The pleasure & pain of Carol Decker by Craig Hanlon-Smith.
T’Pau, fronted by the vivacious Carol Decker shot to fame in the late 1980s with a string of Top 40 hits, most notably Valentine, Heart & Soul, China In Your Hand and I Will Be With You.
The accompanying album, the multi-million selling Bridge of Spies earned a string of BRIT award nominations in 1988 and brought Carol and the band chart success all over Europe and in the USA. But in early 1992 the pressures of continuous touring, promotion, creative differences with their management and one another, T’Pau came to a grinding hault.
Carol’s 13 year personal relationship with creative partner Ron Rogers went the way of the band and it seemed T’Pau would be no more. Carol continued to perform both as a solo artist and under the name T’Pau with TV appearances and a West End theatre run, and by the mid-noughties had re-kindled her creative partnership with Rogers both in the studio and on stage as a mainstay on the Rewind and Here & Now tours.
2013 saw Decker and Rogers embark on a successful 25th anniversary tour and 2014 saw the band return to the studio with an imminent collection of new material (Pleasure & Pain released on February 2nd) and an accompanying tour which runs from January into March.
I recently caught up with Carol during a break in between recording sessions and asked what were her personal highlights of the #T’pau25 anniversary tour?
“I felt at times that I had bitten off more than I could chew. I had to get an au pair for the first time ever and was nervous about leaving my kids even though they were they were 10 & 15 and up for it. The first girl handed in abrupt notice and left us in a panicky lurch half way through the tour. The second, a crazy French student, was adorable, full of fun, loved the kids, we could have kept her forever – although being only 19 herself she didn’t tidy her room or wash up much!. The stand out gig was the Isle Of Wight Festival. We packed out the Big-Top Tent, did a 45 minute set and everyone loved it! John Giddings the promoter told me ‘You were fantastic Carol’ I was very proud. I have to say I enjoyed all the shows, feedback from the audience was incredible and the theatres are SO beautiful inside. Richard, my husband, was tour managing the band but sadly Richard’ s father died in May. When we played Kings Theatre Southsea, I dedicated China In Your Hand to him.”
The tour had great reviews, your London show in November ‘critics’ choice’; how important to you is a positive ‘nod’ from the official critics?
“I just get on & do my thing now, no longer expecting that sort of attention, so it meant a lot to be recognised as a good singer, a good performer with a great bunch of musicians in my band playing great songs and not just be seen as an ageing 80’s pop star. I was bowled over by it.”
You were enormously successful in the late 80’s and early into the 1990’s and in recent years you’ve once again come back into the spotlight. In the less successful periods how to do you maintain a degree of faith in yourself and what you do?
“The simple answer is that although I do try to maintain faith in myself, I don’t always succeed although I am getting a bit better at it. It’s a hard business. Even though T’Pau sold millions of records around the world the UK music press did not like us, music is fashionable and fickle and we were never considered cool. That has always stuck with me and I can have bouts of low self-esteem and insecurity about what I do and therefore who I am as my I have let my work define me. Therefore if fame and success are validating you can feel invalid when it goes away.
“I am not alone, it’s common for performers to have insecure personalities, need approval and struggle with harsh criticism. I certainly do. I would love to be a worthy deep musician motivated only by my work but I’m a peacock and I gotta show my feathers! I think I wrote some good songs on The Promise & Red ( third and fourth albums released in 1991 & 1998) but no one else in the ‘industry’ seemed to agree with me so I stopped writing & just sang the old hits for years. I am trying to get more confident in my old age!”
That said, you’re about to release an album of new material, why now?
“We wanted to. My creative brain has been dormant for a long time and I just got on with the live side of things and didn’t think that it was worth recording again, – who would care? But on the tour we sold so many albums after the shows when I did the meet and greets and signed so much merchandise that we though Hey! let’s give everyone a new album on the next tour. We have just completed seven backing tracks in Monmouth at Ronnie’s studio and we go back at the end of June to do a load more. I have themed the songs around the Pleasure & Pain (the name of the new album and tour) of relationships of all kinds. Our emotional life is always a great source of inspiration for me it’s what makes us tick. There is a balance of moods in the songs, rock, groove tracks, ballads, a range to make it an interesting record I hope!”
There was quite a lot of press attention late last year given to the advice offered by the elder stateswomen of pop Sinead O’Connor and Annie Lennox to Miley Cyrus. What role do you think those that have been there and done ‘it’ can play in supporting the current generation of pop/rock starlets?
“When I was younger I exploited my looks but showing silhouette not flesh. I think you saw my knickers in the Heart & Soul Video when I twirled but they were BIG knickers and that’s all you saw! Pouted a little but that was it. Let’s not be naïve, people are visual. One’s image can so much part of what you do, whether it’s looking attractive or creating characters like David Bowie. People like to look at you as well as listen to you and I get that the business exploits that. As far back as Josephine Baker and much more recently (for example) Madonna, women have been using their bodies to sell. I think it’s all about crossing a line between being sassy, provocative, courageously individual and saying ‘I’ll do what I want with my image as it’s mine and not yours ‘That can be a strong feminist statement.”
“Where is that line though? And haven’t we seen this all before? Is Miley doing anything different to Madonna who pretended to masturbate on stage?
“I quite like Miley Cyrus, she’s a strong performer, she’s cool, edgy, I just don’t think she needs to do the porn pop thing and even my 11 year old son is sick of Miley’s crotch antics.
“Here is where the line stops for me, embodied perfectly in the singer Pink. She is attractive, has a great body and wears revealing outfits that show off her strong athletic physique but she’s not whoring it. Her image is important and she is sexy & sassy, she’s an ace performer, gymnast, trapeze artist , but mostly she is a fucking great singer and song writer; She has true feminine power. I admire Pink and whilst I see Miley’s talent, as I’m sure Sinead does too, I do not admire her.”
You and Gary Barlow had a small twitter spat following comments he made about your singing on X-factor. What kind of a judge would you be on such talent shows?
“On the rare occasions that I watch those kinds of shows (I’m so over them) I can from the safety and comfort of my armchair be quite straight forward so I think I would be like Simon Cowell. I would not ever want to be cruel but cannot see the point in misleading someone into a sense of misguided hope in an industry that is hard even for those with genuine talent.”
Will you be tweeting Gary and giving him your tax accountant’s phone number?
“Hahahaha !!! Gary is so stinking rich and to take an OBE from the Queen when you know you are being wide with her tax man is hypocritical to say the least. Interestingly I have been told that Simon Cowell pays every penny of his taxes so I wonder how that sat with him. Like most people I know I do everything I can to maximise my expenses and minimise my taxes within the law. I am forever checking with my accountant that I am writing off as much as I legitimately can. I want as much of my earnings in my pocket as possible.
“I have also in the past been told about these companies that appear to invest in projects like movies but never make any money as a tax write- off. I am not clever enough to keep up with all the deceit but as it turns out neither is Gary or his accountant!”
What advice would you give to young Carol Decker?
“Have confidence in yourself. You have good ideas so don’t believe everything everyone says and stop taking on the opinion of the last person you spoke to! Try not to get so angry or upset and keep your own counsel. STOP putting your life on hold for a man. And stop getting pissed and acting like an arse .All of the above still apply to the older Carol Decker.
At your recent London gig, there seemed to be a sizeable gay-following in your audience. Is that a recent development?
“That would be one for the gays to answer although I have always had gay and lesbian fans follow the band down the years. I like to think it is because they connect with my lyrics in songs like ‘Secret Garden’, ‘Heart and Soul’ and ‘China in Your Hand’, but I think it maybe more the high heels and fabulous big hair!
Seriously though, I don’t want to speak for anyone but gay people do seem to identify with very strong women. Is it a connection with a feminine side or do they identify with the hard road a successful woman may have had to travel? I have often felt like the outsider and maybe my gay fans sense that and identify with me. Or perhaps they just like the songs! Over to the gays, why do you like T’Pau?”
T’Pau play dates in Surrey, Sussex and London from January 22.
For full tour schedule, click here:
Pleasure & Pain is released on February 2 and is available to pre-order now from www.amazon.co.uk
@CarolDecker
@CraigsContinuum
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