Going Back To My 60s Roots

Feb 24 2008 By Steve Hendry

The Big Interview Claire Belts Out Classics As A Singing Hairdresser

Claire Sweeney has carved out a niche for herself as an all-round entertainer.

She's been a soap actress and TV presenter, starred in reality TV and musicals, released her own album and fronted the obligatory fitness DVD.

She's even been the Forces Sweetheart and a Rear of the Year.

But while you might expect a hard-nosed, driven diva, the 36-year-old Scouser swears she's never planned a career move in her life.

She said: "It's funny how it's all worked out. I just see myself as a working actress - I do shows, I do bits for the telly and I really don't analyse it.

"As long as I'm doing a job I love and I feel creative and enjoy it I don't mind. I'll take on anything. I like the variation of doing it all."

Claire's latest role tackles the iconic songs of 1960s pop divas such as Lulu, Dusty Springfield and Nancy Sinatra in new musical Shout!

The show - also starring Hi-De-Hi's Su Pollard - is set in a 60s hairdressing salon and Claire stars as Ruby, a good time girl who always ends up with the wrong type of guy.

It is a real labour of love for Claire, who has been singing the songs since the start of her career when she worked the cruise ship/cabaret circuit.

She said: "I've grown up loving the music of the 1960s. It's just great music and great fun. Without fail, the crowd always end up on their seats dancing and loving it.

"We wear original 60s fashions, which I love.

Everything is so glamorous and funky. My hair isn't in a beehive though, I've got a big, long ponytail instead.

"My character always ends up with blokes who are married or something but there are compensations - I do get to sing Shout, Son Of A Preacher Man, Alfie, I Close My Eyes And Count To Ten and These Boots Were Made For Walking.

"They are great songs although they do bring a bit of pressure with them because they are associated with the great 60s divas like Dusty Springfield, Lulu, Nancy Sinatra and Cilla Black. They are iconic - everybody knows them.

"Everybody sings the songs in the style of their character in the show. I don't think we could take off talent like that.

"I enjoy singing Shout most. I'm a huge fan of the Lulu version and I've been singing it for years in cabarets. It's just a cracking song, a real crowd-pleaser." Claire, who split up with long-term boyfriend Tony Hibbard last year, has been struggling with a chest infection but, ever the trouper, the show must go on.

She said: "You struggle when you are ill because you get tired quickly. But you've got to look after yourself. I couldn't bear the thought of miming."

The Shout! tour is earmarked for London's West End, where Claire has already starred in hit musicals. She got her chance there as Roxie in Chicago after she took part in the first Celebrity Big Brother in 2001, with Vanessa Feltz, Chris Eubank, Anthea Turner, former Boyzone singer Keith Duffy and comic Jack Dee.

Jack won but second-placed Claire found herself in a whole new orbit.

She went in as a Brookside actress and came out as the girl next door everyone wanted a piece of...and she has never looked back.

Claire was such a success in Chicago that she went back with Guys And Dolls, opposite Dirty Dancing icon Patrick Swayze and former Miami Vice star Don Johnson.

She said: "It was always my dream to be in the West End. When I got Chicago, then Guys And Dolls I thought, 'Right, if I don't get to do anything again, I will be very happy.' "I've never been part of an original musical before, creating it from the beginning, so to be part of Shout! is an absolute joy. Hard work doesn't bother me at all. What's hard work when everyone is dancing? It doesn't feel like hard work.

Claire loved working with Swayze but while women of a certain age swoon at the mention of the star's name, Claire was immune to his charms.

She said: "It was strange because I never really fancied him when I was younger so I didn't have this big thing about meeting him. I was a real 80s chick and I loved the film Dirty Dancing but the man for me was George Michael.

"But Patrick and I became really good friends. He is a really lovely man and very generous."

She is looking forward to seeing the effect being City of Culture had on Glasgow. Her home city Liverpool is the current holder of the honour and Claire is proud to help front the venture.

Claire said: "The enthusiasm is incredible. There is so much regeneration going on in the city."

But there is one thing missing...Brookside Close. Phil Redmond's Scouse soap was axed in 2003 and Claire, who played long-suffering Lindsey Corkhill until 2001 but returned for its final episode, wishes it was still around.

She said: "I see quite a few of the cast in fact, I'm due to be on my old soap dad Dean Sullivan's radio show.

"I had a great time in Brookside. And I wouldn't say no to going back to a soap if it was a good part.

"But I still think it's a shame it went because there are a lot of people who still talk about it and love it."

Shout! is at the Edinburgh Playhouse from March 4-8 (call 0844 847 1660 for details) and at Glasgow's Theatre Royal from March 25-29 (call 0870 060 6647).

"I grew up loving 60s songs..it's great music, great fun and Shout is such a crowd pleaser"