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WiH A BESISETTNG
SOIOAIBI]MAND A FACETIATPIOTOGAAPIEAS
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TONYGREENWAY
IATKS
SI]ADO$,'')
TO I]Ei?ON TIE EVEOF HEA'ONCIRTSN SI]EFFFLD
!'.
F
T'S
MANCNESIEQ,
A\D NDSOlT \^/IY I'",1JRDEA
C\ TIE DA\'EFIOOR
ummer, 2000. Everywhere you went - I mean every-bloodyQ
- you heard that song wirh the rhrobbing baseline
l-rwhere
and the killer funked-up guirar rift"lf this ain'r love," went the
chorus,"why does it feel so 8ood...l"
Grooveiet (lfThis Ain't Love),by Spiller (fealuring a certain
Sophie Ellis-Bextoron vocals)was an ltalian deep house troove
that notched up 220.000 pre-salesorders, and sailedslrdight in at
Number One after "larginSit" (as they sayon Radio One, usually
without a trace of irony) in the clubs of lbiza.Grooveiet might
have made your summer,but it probably ruined Posh Spice!,
becauseher first solo effon came out at the same time - and.
thanks rc Groovejet, didnt make the number one spot.Amazint!
Posh Spice! Beaten in the chartsll By whol
Well, Spiller was an ltalian DJ,who needn't concern us too
much here. But the singer was somethinSelse.So who was the
Sirl in the video with the Audrey Hepburn face and rhe glass.
clear voicel
Ah.That would be Sophie Ellis-Bextor.
Yearsbefore, at the tender age of 17,Ellis-Bextorhad been an
indie pop starlet (albeit a smart, well-turned-our one), and rhe
frontwoman of a band (with a self-consciouslylowercase,oneword name) called theaudience.AsBritpop waned,theaudience
found fame with three top 40 hits and a best-sellingalbum before
implodinSwhen Billy Reeves,$e brains of the band,walked out.
Lead singer Sophie - daughter of famouslyfired Blue Peter
presenter.lanet Ellisand TV producer Robin Bextor - suddenly
found herself without a day job. Until Groovejer came along,that
is. and made her a name and a face to be reckoned wi$.
Since Grooveiet, life has been a whirl. Signedto Polydor
records, Sophie! solo album - Read My Lips - was wideb/
expected to be disappointin8lyduff.After all, how do you follow
B CITIJFEBFIUAFIY2OOS
up Spiller! massive,Posh Spice-beatinSNumber One?Yer Sophie
stepped up to the plate and hit all preconceptionsout of the
park. unveilingone of the catchiest,bigSest-selling
pop hits of rhe
year: a massive,double-platinumtriumph that spawnedthree top
three sinSlesin the UK:Take Me Home (number 2, and featuring
the classicline "You deserve a girl like me"), Murder On The
Dancetloor (also number 2) and Get OverYou (number three).
For her trouble. Soohie was nominated for a Best FemaleArtist
Brit Award.
There have been well-documented hiccuDsin Ellis-Bextor!
career.Theaudience(stop us if you've heard this one) was once
askedto support RobbieWilliamson tour - bur they declined,
much to his annoyance.Afterwards,thinSs8ot even messier
when, reportedly,Sophie called Robbie"a cabaret singer" and he
- not best pleasedwith this description - snappedback that, if
they ever met, she would leavethe room in tears ("She! got a
face like a satellite dish and me nan! ankles").
The insults about Sophie! face continued at last year! Brit
Awards, when Frank Skinner and Zoe Ball - doing a passable
impressionof Mick Fleetwood and SamanthaFox - were hosring
the ceremony in front of a bayingcrowd. As Ellis-Bextorswayed
on staSeto present an award,Skinner wisecracked:"Hello,
Sophie.Why the wide facel" Lateral humour of the finest kind, ol
a nasty kick in $e Britsl Whatever: but Ellis-Bextorclearl),wasn
amuseo.
Sincethen. Sophie has been getting on with the music.Her
single,Music Gets rhe Best of Me, was another hit late last year:
she publicly made up with Frank Skinner on hisTV chat show;
won Best UK Singer (over Ms Dynamite and Dido) at the
National MusicAwards, and then spearheadeda shockingand
powerful anti-fur campaign,(featuringa poster of Ellis-Bextora
crT|Jintenview
Not Dannii Minogue,
he doesn't.
Anyway.
Let's t€lk aboLrE fame.
You've gone fr.om
betng rnodenaEely
theaudience
Eo being
hugely famous as a
solo st€n Pnesuarrably
you see fame as a bypnoduct
of whaE \,ou
do?
Totolly. Fome meons thot
f
,r
t
you'resuccessful
whichis
brilliont Butfomefor its
own sokeis vetydull.I
meon,big'wow'if everyone
knowsyoufor no reoson.
Butif it\ in conten- ondo
contenyourehopry vtith'cositt
itt lovely,
something
youie workingtowords.lt\
beengreotfot me becouse,
v,/hehI go outond oboutI
feel rcollyPopulor.
Everyone\Iik:Hi Sophie!
Loveyour music!'SoI'm
reollyenjoying
iL l'rc got
gteot fons.
't
I
holdinS up the mantled remainsof a
skinned fox, under the slogan:
'Here!
the rest of your fur coat.')
Elime)/.How does she fit it all in?
When Sophie hooks up for a chat
with City, she is out of breath and
nearly out of time, zippingfrom TV
studio and radio station to rehearsal
room, and looking forward to
touring the UK with her band.
(You'll haveto look sharp,mind you:
her Sheffielddate is hor on the
heels of City! release- 25 .lanuary
at SheflleldCity Hall - before a gig
at the ManchesterApollo on
FebruaO/l.)
This is Sophie! second-eversolo
national tour. One thingt for sure:
it! not going to be her last because
she is still only 23 years of age."l
loveit," she says."l love being on
sta8e..."
Sophie Ellis.€exton as we li!€
and bneatihel Hovv the devil arE
you?
Yerywe4 thonks. ,tt busy ot the
moment,though.After I've tolked to
you,I'm off to reheorsolsthis
oftenoon.AhdI've justmoyedhouseso
thete orc boxeseverywhereot home.
So l'm pushing the boot out o biL
Telly,nado, conceaE venues..,
you'ne popping up eve.ywher.e
at the morrrenE, aren't you?
Yeoh,I om, oauolly. I keep feeling thot I
shouldbe slowingdown. But I'm
10 CTTJFEBFIUAF]Y2OO3
enjofingit oll. Peoplesoy:'Ooh,
you
mustbe rcollytrcd ond,louptobobly
hotedoingoll thoseinteryiews.'Buq
rcolly,it\ not tJlotbod.l justkeep
rerremberingOot tiis is on interestrng
sto$ein my life.And,whenI om
interviewed,lnevertotollyrcpeotwhot
, soy.50 it! cool
\A/e'Fe not t€lking S
Club Junior'S he|-€ a.e
we? \n/l'rat ages ane
they?
They're oll over the shop,
Talking of intenview€, you wer€
even on the Fa€nk Skinnen
Show which is someEf
ng we
thought
we'd only see when hell
fr€ze oven Good to see thaE
you've m€de up wiEh him afte.
the BmE Awards
deb8cle.
fhere wos never o mossive feud
betweenthe two ofus. I knowhe wos
d bit stuprdot the Irits because
whot
he soidwosn'tveryfunny.But rt tokes
morethon thot to offendme.
Fle-€lly?
Definitely.
Hoveyou seenGerord
Deqodieuin Cyronode Bergeroc?
Well,youknowthot scenewhere
someone
insultsCyronotnose- but
thenCyrcnotums the toblesond
destrcys
him with o loodof evenbetter
putJowns?I fet o bit likethotAr the
timeI thought'Hmmm.
ls fiot thebest
youconcomeup with,youngmon?'But
Fronk\rcoWniceto peopleon hischot
show.He\ likeoll of them-Whenthey
geto bit olde\they stort beingreolly
lovelyto everyone.
Lr'ke
JonothonRoss.
He loveseverybody.
'l THINK
THEFIE'S
SOMEONE
OUT
THEFIE \ ,/HO'S
WFITTEN
LOTS OF
DIFFEFENI
NAMES
,AND OIFFEtrENI
FUMOURS
ON UTTLE
BiIS OF PAPEF. HEF1JIS THEM ALL ]N A
HAI FJL]LLS OUI THE
UNFOLOS
IT ANO
SAYS: IT S SOPHIE
ELL]S AEXTOtr
AGA N
THEN HE P1-.]LLS OUT
ANOTHEFI
B]T OF
PAPER A,ND SAYSI
AND TH]S \ /EEK
SHE'S SECUFIED
A
LUCRANV'E
MAKE-UP
.eov Not so mu.h young,
youngpeople.Th
ey stort
obout I 2, but the mojority
ore lote teensup to mid
twent?s.
Thenthereore
somein their30sondo
sPtinklingin thei 40s.
So ho\,1,do you
describe youn rnusacal
sEyle?
'Grcwn-up pop
music',1
suppose.ltt o shomethot I
hove to Put it in context
like thot becouse,rcolly,
whot I'm doingis'pop
musi<'.8ut becousethereb
so much ctop pop music
out there,l find I needon
enro odjectivefor iL
So you'rE nolr a big
HOp rool rame
Acaderny fan, tl-En?
It\ very entertoiningry but
I'm getting o bit boted with
it now. I wotched Pop Stors
ond the first Pop ldol
reiigiously;but the /ost iot I
hoven't rcolly wotched. lt\
{eot fot telly, btilliont fot a
CITH I I i .l::lr .r'r(]-'t"^/
- but I v/ishit
rotingsond it'son entertoinmentphenomenon
didn't existonywhereelse.When it stdrtsgering into the
'Uh
chorts,it! o bit /ikei ?' becouseit's oW progromme,isn't
it? lt's port of the modernworld now,so I don't think it's
goingto go owo,/.It'll olwof be perceivedos o bit noff, ond
it'll olwoysbe guite successful.
So you'ne p eased EhaEyou've become a pop dol
Ehe hand, 'tnadtional'way - ie, wiEh no help fnorn a
nealrtryTV show?
yesjbecouse,
thot woy,it's horderon the wo,lup, but eosier
on the woy down.Whereos
like PopStorsmoke
Progrommes
it eosieron the woy up but REALLYhord on the woy down.
lA much rother mokem/ own mistokesond corvemy own
nichethon be dumpedofter o whileond think:'Ohmy God.
Where do I go from here?'Thotwouldbe reollyscory.
\n /rt i Lheaudrence you wene pd' L of I le gnoLp.
Now lt's just youn narne ove. the doorl and in
szeable old neon letter-s, too. \n /hch rnus! ire
gneat. Buti don'E you rniss the secunrty of being in
a iland?
/t! the reverse.you
feel much more insecurebeingin o bond.
Yes,it's onlymy nome over the door now - but thot woy it's
onlyme collingthe shots.lno bond,yousometimesfind the
other membersore hovingmeetingswithoutyou - which
didn't hoppento me,but it did hoppento someonee/seir,
- so it @n mokeyou reolly insecure.The
theoudience
solo
routeis for morc sotisfyingbecauseI'm in completecontrolof
my destiny.ldon't missbeingin o bond - bu\ ot the same
time,l wouldn'tbe the singetI om withoutthot exPerience.
I
wouldn'tbe os .onfidentor os strcngtodoy,so I hove o lot of
offecuonfor my time in theoudience.
Let's talk l,ablods. Ther-e ar-e rnor-e newspapen
r'u-oLns
abouL yoL Lhd^ any oLae. pop sLai
anen't lrhe.e?
Reolly?I don't know. I olwoys think the rumours I reod ore
rcther boring.
\n/d. we I no'^, Lhey'.e not TtrlLlF Sopnre; out
lhene's no denyrng Eha! !he.e's
a lot of thern: Fon
exarnpe, did you know yoLr'ne gorag to be
appear-lng n F.ends
soon? And Ehab you'ne going
oLL wrt ^ a Brg B^oE'ie^ co.1Eegta.1E? Pus, yoL'erl
- and you ane wnrtsing a
out wrEh V ct-ona Beckh€.n
cnrne novel, appa.endy.
Oh, and you wene
supposed
!o be sEa..!ng n Ehe as! Bond movie,
Shal I go on?
Um, no.Very entertoining rcoding. I don't know whete they
come from becduse theyie not thlngs I moke-up myself,you
understond. I think thefe! someore out there whol written
lots of different nomesond different rumours on little bits of
popeLHe puts them oll in o hot pullsout the fitst bit of
poper,unfoldsit ond soysr'lt'sSophieEl/is-Eextor
oEoin!'Then
he pullsout onotherbit of PoPerond soys:'Andthis week
she'ssecuredo lucrotivemoke-updeol!'
Ha, hal You AFIE writing a nove, though, ar-en't
I wos.Whentheoudiencesplitup,I hod to thnk of other
thingsthot I mightbe Eoodot os o doy job whileI wos
gettingo bond logetherin the everings./ wos oPProoched
by
o litercryogentv/hosoid:'lfyou wtite o book,l con get you o
deol for it.'I thoughtthot soundedgood,ond ld olwoysliked
frction.But I'm o bit busiernowl
So no nove !hen. BL,.t what alrout rno.e
songwntrng? it
I3
CIT|JFEE]FIUARYzOOS
crTgrntervrew
pop of theoudienceond then
the donce tibe lil€ GroovejeL
Chongeis heoltlV.
So youn next album
could sound completdy
diffenent to tead My
ups?
Pehops not'completery
different'.There ore some
elementsof the olbum thot I
hoven't totolly exploted.There
might not be os mon'. singres
on the nen olbum - in terms
of the dbco vibe - becduse
thot\ been ond gonenow.
Yeoh,ldo it oll the time,oduou. I'vejustspento few weeksin the studio
wtitinglotsond loa of stuf- rnostof it rubbish,I think Hopefuy o third
of it will be worth puttuing;ond then,oftet he tour,I'llgo into the studio
oboutMov time.Soo newolbuft shouldbe out in the outumn.
Have
you pbyed
Manchesten
and SfEfFekl
befo.e?
Yeoh,I hove.Goodgigs.Do you rememberthe bondlomes?Theoudience
Apollo.
supportedthemot the Monchestet
C}oes tt€ rnood of tfie crowd
cF|€nge, .€gionally?
SFEfH
audience
diffe-€nE
from a ManchesEen
ls a
audience?
Er,no.Cawdschongeon the doyof the weeko.Tuollf:yougeto totolll
diffetentotmosphete
on o Mondqf nightthon on o Fidqf nightwhkh
soundsobvious,
but itt true.Thot\for more notkeoblethonftom whot
pon of the countrythefre from.Sundoys
ore quitehord goingbecouse
is bockto work the nextddy
everyone
lsn't
being
on the
r€ad
n8then
dull?
No.I likeit I reollylikeit octuolly.lt\ proboblymy fovou te thingof oll.It
woswhenI wospetotmingin frcnt of o ctold thot I reolisedthot this
woswhotI wontedto do with m,! Drcfessionol
life.lt\ o time whenI con
reopvthotI sw I suppose.
Petormingis quheon o.gdnicprocess.
Does
get mysef
thot soundrealtlnofl Nt it's tjue:I h ml ownmok€.up,
reody,go out thereond nooneis goingto stopthe showholfwoythrough.
It! ve.),sportoneous.
Mind you,I donTlikepeformingonTV,pottkulot ,
becouseit\ usuolryvet'l stoged.
Yes, tell us aboLrE th€t. Oon't you feel like a night wazzock
rniming to carnena?
\rhen you F|aVe to st€nd there
is quite
Thefrrsttjme I did il I feh reollyweid. Mimingon relevision
o iot ofTV studiosorenTbuihfor livepefomonce:I
commonbecouse
meonI COULD singlive,but I wouldn\be obleto heot myself,boskolly.
Sonow,if I om colleduponto mime,l olwoyssingolongwilJrthe trock
Thotwoyyov breothingis cotect ondif the micrcphone
suddenlycomes
ogoin,I'vedone
on - or if somethinggoeswrong- },ou'fest ll singing.Then
loodsof livesingingonw:Top of the Pops,lonothon
Ross,TFl...whenever
I cdn,I alwayssinglive.h\ for moresotisfying
when
Forme.Sometimes
you'reobroodondyoufly in ond out ogointo oTV studioond thereisn't
time for o sound<heckfou hoveto remembertfiot fie songis mofe
importontthon you.Sofou do mimerhen.But peopleknowthot I con
petotm iive,so I hoven'tgotory hongapsoboutiL lt\ not lil;e:'Oh,God...
wh6tif everyone
thinksI .on't sing...?'
The car€en is gEing swimmir€ly,
done it betrlren if you'd planned
isn't
iE...
lE? You coLjdn't
F|aVe
,Vusickeepschongngond l'm constontt
fhere\ defini&,lfno mosterplon.
excitedb/ the prcgression
of things:the &itpop thing,ond thenthe lndie
CTT\JFEE]FlUAFIY2OOS
You ceused quGe a st{n
last ye€n with that ant F
fun campergn po6te1 Did
you say ye€
irrrnedrately to tfEt?
I sordtes'to it obout firee
yeots ogo when I did
Grooveje\ond they (PET
Peoplefot the Ethicol
heotment of Animok) were
'Rothet
still doing the
Go
NokedthonWeor Fur'
compoign.lwos rcollf up for
4 but thel were doing it in
ossociotionwith o mogozine;
ond, ot the tme,I didn't think
thot wos the wof to go.So I
woited ond woited,ond it
come up ogoin,We
broinstonnedobout new
ideos,'cosI thought the'Go
Noked' thing hod been done.
Mor'l Mccottne'l (Poul\
photogtophet doughtet) come
on boord quite lote ond did
&e shoot fhe Go Noked'
compoign shone the spotlight
on tle celebritls which wos
good bock then;but I like the
foa thot the new slogonturns
on the wrong4oer - the furweotet - rcthet thon shining
the spotight on me.
ls Eh€t a r€al fox you ar€
holdir€ up, tf|en?
Yes.l think it\ o very poweful
inoge ond I really hope rt
does the triL I don't know,
though,becousethere ore stiil
loods ofpeoph weo ng fut.
Evet,loneftom Jode logget to
Noomi Compbell to lennifel
Loqezis weodng iL
OK. Mr-rsic. What's on
yo(f CD pbyen 6t the
rnornerrE?
The Best PunkAlbum in the
World Ever2.1 lovethe woy
they bing those olbums out..
ond then moke onother one
ond onother one! lt\ like:'Ah
yes,the EestPunkAlbum in
theWorld Ever...thot wos
good, buL octuolll, this nen
one is really the best one...'
The Pistolsond the Dommed
orc on it, ond Blondie too,
rother bizorrely,becouseI
don't think they .onsider
themselvesto be o punk
bond.
\n/bat did you lisEen Eo
as a kid?
I olwols liked listeningto older
music.Andnow you'vegot
bonds li,kethe Stfokesond the
Hives bringing bock thot row
sound i't! good to go bock
ond listen to where i come
fiom in the firct ploce.A lot of
it is SirtlesjnfLenced, of
course,but there is o punk
element too.
\n /ho do you like at the
rnoment, then?
Ihe Streets,the Eurythmics,
Bestofltie PetShop8oys.
Quiteechctk reoly.My tostes
olwo'lshovebeen.
So... get off to
ael_E€nsals. And good
luck wiEh ttre Eoun
Hey,cool. Ooh...by the v/oy...
hove fou got the Eig dotes...?
Do you know. fE's fiJnny
\,ou should rnention
Ef|at... a
J-Cll
.Jdgt
SfEffrdd Cbt Hel
Liwe.pod Roy6
.,r.h aA
\ /ovtrtEmpto
Clw Hall
Js
aa