Photograph: James Boyes
A: You’ve worked with quite a lot of
other musicians. Who was the best to
work with?
CD: I really like working with Paul Carrack,
because he’s got such an amazing voice,
and when I give him a lyric he always
touches me emotionally, and I think that’s
very important with music. I haven’t really
done an awful lot of co-writing, I’ve written
a play with Boo Hewerdine, which actually
comes out in February, and that’s called
‘Fancy Pants’. Working with Boo is an
amazing experience because he’ll deliver
lyrics and then he goes and records the
song and then you just turn up for like an
hour and sing it and its done and I like
that, it’s great. So we’ve got a play, and
the story is, quite good fun, and we’re
going to put it on in Edinburgh next year.
A: Who’s the most challenging person
you’ve had to work with?
CD: Me! I think I’m the most challenging
person ever more. I don’t know. I can’t
really say, I’m not exasperated by anybody
I work with. I always find the good bit of
it, you know, to make it work. It’s all about
discipline, and I don’t have much of that.
J: What are your thoughts about
celebrity in general? Do you find it a really
abstract thing that you’re in, or do you get
star struck when you meet certain people?
CD: It’s a state of egotism and that can
be addictive for some people who’ve
got nothing else. I’m not sure that I like it
particularly, but it’s what makes people
who they are, so I know that some
celebrities can be very difficult and I can
name quite a few, but to analyse it, I think
well that’s them. They couldn’t be any
other person than the person that they
are, they get up in the morning and they
are that person, so – it’s something that
I don’t really abide by, I’ve never been
drawn to, but when I see it in other people
I think it’s what defines who they are, and
it’s pretty much like that in every part of
society – football players and probably
bus drivers have got egos. There’s
probably one that thinks he’s better than
all the others and parks his bus closer
than the other bus drivers or whatever.
Celebrities like Mariah Carey and Lady
Gaga are like that, that’s what makes them
who they are.
J: You’ve got a kind of almost instant
celebrity culture with some of the talent
shows like The Voice and X Factor and
Britain’s Got Talent what do you feel about
those?
CD: They’ve always been there, dressed
up differently – Opportunity Knocks in the
50s and 60s was the same. I think it’s sad
for a certain generation of – particularly
young girls who think they can sing or
play and then they’re goaded on by their
parents or teachers, they get thrown into
queuing up outside venues to take part in
these things, and then what happens is if
they’re rejected, it causes a huge amount
of grief and there’s nobody there to
catch them. So one of the things that I’m
working on at the moment with a music
college in London is how to deal with the
fact that you might not become Prince,
and that is actually okay, you know? Not
everybody can be. So they’re writing it
into the curriculum of their work and it’s
joining mindfulness and therapy with the
ability to become the next Adele.
J: Thinking about when you were
starting out and you had to work. You
had to do the gigs, you know, to get in
front of managers or in front of A&R guys
and do it that way, as opposed to being
up in a TV studio and waiting for some
producer to pull you out and push you in
front of Simon Cowell. So it’s a different
experience completely now.
CD: It is, and they’re younger, and,
they’re not trained for it not working for
them, so it’s hard work. I wouldn’t want
to do it.
A: No! Because you did all of your song
writing yourself, what do you feel about
these people that have big teams of
people writing for them …?
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