Sharleen Spiteri spits fire about rude celebs (yes we do mean you Liz Hurley and Paris Hilton), and the 'sexist' and drug-fuelled music industry
You can say what you want... but, to paraphrase one of her hits, you won’t change the Texas singer’s mind about rude celebs (yes, she means you, Liz Hurley!) or the sexist music business she’s still battling as she approaches 50
'Is the record industry sexist?’ says Sharleen Spiteri as she gulps down a cup of tea. ‘Of course it bloody is! It’s just that everybody is a lot better at hiding it these days.’
For the 49-year-old lead singer of Texas it’s a key issue. She stuck to her guns by refusing to ‘dolly up’ and become a pretty pop stereotype, and went on to sell 35 million records in a nearly 30-year career.
Texas singer Sharleen Spiteri stuck to her guns by refusing to ‘dolly up’ and become a pretty pop stereotype, and went on to sell 35 million records in a nearly 30-year career
‘When I saw the film The Wolf Of Wall Street I laughed my head off because that was what the music industry was like when I walked into the head offices of Mercury Records in Old Bond Street back in 1987. There were piles of cocaine on desks, gorgeous women as secretaries and men shouting their heads off. I was stunned.
‘I’d seen Scottish drugs like glue and canister gas and the occasional tab of acid washed down with Irn-Bru but nothing like cocaine.
‘I also remember walking past the MD’s office and hearing him shout: “Who is that dodgy boiler?” I was just about to sign with the label that day.
‘What he said didn’t stop me. It actually made me more determined to do exactly what I wanted. I thought: “I’m going to prove you wrong.” It wasn’t just him. It was an industry rife with sexism – it still is. Back then I needed to be signed so I just decided to take the money and make the best record I could.’
Spiteri got her revenge as Texas’s debut album, Southside, went gold and the first single, I Don’t Want A Lover, launched former hairdresser Spiteri as an iconic singer in the mould of Chrissie Hynde and Patti Smith.
Behind the scenes she was berated as ‘not being sexy enough’, with executives and stylists ‘constantly trying to force me to wear little dresses and skirts’. It is no surprise she recently signed with BMG records, headed by one of the few female record chiefs in the industry, Alexi Cory-Smith.
Sharleen on stage at London's Roundhouse
‘I don’t think they were used to girls like me. I wasn’t a pushover. I got into music because I wanted to be Joe Strummer. I was in a band, I wasn’t some pop princess, I was a musician. And I thought my look – my suits, my men’s jackets, my floppy boy’s hair – was dead cool.
‘I have no problem with girls who want to go down that route. I’ve got no problem with bands like Little Mix – they’ve actually made some great records. My only question is: “Is that you, or is it someone else wanting you to wear those clothes?” If it’s you, then go for it.’
Spiteri’s childhood in the suburbs of Glasgow gave her a steeliness that has stood her in good stead. She was born into a loving, musical family – her father Eddie was a merchant seaman who loved to play guitar and her mother Vilma was a window-dresser with an exceptional singing voice.
Her school life was not so happy however, and she suffered terrible bullying.
‘When I was 14 I sat next to a boy called Billy. His girlfriend accused me of chatting him up and I laughed and made some sarcastic comment about him. And that was it. From then on I was tormented. Girls would spit on my back during lessons, I’d get punched, kicked, taunted. I was unhappy all the time. Then one day I remember seeing ten girls walking towards me. I just thought: “This is it”. I was in for a massive kicking. Something inside me snapped. All I remember is blackness. And then I came to. Two teachers were trying to pull me off a couple of these girls. I got suspended but it was worth it.
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‘That whole period changed me for life. In a lot of ways it prepared me for a tough industry. I didn’t care what anyone said about me because I’d had it all throughout this formative time. It’s also made me totally obsessed with standing up for myself – and anyone else – if someone is out of order. I don’t care who they are.’
Liz Hurley found herself on the receiving end of Spiteri’s sharp tongue when she interrupted her during a private conversation with a friend and asked the singer who she was.
Spiteri responded with ‘Ali Baba’ before launching into a furious tirade. Seemingly, Hurley had forgotten she’d met Spiteri several times before. Paris Hilton also received a dressing down when she started dancing on top of Spiteri’s friends’ coats and bags on a seat at a party.
After filling a straw with drink and shooting it at her, Spiteri told a whining Hilton to leave or she’d beat her up.
‘In both cases it was just incredibly bad manners, and nothing winds me up more than privileged people with bad manners. If it wasn’t me giving them a good slap-down I’m sure it would be one of their parents,’ she says.
Ballsy attitude notwithstanding, Spiteri was a popular fixture of the Primrose Hill set and remains good friends with Stella McCartney, Gwyneth Paltrow and Noel Gallagher.
She was never, however, tempted by the cocaine excesses of the Eighties and Nineties.
‘I’m not a fan of chaos,’ she says. ‘I saw it, it was very much around me but it was never a road I went down. I’m not good with anything that makes me feel unbalanced. I have the worst motion sickness known to man – even a drink can knock me out at times.’
Her level-headed approach to living has meant that Texas have never stopped touring. They may not be played on Radio 1 any more but their concerts sell out in minutes.
Spiteri knows her audience and doesn’t mess with the band’s winning formula on their new album, Jump On Board (the band’s ninth), which delivers a familiar mix of tuneful rock in the vain of their 1997 classic, White On Blonde.
Ask her if she checked out the competition at last month’s Brit Awards and she looks genuinely baffled.
‘Why would I go to The Brits?’ she says. ‘It means nothing to me. I look at young bands and I feel sorry for them because their music is sold through streaming and you can pick tracks out like you are at a buffet bar. People download songs, not whole albums, so it’s tough for young bands to tour an album.’
Spiteri with her fiancé, chef Bryn Williams
She is equally dismissive about appearing on major TV shows. ‘Going on Strictly Come Dancing or The X Factor costs a band a fortune. It’s about £30,000 to go on Strictly and about £100,000 for The X Factor because you pay for the whole production, the lighting, the staging.
'You will sell records but it’s all about money. I’d rather do a festival, where there’s a real connection to the audience who’ve come to see you.’
'But at almost 50, how much longer does she want to continue? ‘For as long as I can still carry it off,’ she jokes.
‘Madonna, Debbie Harry, Chrissie Hynde are still doing it. I know all three of them.’
Her friendship with Madge began after she requested that Stella McCartney bring Spiteri to dinner at her house.
‘She was a lot of fun and is brilliantly sarcastic. I love a woman who can do sarcasm well.’
Like Madonna, Spiteri understands the importance of taking care of yourself as you get older. She has not had plastic surgery or Botox but she does admit to spending a fortune on a skin care guru.
Vanity, it turns out, can be a painful vice. ‘She recently told me I needed an acid peel,’ she reveals. ‘She put this stuff on me and I started yelling in agony. She told me not to worry because she knew I could ride the pain.
‘When I got home everything looked fine. Then I woke up the next day and I looked like I’d done 12 rounds with Rocky. My face looked hideous. A few days later my skin was falling off; I looked like the Singing Detective! But after a week or so it looked grand. I was like a snake that shed its skin and something better and fresher was underneath.’
Just weeks ago, Spiteri got engaged to chef Bryn Williams, whom she has been dating for the past ten years.
She has a 14-year-old daughter, Misty, from a previous long-term relationship.
‘Life is good. I’m nearly 50 and I’m touring with Texas. I’m getting married for the first time, when loads of people my age are either getting divorced or are on their third husband. I love my job and I don’t need to worry about anything. I have a kid who has her head screwed on and that makes me proud. She’s smart, she’s politically switched on and she actually goes out and buys vinyl records.
'When she left the house this morning, she was wearing skinny jeans, a stripy top and Dr Martens boots. I looked at her and just thought: “I’ve raised a proper woman. Job done.”’
Texas’s new single, ‘Let’s Work It Out’, is out on March 17. New album ‘Jump On Board’ is out on April 21, on BMG
