Jane McDonald talks ahead of her show in Wolverhampton: I’ve been brave, you have to be

The reason for her charisma is simple. It’s been 32 years since the singer and Loose Women star began her career and 19 since she rose to fame – and, frankly, she can’t believe she’s still doing it. Every day seems like Christmas. Every opportunity feels like a lottery win.

The woman with lungs the size of gasometers could reasonably have expected to slow down as she hits her middle years. After all, in the celebrity world that Jane calls her own, performers are wheeled in and wheeled out. They’re chewed up and spat out as fans and the media search for the next big thing.

Yet the miner’s daughter from Wakefield, in West Yorkshire, has endured. And, if anything, she’s become increasingly popular after becoming an overnight celebrity in 1998 when she was working as a singer on the liner Galaxy, while the BBC were filming.

Since then, Jane has become a household name, completing a 10-year stint on ITV’s ever-popular Loose Women, a show that she now returns to ad-hoc. She presented ITV’s Star Treatment and has more recently returned to cruise ships for a four-part TV travel show.

Baron Andrew Lloyd-Webber was so enamoured that he persuaded Jane to replace Nicola Scherzinger as his lead in Cats, while Jane’s solo singing career has gone from strength to strength.

She’s featured on Ant and Dec’s Saturday Night Takeaway and ITV’s This Morning, on All Star Family Fortunes and ITV’s Sugar Free Farm.

And her albums have sold in huge numbers, following the success of her number one, multi-platinum, self-titled debut. As CVs go, Jane’s is impressive.

“I’m doing alreet,” she laughs, in her distinctive Yorkshire brogue.

Local fans will get the chance to share the love when Jane breezes into Wolverhampton tonight for a headline concert at the Grand Theatre, called Making Memories. Her audience can expect a fantastic production full of phenomenal songs and arrangements.

Featuring Jane’s exceptional musicians and singers, the star will perform Memory, after receiving five-star reviews for her performance as Grizabella in Cats the musical. With amazing new medleys, old fan favourites and some exciting additions, it promises to be one of Jane’s best shows.

“We love the West Midlands. We like to do Birmingham as well but it’s difficult to do both. I’ve played the Grand and I love that theatre. It’s got its own little magic, has Wolverhampton. The crowd know how to have a good time and they are very good theatre goers. There are certain areas where theatres work really well and Wolverhampton is one of them. Personally speaking, I’d say it’s one of the top five theatres in the UK.”

Jane is understandably excited about her new show. She’s spent a small fortune on frocks and is looking forward to donning her glad rags when the bright lights start to shine.

“It’s the best show I’ve done in 19 years. It’s got the big Cats segment in it, which seems to bring the house down, but we do a bit of everything in there. Then we’ve got Earth Wind and Fire melodies and songs that people will know and love. It gets a bit emotional at the end, so people should bring their tissues.”

Singing Memory night after night might seem like one of the greatest challenges to singers, irrespective of their experience. But Jane is sanguine about having to hit a top D flat on stage. Besides, she doesn’t have time to worry. She’s too busy taking off her costume and slipping into a new dress.

“I’ve got a massive costume change before Memory, so I’m more bothered about getting the frock on and the shoes. It seems silly, but it does take the pressure off. There’s a top D flat in that song and if you don’t get that, it’s all over. But instead of worrying about that, I’m thinking ‘Am I going to get the zip up, is it going to stay?’ It takes my mind off things.”

When Jane reflects on the success she’s enjoyed, she reaches the simplest conclusion. Though she’s got every faith in that huge, booming voice, though she’s got the ability to make people laugh and though she’s become something of a national treasure with an easy-going style, there’s something more important than all of those things.

“It’s the fans. The relationship with the fans is the reason I’m still here. That’s the most important thing. People ask me why I’m still here, all these years on, and it’s because of the fans. Everybody in this industry has to nurture that relationship. I love my fans. Yes, the fans love an artist. But you have to love them. They know I think the world of them, I know most of them by the first names. It’s the same front row, everywhere I go. And to have that loyalty, well . . . I’m so very grateful to them.”

Jane was already a household name by the time she’d become one of the most popular stars of ITV’s Loose Women. She’d enjoyed three hit albums by then, released two DVDs and featured as a guest presenter on BBC’s National Lottery. Her autobiography, Follow Your Dreams, had been a best-seller and Jane had become one of the most in-demand singers in the UK.

It wasn’t a bad return from someone who started their career as a guest dancer with Black Lace in 1983 – and who’d been a VIP lounge manager at the Casanova club, in Wakefield. Her big break came on The Cruise, the BBC docusoap that was watched by 14 million viewers.

She’d started out in the northern clubs, where her father acted as a roadie. On one occasion, her equipment was smashed in a bar fight – such are the perils of working men’s clubs. She hit the cruise ships following her father’s death and at the age of 35 became a star, while working on the Galaxy. Chris Terrill, of the BBC, asked her to feature on The Cruise and after years of hard work, she became an overnight celebrity.

Crazy

Having gone on to enjoy a well-paid stint on Loose Women, she could easily have stayed on daytime TV. But ambition took her back on the road, to Cats in Blackpool with Andrew Lloyd-Webber and to sell out shows at Wolverhampton’s Grand Theatre.

“I left Loose Women to concentrate on the singing. Sometimes you have to be brave. A lot of people thought I was crazy because everybody clambers to get on it. But I had that feeling in my gut that it was time to go. I’ve got the tour, I’ve done Cats and the album and now the TV is coming back hugely. I haven’t gone away.”

And then she catches her breath. The Yorkshire lass who’s big on straight talking has ventured into territory marked ‘you’re not supposed to say that yet, Jane, it’s not been announced’.

She ploughs on: “I’ve got my own show. You’re not allowed to quote me on that. Oops. I didn’t mean to say it.” We laugh. Don’t worry, we’ll only tell our million or so readers, in print and online. Your secret’s safe with us. Nobody will ever know.

“You have to love what you’re doing. You have to be horribly brave.

“When you’re blessed with something like a voice that you can use to entertain people, you have to use it. I get such a joy out of singing. There’s no better life than that.”

What, even when you’re stuck in Bolton on a wet Wednesday?

“. . . even when I’m sat in the van going to a club and can’t find my way. When you get there, you think it’s a great job. It’s the best thing in the world. Nobody can explain it. It’s unbelievable what comes over you when you’re out there performing and people are enjoying it. If you can get that energy going between your audience, it’s an unbelievable experience.”

It’s even better if you’re able to share it with friends and Jane has a loyal band that’s been around the block with her more than once.

“My band are the best in the business. Two of them from the Midlands, actually.

“We really give it a good go when we’re on the road. That whole production isn’t just me with a production and a frock. It’s a massive stage show and a light show. It’s a vibe. It’s about creating a a wave of energy that moves around the theatre. It’s very positive. I’ve seen people come in unhappy and leave with a smile – concerts are better than any tranquiliser. They’re uplifting.”

Ever the chatterbox, Jane is one of the most straight-talking stars in the business. She’s got no time for airs and graces. She shoots from the hip and tells it like it is. What else would you expect of a miner’s daughter from Yorkshire?

“I don’t see the point in all the PR rubbish. You can quote me on that. I’m very straight-talking. If there’s something going on I’ll tell you. I think people can see through you if you are faking it. I’m not very good at lying. That’s maybe was the success of me on Loose Women. You could tell by my face what I thought.”

With her own show in the offing (not that we know about that, right . . . ), a hectic touring schedule and more besides, Jane is pretty well booked up until, erm, 2020. Gulp. Yup. There’s three years worth of bookings in the diary that doubles as her bible.

“There’s three years worth of work booked up and there will be big things being announced very shortly. It’s very exciting. It’ll be the most I’ve ever done.

“I am slapping myself across the face every day. I honestly don’t believe it. I look to my partner and say ‘This is what we’ve got coming in.’ I never take my eye off the ball and I live, breathe and sleep my career. You can’t play at it. You have to give it your all and focus and go for it. If you ever reach a goal you haven’t set them high enough. I’m always onto the next thing. I’ve been in production meetings for the next big tour.”

It has truly been one of the most remarkable showbusiness careers in Britain. A washed-up, never-was singer – let alone has-been- who shot to fame after singing on cruise ships for the BBC.

“I’ve been in the industry for 20 years at this level . I was a cruise ship singer and everybody thought I would fail, including myself. You know, you look at it: Reality TV and cruise ship singer, that’s never gonna last.

“But you have to surround yourself with good people and that’s how I look on my band and the team I’m with. It’s not just about work, we like each other and we love going on the road. A lot of people hate it. A lot of people who are on the road really can’t stand it. But if they feel like that, then why do it? I get my bag packed and I’m on the bus. I can’t get enough.”

And yet it’s not the plaudits of pay cheques that keep Jane happy. It’s the simple thrill of communication; of being able to sing a song that makes people happy.

“Do you know what, I always thought I’d make it no matter what standard I was at. At the start, I had my money in a brown envelope and was on the way home. I was doing the job and I loved it. Forget being on telly or headlining theatres, my definition of success was tidying my knicker drawer out and getting that sorted.

“Even as a club singer or cruise ship, I was living the dream. It’s about getting on the stage and belting out that voice. It’s an amazing thing. I give my tour manager nightmares. He will come and see me and say ‘Here we go, we’ve got a budget’. And I’ll say to him ‘Double it’. I don’t do it for that reason. It’s not about money. It’s all about putting it back in. It’s about having fun.”

Fun is a quality Jane has mastered during nearly two decades in the public eye. And she shows no sign of stopping.

Andy Richardson

l Jane Mcdonald Live in Concert: Making Memories is at Wolves Grand tonight at 7.30pm. Tickets from www.grandtheatre.co.uk