Never afraid to wear her heart on her sleeve, T’Pau singer Carol Decker makes no bones about missing the heady days of her hitmaking pomp in the 1980s…
“I’d love to still have hits,” she admits. “I’ll be honest, it’s a bit disappointing putting some records out to find they just haven’t landed.
“But then you have to take stock – how many people get to where I’ve got and sold the records I’ve sold? I work a lot and you just never know what’s going to happen next – you think it’s done, then the phone rings and you’re off again.”
Carol is a long way from done. Working with Ronnie Rogers, her long-time writing partner in T’Pau, not only is there a brand-new album, Be Wonderful – the band’s first set of original material since 2015 – with an accompanying tour in April, but she’s back in the fold for the hugely popular feelgood show 80s Classical this summer. Starting with a date at Lighthouse Poole on Friday 5 June, she’ll be appearing with headliner Nik Kershaw and special guests Johnny Hates Jazz singing their own hits and some of the songs that defined the era.
“I’ve done 80s Classical quite a few times; it’s great. I’ve known Nik and the Johnny Hates Jazz guys for years, they’re good friends.
“In fact, T’Pau’s first big break was being invited to be Nik’s support. We had Heart and Soul bubbling away and he was touring Radio Musicola and we got chosen to be his opening act, and we’ve been friends ever since.
“Johnny Hates Jazz would always be knocking around – we seemed to find ourselves in the charts at the same time in the same country, so we’d bump into each other in places like Rome or Berlin back in those exciting, heady days. We used to be vying with each other for chart positions, but none of us expect that chart attention any more so it’s all about being a good performer and a good entertainer.
“And surviving!”
As much as she loves 80s Classical, it’s not Carol’s only distraction from T’Pau.
“I do duck and dive out of the band to play these big festivals with a house band whose musicianship is just exquisite, but they might be backing ten artists a night and they’re all reading the parts as they play. It’s powerful stuff.
“I’ve also done Night of the Proms, which is a massive tour across Germany, Luxembourg, Belgium and that’s with a 60-piece orchestra, a 30-piece choir, a six-piece rock band, and a three-piece backing vocals team as well. It’s off the scale spectacular!
“It stops you getting bored. I did a musical last year – Now That’s What I Call A Musical – and I’d just come in for a week, leave, then come back for a week and leave. I did that for, like, four months and I loved it. The rest of the cast had been in it for ten months, and they were all ready to kill each other!”
As someone who started out playing the pubs and clubs of rural Shropshire (“And don’t forget the Young Farnmers’ balls!”) I wonder if she prefers the intimate atmosphere of the venues on T’Pau’s forthcoming tour, or the arenas and festivals she’s able to play as the 80s revival circuit has grown bigger and bigger in recent years.
“There’s something about those small gigs – audiences love that connection you feel in smaller venues, and I feel it too, but I have to say a great big festival crowd of 10 to 15,000 people waving their arms in the air singing back at you when it hits the sax break in China In Your Hand… that’s some buzz. It’s awesome.”
:: T’Pau’s new album Be Wonderful is released on 10 April. A strictly limited edition of 1,000 signed and numbered vinyl presses of the album are available at https://tpau.co.uk/ with tour dates and ticket links.
:: Tickets for 80s Classical at Lighthouse are available now at https://www.lighthousepoole.co.uk/event/80s-classical/ and on 01202 280000.
(NC)
