INTERVIEW REBECCA FERGUSON
REBECCA FERGUSON “IN THE END, I JUST THOUGHT THERE WAS ONLY FIGHT OR FLIGHT LEFT AND I JUST CHOSE TO FIGHT. I GOT TIRED OF HOLDING PEOPLE’S SECRETS, REALLY TIRED OF HAVING THE WEIGHT OF ALL THE SECRETS THAT I WAS HOLDING.” BY GARY CAMPION Firstly, thanks for taking the time to chat with me this morning. How are you doing today? I’m doing good, just getting on with things. The baby had me up early and I’ve had a few interviews this morning, I’ve got a bit of mummy tiredness but all’s good. 13 years since X Factor and 12 years since your debut album. Did you think back then you would garner the success you have now? What was the big plan when you thought, right I’m gonna enter X factor?
To be honest there was no plan when I entered it, I didn’t think I’d even get through. I was just happy that I got through to the show, then when I was on the show I wanted to get to the final three because I knew then I’d have some kind of career. It tends to be the final 3 that do okay generally and somehow make some type of living, so I always wanted to get to the end. I was lucky that I did, I always said back then whenever anyone asked me about being successful, “I’m not quite there yet, give it 10 years and I’m still around in 10 years I’d class that as a success.” I’m just grateful really that I’ve managed to hold a career this long and all that. I did step away a little bit but my fans have been loyal and stuck with me. I just feel really grateful that I’ve managed to have any type of career, really. You’ve discussed your sort of difficult start in life and becoming a young mum and your determination for a better life for you and your children, you became a legal secretary to be a better role model to your kids. What do your kids think of you now that you’re this successful international recording artist? I think I think they are proud of me, but it’s kind of like another world. At home, I’m just mum, I can’t describe it, we have such an everyday home life that like, it’s more like mum where’s my this is, where’s my that and like. They don’t tell me really they’re proud but then they write it in like Mother’s Day\ Birthday \ Christmas Cards to me. I’ve been very blessed they are good children; they’ve travelled the world of me on tour and that’s a lot of fun. They still have an everyday life in that mummy goes to work if I’ve got like a TV appearance, what I’ve got a show to do. I’ll say I’m off to wherever and I’ll be back later, and the reply can be Mum can you bring in those favourite jellies that I like on the way back or that ice cream I like. Sometimes I’ll say I’ll not be back until after 12 o’clock at night and I get but can you stop off at the garage and get me some Maltesers, please? That’s my life, it keeps me grounded. You’ve duetted and recorded with some huge names from the industry. Christina Aguilera on the X Factor, Nile Rogers, Lionel, Richie and even Paul McCartney which I’m extremely jealous of. Over the years who has been the greatest experience to record with? Is there anyone you’ve not recorded yet or recorded with yet that you would love to and why? We’ll put this out to them, obviously to try to make it happen. Oh my god, I literally adore Cher, she’s one of the reasons why I sing and it’s funny when you say some of those names and the penny drops and you get the, “Oh my god I sung with them” feeling. Working with every artist is a different thing, each one of them they have got a different unique thing that makes them the superstars they are. In terms of just general warmth and just GNI MAG [22]
the most gorgeous, beautiful person, Lionel Richie he’s just so warm, lovely and humble like just unbelievable. In terms of me just being fascinated by the way the brain works musically would be Nile Rodgers because just listening to how he makes music and what inspires him to make music, I found that amazing to watch in this studio. Then he got Andrea Bocelli, I had never heard anything like it listening to the voice next to me, it’s like 10 times anything that you can even hear on the record in person his voice is so powerful. Christine Aguilera is the same….her voice it’s just when it comes out it’s just the weirdest thing because it’s incredible like, what the hell has just come out your mouth? With all of them,
they’ve all got something special, it was really good getting to work with them all. To record with any of the greats! I’m really into all the old great old school, singers and performers but unfortunately, a lot of them aren’t alive anymore. I’d actually maybe just do something a bit abstract, maybe with someone in rock music, I’ve always loved listening to and watching the Kings of Leon. I’d like to challenge myself, work with people who aren’t the same genre of music, really, and just see what we would come up with. I know you touched on this briefly when I asked about who you’d love to record with and there have been a lot of comparisons over the years between you and the late great Billie Holiday and you even recorded an entire album of interpretations of her songs. What is it about Billie Holiday that inspires you? With Billie Holiday, she had a terrible life and she was very honest about why she was singing, she was singing to get by. She was like, I’ve got this voice and I need to pay the bills to live. I think with Billie when you’re there singing her songs, it’s the emotion, really. You can feel the pain in her voice really and that’s what I found when I was singing Billie’s songs, it’s how she connects to the song. What I think about when I think about Billy is the pain that she went through and all the suffering and how she translated that through song and that ability to convey emotion. I find it sad that she didn’t get a happy ending, I’d love her to have found some peace but it didn’t appear like she did. It’s no secret you were treated terribly by certain people within the industry and you’ve been very vocal and fought such a good fight for you, and other artists despite everything that was being thrown at you. Where did that strength come from? You know what I think when you’ve been treated terribly for so long and you’ve lived in fear for so long you finally, just get to a point where you’re like, well I’m already afraid, I’m already feeling awful I may as well speak out because I am not going to feel worse in this journey. In the end, I just thought there was only fight or flight left and I just chose to fight. I got tired of holding people’s secrets, really tired of having the weight of all the secrets that I was holding. I did feel like when I gave evidence to the DCMS Committee last month and I gave all the names, I gave all I had to give like email evidence, I submitted them with crime reference numbers and things like that, once I had done that it was the biggest weight just lifted off me. I felt so free and I just found peace because I finally faced my fear. You’ve been behind the Creative Industries Independent Standards Authority (CIISA) How is everything going with that and what is the big aim with it all?
