Scottish singer, actress (b. 1947)
Musical artist
Barbara Ruth Dickson
OBE
(born 27 September 1947)
[1]
is a Scottish singer and actress whose hits include "
I Know Him So Well
" (a chart-topping duet with Elaine Paige), "
Answer Me
" and "
January February
". Dickson has placed fifteen albums on the
UK Albums Chart
from 1977 to date, and had a number of hit singles, including four which reached the top 20 on the
UK Singles Chart
.
[2]
The Scotsman
newspaper has described her as Scotland's best-selling female singer in terms of the numbers of hit chart singles and albums she has achieved in the UK since 1976.
[3]
She is also a two-time
Olivier Award
-winning actress,
[4]
with roles including
Viv Nicholson
in the musical
Spend Spend Spend
, and was the original Mrs. Johnstone in
Willy Russell
's long-running musical
Blood Brothers
.
[5]
On television she starred as Anita Braithwaite in
Band of Gold
.
Early life
[
edit
]
Dickson was born in Dunfermline
[1]
and went to
Woodmill High School
. She spent her early childhood in
Rosyth
before her family moved to Dunfermline in the 1950s. Her father was a cook on a tugboat at
Rosyth Dockyard
and her mother was from
Liverpool
. She went to Pitcorthie Primary School when she moved to Dunfermline.
Career
[
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]
Early years
[
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]
Dickson's singing career started in folk clubs around her native
Fife
in 1964. Her first commercial
recording
was in 1968. Her early work included albums with
Archie Fisher
, the first of which,
The Fate O' Charlie
, a collection of songs from the
Jacobite
rebellions, was released in 1969. Her first solo album was
Do Right Woman
in 1970.
1970s?1980s
[
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]
She became a well-known face on the British folk circuit of the late 1960s and early 1970s, but changed her career course after meeting
Willy Russell
. He was at that time a young student running a folk club in
Liverpool
. He showed Dickson the first draft of what later became the award-winning musical
John, Paul, George, Ringo ... and Bert
and asked her to perform the music. The combination of his writing, the cast (including
Antony Sher
,
Bernard Hill
and
Trevor Eve
, who were unknown at the time) and Dickson's idiosyncratic interpretation of
Beatles
songs made the show highly successful.
[6]
The show's co-producer,
Robert Stigwood
, signed Dickson to his record label,
RSO Records
, for whom she recorded the album
Answer Me
, arranged and produced by
Junior Campbell
, the title track becoming a
top 10
hit
in 1976.
John, Paul, George, Ringo … and Bert
also led to her guest residency on
The Two Ronnies
, which brought Dickson's singing to the attention of more than ten million
BBC Television
viewers every week.
[7]
Andrew Lloyd Webber
and
Tim Rice
also spotted Dickson in
John, Paul, George, Ringo … and Bert
, and invited her to record "
Another Suitcase in Another Hall
" from their new musical
Evita
, which became her second hit in 1977. She contributed two tracks to
Scouse the Mouse
a children's album (1977) with
Ringo Starr
and others. During the late 1970s, Dickson also contributed backing vocals to two best-selling albums by the Scottish singer-songwriter
Gerry Rafferty
:
City to City
(1978) and
Night Owl
(1979). Other solo hits, including "Caravan Song" and "
January February
", followed for Dickson in 1980.
[8]
An abridged version of the song "Best of Friends", sung by Dickson, was used as the closing theme for
Andy Robson
, an
ITV
children's television series broadcast during 1982 and 1983. It was never released commercially until 2021 when the full version featured on the Special Edition release of Dickson's album
Heartbeats
.
[
citation needed
]
In 1982, Willy Russell invited Dickson to star in his new musical
Blood Brothers
in the pivotal role of the mother, Mrs Johnstone. Although at first reluctant to accept, having never acted before, she accepted, and garnered critical acclaim, as well as the
Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actress in a Musical
in 1983. She has reprised the role many times, including in 2004 at the
Liverpool Empire Theatre
.
In 1984, Tim Rice approached Dickson to take part in the recording of the
concept album
for the musical
Chess
in the role of Svetlana. Dickson's songs on the album include "
I Know Him So Well
", a duet sung with
Elaine Paige
. The song was a worldwide hit, and remained at number one on the
UK Singles Chart
for four weeks.
[2]
According to
Guinness World Records
, it remains the best-selling female duet.
[9]
Starting in 1983, Dickson and her backing band began appearing in musical interludes for the BBC Scotland comedy show
Scotch and Wry
. In 1984, Dickson starred in her own television special for BBC2, in which she travelled around Scotland.
[10]
1990s
[
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]
During the 1990s, Dickson appeared in various television dramas, including
Taggart
,
Band of Gold
and
The Missing Postman
. The writer and director Chris Bond created a stage show for Dickson in 1996 called
The Seven Ages of Woman
, which won her the
Liverpool Echo
Actress of the Year Award. It premiered at the
Liverpool Playhouse
and toured extensively in 1997 and 1998.
She was the subject of
This Is Your Life
in 1998, when she was surprised by
Michael Aspel
at the
Groucho Club
in London.
[
citation needed
]
In 1999, Dickson starred in
Spend Spend Spend
, a new musical by
Steve Brown
and Justin Greene. The show, based on the rollercoaster life story of pools winner,
Viv Nicholson
, played in the
West End
to capacity audiences. For her portrayal of Nicholson, Dickson was awarded Best Actress in a Musical at the 2000
Laurence Olivier Awards
. Dickson went on to star in the UK tour of the show.
Further theatre work followed in
Friends Like This
, the Heather Brothers musical
A Slice of Saturday Night
and
Fame
. During 2006, Dickson appeared as the Timekeeper in
Alan Ayckbourn
and
Denis King
's fantasy musical play
Whenever
for
BBC Radio 4
. She returned to television in the BBC daytime drama series
Doctors
with her episode, "Mama Sings The Blues", being broadcast in March 2008.
[
citation needed
]
In 2003, Dickson worked with Russell again, providing backing vocals for his album
Hoovering the Moon
. In 2004,
The Platinum Collection
, featuring some of her most successful recordings, reached number 35 in the UK Albums Chart.
[2]
Her 2004 album,
Full Circle
, was produced and arranged by
Troy Donockley
, and saw Dickson returning to her folk roots. In 2006, she issued a collection of the songs of
Lennon, McCartney and Harrison
,
Nothing's Gonna Change My World
.
[11]
21st century
[
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]
Dickson's twenty-fourth studio album,
Time and Tide
, was released in January 2008, featuring a mix of contemporary and folk songs, including "Palm Sunday", which marked Dickson's return to songwriting after a break of almost twenty years. A live DVD,
Into the Light
, was released to coincide with the release of
Time and Tide
, and included, as well as some of her best-loved hits, several tracks from her new album. A double live CD,
Barbara Dickson in Concert
, was released in April 2009, and was followed later in the year by her autobiography,
A Shirt Box Full of Songs
.
Between February and March 2011, Dickson undertook a tour of the UK and Ireland to promote her new studio album,
Words Unspoken
. Arranged and produced by Troy Donockley, the album included tracks such as "
Bridge Over Troubled Water
", "Jamie Raeburn" and "The Trees They Do Grow High".
[12]
A tribute album to her friend
Gerry Rafferty
?
To Each And Everyone ? The Songs of Gerry Rafferty
? was released in September 2013, and her album,
Winter
, a collection of seasonal favourites, was released in time for Christmas 2014.
[13]
2018's
Through Line
was followed by
Time Is Going Faster
, Dickson's 25th studio album, which spent three months in the Official Folk Album Chart and received widespread acclaim, particularly for her own compositions. The single, "Where Shadows Meet The Light", marked her first single release since 1995's "Love Hurts". A completely revised and updated paperback edition of Dickson's autobiography,
A Shirt Box Full of Songs
, was released to tie-in with the new album, together with an audiobook and Kindle edition.
Her first online show,
Barbara Dickson: Ballads And Blether
, streamed on 20 March 2021 with a limited-edition DVD and CD of the evening available through her official website. The same year, she presented a series of podcasts,
Answer Me Ten... With Barbara Dickson
, in which she interviewed several well-known female singers, including
Petula Clark
,
Toyah
,
Kiki Dee
,
Kim Wilde
and
Eddi Reader
.
[
citation needed
]
Between March and April 2022, Dickson and her band toured the UK in support of the album
Time Is Going Faster
.
[14]
In March 2022, Dickson starred in
BBC Radio 4
's
The Road and the Miles to Dundee
, written by
Val McDermid
and directed by Turan Ali.
[15]
Personal life
[
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]
In 1984, Dickson married former actor Oliver Cookson,
[16]
who went on to work as an Assistant Director in television for the BBC,
[17]
and has three sons. As of 2015, she and her family had lived in
Edinburgh
for a number of years.
[18]
[19]
She was awarded an
OBE
in the
Queen's
New Year Honours
in 2002 for her services to Music and Drama.
[18]
Interviewed for
Fern Britton Meets
in 2017, Dickson discussed her conversion to Catholicism while living in
Richmond
during her 30s, and the crisis that she had suffered while appearing in Willy Russell's
Blood Brothers
2004 Liverpool stage production. It resulted in Dickson taking a four-week break from her starring role; once she had sufficiently recuperated, Dickson moved to London's
West End
, when the
Blood Brothers
Liverpool run transferred there. She said that her personal crisis led to many years of
stage fright
and she withdrew from public performing until therapy helped to work through her anxieties.
[16]
[20]
[21]
Discography
[
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]
References
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]
External links
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]
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