We first saw Eddi Reader singing with the Gang Of Four on Whistle Test in 1982. This eventful pod traces her story from seven kids in a two-bedroom council flat (“me in the toilet with a guitar singing Your Cheating Heart”), to the Scottish folk clubs, busking with circus acrobats on the Left Bank, to radio jingles, life as a backing singer and the rapid rise of Fairground Attraction who reformed last year, 34 years after they split in 1990. It's highly entertaining from the kick-off, not least ….

… snogging the Earl of Moray’s son during Dylan at Blackbushe.

… the jingles she sang on ‘80s radio ads.

… what she learnt from Annie Lennox when touring with Eurythmics.

… backing singer stage-wear etiquette.

… performing Love Me Tender aged eight in the school classroom.

… singing Three Drunken Maidens and Lord Franklin at the Irvine Folk Club, over the road from Amanda’s Wet T-Shirt Night.

… busking in Paris and the songs that pulled the most money (eg Tupelo Honey and All Along the Watchtower).

… “men you put on the shoulder-pads for.”

… what Billy Bragg called “a civilian”.

… Chou Pahrot, Cado Belle, Café Jacques, Stone the Crows and other great lost Scottish bands.

… Hamish Imlach’s advice about how to project onstage.

… how to use a pencil as a pop-shield.

… and her Grandad “who loved his wife so much he nearly told her”.

Eddi Reader tickets here: https://eddireader.co.uk/gigs/

Fairground Attraction’s Beautiful Happening album: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Beautiful-Happening-Fairground-Attraction/dp/B0CZ7NMJYV

https://eddireader.co.uk/

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