[LMBTO] Me & Lindsay Dracass at Eurostarz 2018...

White tops were the order of the day at the Eurostarz Press Event - even David Mann from Eurovision Radio International was getting in on the act in the background of this nicely posed "end of interview" photograph of myself and the very exuberant Lindsay Dracass, even though she had just travelled down from Sheffield that day! (Thanks to Jo yet again for those).   Lindsay had just burst her way back into my consciousness, not only because I knew that she was on the bill here at Eurostarz but also after seeing a clip of her at Stockholm Pride that my Swedish friend Rebecka had taken of her performance there, where she sounded amazing.  I had found out some interesting material about Lindsay other than her Eurovision exploits in Copenhagen in 2001 and I put those to good use in the interview.  She was a really interesting and funny guest to chat with - very down to earth and natural, it was as if I was having a laugh with a friend in a pub...

I suppose we were in a pub of sorts!  Have a listen to the interview - you'll obviously get to hear bits and pieces about 2001 but also about how she was 'one of a hundred' on Saturday night tv, how she likes to sing challenging songs and how she toured with the guy who sung one of my favourite ever songs.  Lindsay was also happy to chat about a charitable cause that was very close to her heart:

It was great to hear that she 'should' be part of the celebrity special and series 2 of "All Together Now", as I enjoyed seeing her on the show.  It was funny to hear her talk about 'that tracksuit' and I sensed that she'd be far more in awe and wary of the situation at The Parken than she was in 2001 - I was glad that her head didn't explode though!  If Russell Watson and Shirley Bassey really did turn down "No Dream Impossible" then that makes Lindsay's performance there even more incredible.  What was also incredible was getting work experience work with Paul Carrack at Glastonbury and LA!

As for the charitable cause that she supports, Lindsay was more than happy to talk about it but I had just wanted to check beforehand and not spring it on her.  The Bluebell Wood Children's Hospice, as you heard, is really dear to her after her stepson passed away and she is raising funds for them due to the support they gave him, her and their family.  I definitely wanted to post about it here and I will flag up the information on my radio show when I play the interview there.  The link to the GoFundMe page is:

And the song that Lindsay was talking about, the Donny Hathaway cover, is here:



A really beautiful song and after reading the lyrics, I can see why she chose to sing it.  Lindsay's target at GoFundMe has been passed but it is such a wonderful cause that I was more than pleased to increase awareness of it here and hopefully more money will be raised for the Hospice.

After such an inspirational interview, I was really looking forward to seeing her perform and I was not to be disappointed.  In the evening, for me anyway, Lindsay stole the show - as I said on social media..


She also looked amazing in what she was wearing - when I saw her at the VIP Meet & Greet, she saw me and immediately pointed out that she WAS wearing heels and WASN'T wearing a tracksuit!  Her set was the pick of the night - Lindsay also brought the best out of the camera on my Google Pixel 2 XL, so much so that I had difficulty picking a selection of the best pictures:
We were treated to "Ooh Aah...Just A Little Bit", "Boom Bang-A-Bang", All Kinds Of Everything" (which she had to sing OVER Dana), the song I was praying she would sing and she did - "Sound Of Silence", along with the one we all know her for and expertly captured again by Stuart Cameron on YouTube:



She's still got it, even 17 years on!  Anyone organising Eurovision or Pride events, you've got another class singer to pick from - I'm sure that this lady will have loads of gigs in the future, hopefully some that I am at.  It was thumbs up all round:
Three amazing interviews out of four (Paula Seling & Ovi, Esther Hart and now this one) - could the last one match the others?  It was with the one artist at the press event who came the closest to winning Eurovision, the one that sung musical theatre songs wherever he went and who gave me a potted history of his career without the need for me to really ask him about it, a real pro when it came to being interviewed...