Although Barbara Dickson has made many guest appearances with the top names in show business, she never loses sight of one fact - the audience are her guests, and it's up to her to make them feel at home.
The note in my diary read, "Meet Barbara Dickson. 10.30 a.m. at her office, South-West London." I've since added, "An out-of-the-blue, bitterly cold day, but a very warm, down-to-earth lady."
I arrived early and found myself in a tiny office where a girl called Florence was hugging her coat around her. The heating had failed! "Is the heating not working?" Barbara called as she arrived wearing a bright smile, tinted spectacles, a warm jacket, grey trousers and boots. In her wake came Frances, her company secretary. She immediately got on the phone to arrange some television rehearsals for Barbara.
"I picked Frances up on my way here and the choke on my car flooded," Barbara was saying. "I don't like the sound of the brakes either. It is cold, isn't it? Couldn't we get some more fires from somewhere?" She turned to me. "So nice to meet you. Sorry about all this." She then had to speak to Frances, who was making signals at her. "Yes, tell them I'll need three days' rehearsal."Minutes later, Barbara picked up an electric fire and we all moved into a warmer and more elegant office. We settled down and one of the first things we talked about was the nomadic part of her work, which seems to find echoes in the titles of her hits, "Another Suitcase In Another Hall" and "The Caravan Song" from the film "Caravans".
Towards the end of last year Barbara and her band of talented musicians played a hugely-successful 40-date nationwide tour, ending up at the Albert Hall. There, I watched her hold an audience of all ages and walks of life in the palm of her hand.
Although touring is never profitable, Barbara can think of nothing more worthwhile than coming face to face with her audience in an atmosphere she described as being "almost like having a lot of people sitting in my front room." Certainly, Barbara does create that kind of intimacy in concert. As she observed, there's a lot to be said for spectacular, on-stage theatrics, but that's not her scene. Yet it is the key to her approach to appearing on television.
Barbara delights in playing television concerts and thoroughly enjoys guesting on such prestige shows as "The Two Ronnies". But she's reluctant to do a series of her own because she feels that television tends to present most singers in much the same way.
"I don't really want to have sets with things fluttering above my head while I'm singing," Barbara remarked. "It wouldn't suit me or my music. I'm very obsessed with being an honest performer. I like to present what I am and what I do in a very straightforward way. The best setting for me is the concert setting. On television I must, at least loosely, present what I would be like in concert.
Although touring is never profitable, Barbara can think of nothing more worthwhile than coming face to face with her audience in an atmosphere she described as being "almost like having a lot of people sitting in my front room." Certainly, Barbara does create that kind of intimacy in concert. As she observed, there's a lot to be said for spectacular, on-stage theatrics, but that's not her scene. Yet it is the key to her approach to appearing on television.
Barbara delights in playing television concerts and thoroughly enjoys guesting on such prestige shows as "The Two Ronnies". But she's reluctant to do a series of her own because she feels that television tends to present most singers in much the same way.
"I don't really want to have sets with things fluttering above my head while I'm singing," Barbara remarked. "It wouldn't suit me or my music. I'm very obsessed with being an honest performer. I like to present what I am and what I do in a very straightforward way. The best setting for me is the concert setting. On television I must, at least loosely, present what I would be like in concert.
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