Texas On Line - The Scoops Corner

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Press news...

*Sharleen talking dirty in the press...

"I'd never do anything topless, it's just not my thing. My female fan base is important to me, and I know what I think when I see someone doing that sort of thing. Besides, I don't need to do it, it doesn't sell me any more records. The only reason I'd do it is cos they'd airbrush my tits and make them look really good. But I'd still have to face the reality when I got home, so I don't see the point".

Sharleen on why she won't be posing nude in a lad mag, Evening Standard (October 2000).

*Article and interview of Sharleen from the Sunday Express (08/10/2000) :

Go on tour? I'd rather visit a DIY store.
By Julia Kuttner.

Sharleen Spiteri is spitting into her tea. "I hate men without balls," She growls, mashing the tea leaves. "So many men don't have the balls to say what they mean. If I want to know something, I look someone straight in the eye and say tell me the truth."

It's been 11 years since Sharleen downed her hairdressing scissors and swapped the salon in Glasgow for the stage, after meeting ex-Altered Images star Johnny McElhone. He loved her voice, they thought they could write great songs together, so they formed the band Texas.

They had instant success with the Top 10 single I Don't Want A Lover, but then the band nose-dived. A less tenacious act may well have given up, but Sharleen, a doll-like figure of 5ft 4, is not a weak woman. She dug in her tiny heels, ignored derision and wrote hundreds of songs, turning a blind eye to the record company reps who were nicknaming the band "Tax loss." Texas may not have been high profile, but more than a million people were buying their records.

This month sees the release of their new single, In Demand, and the album Texas The Greatest Hits, which promises to be one of the biggest-selling LPs of the year. It's hard to miss the new video too, as it features Sharleen dancing a tango with the actor Alan Rickman. As they twirl round a garage forecourt, with Sharleen's dark and newly (naturally) long hair flying in his face and her Valentino dress catching the breeze, there is a hint of a "I told you so" glint in her eye. Though the veneer of control disolves when you ask her to recount how Rickman got involved.

"That was so exciting," she says, her face lighting up. "I didn't know who could dance a tango with me but I knew it needed to be someone older that I admired. Michael Kamen, the music director, had told us that his friend Alan Rickman liked the band and it just clicked. The phone rang at 8.30 the next morning when I was still asleep. Ashley answered and shouted upstairs 'Sha, it's Alan RICKMAN!' I pretended to be wide awake and said 'Hiya' - I couldn't believe it, but I tried to be very cool. He said yes straight away and even cancelled some of his holiday to do the shoot."

Many people have asked her why the band is releasing a greatest hits album now. "We have had a completely different career to most bands," she explains. "We put our first record out in 1989 and took a massive dive but we carried on. We were still selling in Europe, but our sales and profile in the UK had gone. For the record though, we have no debt. European sales brought money to the British label who signed us. I really hate it when people accept awards for marketing us. We put the products on a silver plate for them.

"I won't name names of men without balls - they drive me mad - but I can give you a list of ones with. Tony Blair - his have had a good kicking recently but I think he'll pull through. Chris Evans - it takes a lot to not care what other people think and be prepared to be hated. Paul McCartney, just for being fantastic, and Alan Rickman, now that he has danced with me." Sharleen's not one to pucker up for a showbiz kiss with someone she doesn't like. "There were times when we weren't supported and I'll always remember that. But now we have fantastic people working with us."

In the mid 90s, the band came out with the album that marked their return to glory - White On Blonde. Seemingly overnight they were the next big thing. "We got a whole new audience and again for (the 1999 hit album) The Hush. We get people saying,'Oh, I never knew that was you', when they hear our old records."

Happily settled with publishing executive Ashley Heath, the man behind The Face, Arena and the recently launched Pop magazine, Sharleen is fast to reject suggestions that she was remoulded. They have been together for six years and share homes in north London and Glasgow. "Everyone says when White On Blonde came out that Texas reinvented themselves. We didn't. We went away and made a good record and everybody liked it. And if you haven't reinvented yourself since 1989, you have serious problems. People were trying to say we were trying to erase the past, but that's not the case. I am really proud of what we have done, and those records have really stood the test of time. "Getting older doesn't bother me - I am happier now than I have ever been. The band is in a really good position, personally I am settled and I very comfortable. I don't know whether I'll still be doing this in 10 years time though," says Sharleen, 33 next month. Madonna, some 10 years Sharleen's senior, is her role model. "I just look at her and think God, she's done it again with another record. It depends where you are in your head. I hope I have a family by then. I'd better get a move on."

One thing's for sure; she doesn't want to be touring. "The thought of sleeping on the bus makes me cringe now. It's different for the boys, who still have the stamina and just see it as a coach trip." Film and modelling offers have come her way, including playing the leading role, as a nightclub singer, opposite Ewan McGregor in Moulin Rouge. But Sharleen doesn't want to change direction yet and turned it down (Nicole Kidman subsequently accepted) because filming in Australia this month would interfere with promoting her new album.

The band were also asked to submit tracks for the forthcoming Bridget Jones film. "I haven't had the time to take a year off to make a film. And who knows whether I would be any good? People see me on TV so they know what I look like and know I work hard, but how do they know if I can act? I don't even know that."

Her priority is her home life. "I'm really conscious of being at home and suddenly not being together at all so I make a really big effort. I am really conscious that we are not just two knackered people living in the same house, but a real couple. We don't go away a lot, but we close that front door and spend time together. We sit down, have our dinner and discuss things that we want to get done in the house. I love DIY. I love going to Do it All." She admires pop stars who have put their families first - people like U2's Bono. But she has developed a particular fondness for Sir Paul McCartney and his family. When she and Stella McCartney appeared on the same episode of the TV show, TFI Friday, she recalls how after filming, they both crept off to call their parents. "We wanted to know if they had seen us," she laughs. "Stella was beside me screaming 'Daaad!' I was really impressed. Paul is just so cool. His family is everything to him. He and Linda were incredible parents. After I did that TFI show, Linda wrote me an unbelievably lovely letter and sent me some beautiful songs that she'd written. She just seemed like a really lovely woman."

The single In Demand is out now. The Greatest Hits album is out on October 23.

*Sharleen was in the 'Heat' magazine (9-15 March 2000) with her boyfriend

Thanks to Isabelle Devaux and Ludovic for the pictures !

*The story of Texas is now in the Record Collector, the british magazine, of March 2000 n°247 with a detailed discography.

*In the Scottish Sunday Mail (a glaswegian newspaper) of 20/02/2000, 3 pages about Sharleen, her life, her man, her future with some pictures (many thanks to Isabelle Devaux for the scans !).