly.
And they have also been making inroads in Italy which was the one major European territory the band still have to crack. Their last British hit, Inner Smile, is top of the Italian radio chart..
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