Wednesday 4 November 2015

The shape I'm in: Barbara Dickson, singer and performer

LUCKY is a word that crops up over and over when Barbara Dickson talks about her life. 
She feels lucky that she has inherited good genes from her mum, lucky to have a family life, lucky because she’s never been seriously ill.

But mostly she feels lucky because, at 68, she continues to sing and perform decades after her career as a pop star came to and end.

“I don’t think everyone is able to do that. I don’t take it for granted,” she says.
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“I think it has something to do with the way I chose to conduct my life. It helps me to remain vibrant and strong. It has nothing to do with image and looking like you are 25. I don’t care for that.”

With her roots firmly planted in folk music, her stellar career as a pop star — Another Suitcase in Another Hall, I Know Him So Well — didn’t knock her off course. “It was just another string to my bow,” she says.

“Since I retired from being a pop star, in about 1985, I have been doing thoughtful songs, playing the guitar, playing the piano and doing all the stuff I started off doing.”

Living in Edinburgh with her husband Oliver, they have three sons. Colm, 29, Gabriel, 27 and Archie, 25.

She gave birth to her youngest aged 42.

“I didn’t meet my husband until I was in my 30s. There wasn’t a choice really. I didn’t postpone it. And I was never a woman who would have had children on my own by choice. I would have wanted to provide them with a father as well as a mother.”

* Barbara Dickson is live in concert in Ireland next month:www.barbaradickson.net for details.

What shape are you in?

I go to the gym. I try to go three times a week but only for 45 minutes. I’m not bathed in sweat. I can’t be doing with that. I just do a little bit of cycling. A little bit of the cross trainer and some lifting and that kind of thing.


CURRENTLY AVAILABLE AT GONZO:

More Brecht Than Broadway
4CD Boxset - £49.99

Morning Comes Quickly
CD - £7.99

Answer Me
CD - £7.99

Winter
CD - £9.99

Che Faro
DVD - £10.99

B4 74 - The Folkclub Tapes
2CD - £10.99

Full Circle
CD - £9.99

Into The Light
DVD - £10.99

Time And Tide 
CD - £9.99

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