2011

2011 turned out to be quite an interesting year for Carol publicity wise, I will come to that later on!

T'Pau lead singer is going back in time

An interesting and very honest interview was made with Carol in the beginning part of 2011, discussing the past, present and future.


"Like Tukka boots, the Walkman and brick-like mobile phones, Carol Decker's curly red hair was a defining icon of the Eighties."

Another great quote to add to that fantastic "Springsteen" quote earlier!

Carol addresses the fact that during the 90's, she had her hair cut short, which I think looked lovely and really suited her, and Carol liked at the time, but I think she felt she had lost her 'identity' - her 'trademark' had gone, looking back in retrospect.

Carol with short hair in the 90's.

Carol now vows never to cut her hair short again, and it "seems to be working", what with the huge success of the Here And Now and Rewind Festivals Carol is heavily involved in.

Carol says "In the Nineties, I cut my hair and lost all my superpowers, so I grew it again.  My lion's mane was part of me.  All of us ladies have our gifts, and my hair is part of my arsenal, so I don't think I'll cut it again."

Carol has admitted in past interviews "I have had my fifteen minutes as Madonna where it all got a bit 'mad' for a while, including limos and detours", something not a lot of people are lucky enough to experience trying to get in the music business, or those even already in the music business.  Carol had worked extremely hard to get to experience that level of success though.  It wasn't just handed to her on a plate.  Reality TV contestants of today seem to have it given to them, but, as proved in so many cases, taken away just as quick.  My honest opinion is that to succeed, you need to graft for and 'earn your crust' to make it work. How many 'Reality TV' winners songs spring to mind?  Exactly!! 

"During the latter part of the Nineties," says Carol, "people started getting nostalgic about the Eighties and how diverse and crazy a decade it was."  Hence the Here And Now and Rewind Festivals being born, becoming a huge success.

Being a wife and a mother to two young children, it couldn't have worked out better for Carol.  As she put it, "I can dip into a Festival/Tour, and then go back to being mum and wife again."
Carol has been quoted as saying "It may not be as cutting-edge as it was" (Loose Women 2012), but there are an awful lot of people out there that clearly still love what Carol does.  You can tell by the atmosphere she creates when singing a ballad in front of 30,000 people at an 80's festival, sending shivers down your spine and everyone joining in to the choruses.  Carol is still able to attract this reaction from the fans as she was 25 years ago!!  And as for the rockier tracks like "Sex Talk" and "Monkey House", Carol can still rock the place out!!  The audience participation being second to none!!

Click on the link below for the full interview : 

Carol's Interview with The Daily Record 

A New T'Pau release!! Whoop Whoop!!

The Story Behind The Tracks

This had been in the planning for quite a while but we were all eager for its release. - A new T'Pau release - made me feel younger again when I would get all excited about pending releases.

Not only was it a CD, but it was a DVD as well!!  There are no DVD's of T'Pau, obviously because T'Pau 1 split up before DVD recorders were invented.

This remarkable limited edition double disc set contains six previously unheard tracks as well as ALL the original demo recordings of the tracks that went to make up "Bridge Of Spies", T'Pau's multi-platinum selling debut album.  Rare footage is recorded in a Documentary DVD with up to date interviews with Carol Decker and Ron Rogers as they describe life in T'Pau in the early days and re-visit the journey that took them to international success.

There are 18 tracks on the CD :

• Heart And Soul
• I Will Be With You
• China In Your Hand
• Friends Like These
• Sex Talk
• Bridge Of Spies
• Monkey House
• Valentine
• You Give Up
• Just Once More**
• Telephone**
• Too Shy**
• Taking Time Out
• Thank You For Goodbye
• Imagine It Yourself**
• Don't Give It Up**
• This Is The Sound**
• On The Wing

**Denotes previously unheard and unreleased tracks.  The others are the original demos.

I love "Heart And Soul", "I Will Be With You", "Bridge Of Spies", "Valentine", "Monkey House", well to be quite honest, If I continued naming the ones I like, I think I'd name them all!!

All of the 'new' songs are fantastic and so refreshing to hear!!

The DVD is in two parts :

1. Carol and Ron discussing and going back to their old haunts.  The old 'studio' (well it used to be a studio, put it that way!!), their old flat where "China", amongst many other songs, were written.  It is so interesting.  And the funny thing is that where Carol performs at one of the rewind shows, right in the distance, you can see where Carol and Ron used to live.  Carol told the crowd one year that that building in the distance was where she wrote the songs she was singing to them right now!!
2. Carol and Ron discussing each song, one by one, discussing what they meant and what inspired the lyrics.

All in all it is a very interesting package, and I can't stress enough how all T'Pau fans should own a copy.  Not even just T'Pau fans; 80's fanatics would appreciate it too!  And to make it even more appealing, they are signed by Carol and Ron!

Here is the original promotional video for "Story Behind The Tracks" :

Here is Carol discussing it on Scottish TV :

After the interview, Carol performed "China".

Preview Video to Story Behind The Tracks

The demos are of such high quality and such a high standard that they could easily pass as 'single' releases today!!  One thing I have always said about T'Pau is that their music just doesn't age.

You will notice on a few of the songs the difference in the demos than the actual releases, this goes for "Heart And Soul", "Monkey House" and "Valentine" to name a few, and that is what I like about them.  I didn't even recognise "Monkey House" at first!!

Here are a few of the songs I have put videos to, so you can get more of a taster of the entirety of the CD.

I'll begin with "Heart And Soul".  See if you can guess what is missing from the song.  I won't tell you as I will be asking you later!!

Heart And Soul Demo

This next song has always been one of my favourite T'Pau songs.  Carol sings it with such passion and emotion and I absolutely adore this version.  I love the photo too.

I Will Be With You Demo

The next two are previously unheard and unreleased tracks.
The first one "Telephone" is a very catchy number.

Telephone

I love this song "Imagine It Yourself",  everything I love about T'Pau and Carol's vocals.

Imagine It Yourself

Very rare photos from "Story Behind The Tracks" booklet

To get hold of your copy of "The Story Behind The Tracks", remember you will be purchasing a piece of history!!, simply click on the link to Gnatfish Records below, go to the top of the page where it says 'Catalogue and shop', click on that and it will take you to the items for sale.  "The Story Behind The Tracks" is the first item at the top.  Click onto the Paypal button, don't worry if you want to pay with a credit or debit card, you still can as the option is there as well as Paypal.  Then all you have to do is wait a few days for your copy!!

I have bought three copies, one for me and two for friends who have recently celebrated their 40th birthday.  Also, I received my copies the next day!!  I certainly wouldn't be without my copy!!

www.gnatfishrecords.com

Created by Deano Hollett 2012

A new photo-shoot for Carol - T'Wow!!

Carol had a new photo-shoot in 2011 and the photos were fantastic.  Here are a few of the photos Carol had taken :

Artwork by Stella-Bella

Created by Deano Hollett July 2012

Doesn't Carol look great!!  Lovely photos.

Tribute to Dusty Springfield Concert

On the 5th May 2011, a load of singers paid tribute to the legend Dusty Springfield, at The Royal Albert Hall, by putting on a concert in her memory.

The proceeds to the concert was in aid of the centenary of Macmillan Cancer Support.
Acts singing included :

Boy George
The Four Nurses
Mike Hurst and the Springfields
Joanna Marie
Lucie Silvas
Kenny Lynch
Mica Paris
Rick Astley
Hazel O'ConnorDennis Locorriere
Shelby Lynne
Carol Decker
Plus many more

Carol has appeared at the Royal Albert Hall many times during her career, and it is one of our most prestegious venues to perform at.

Click on the link below to see photos of Carol performing at the Concert :

The 2 photos in the middle are Carol at the Concert

Carol had previously said in interviews that when growing up, Dusty was a great influence to her musically.

An article on Carol and her chickens.

Carol looking glam and Rock 'n' Roll even in the chicken coup!!

Carol didn't take part in the Rewind for Henley this year, in August, but she did take part in the Scottish 80's Rewind Festival that took place at Scone Palace grounds near Perth on the 29th, 30th and 31st July.  Here is a list of all the acts :

Here And Now 2011

Here And Now Whitehaven 2011

17/06/2011 Whitehaven Marina, Whitehaven

Carol was mentioned on a lot of programmes this year that get the 'highest' ratings!!  It was as though something was about to happen!!  It surely couldn't have been #T'Pau25 could it!!

• Eastenders - Heather Trott and her best friend Shirley Carter went to an 80's convention and Heather spent all of the hotel money on a picture disc of "Bridge Of Spies!!"  Everybody knows there is no picture disc of "Bridge Of Spies" lol!!
• Corrie - Eileen's sister said she had a fight with Carol Decker back in the 80's!! lol
• I'm A Celebrity - Pat Sharpe kept dropping 80's names to the 'younger' people in camp, in particular T'Pau, as well as "China" and "Carol Decker", then Ant and Dec started to do it!!
• Chatty Man - Alan Carr said to Liam Gallagher he once saw Carol Decker in Tesco holding a cup and saucer and he asked her "Is that China In Your Hand?!!"
• The most talked about one, which had the most 'repercussions' was yet to come - The X Factor.

I can't remember the exact date, but it was a Friday and I had just read a Tweet from somebody in the studios of The X Factor saying they just heard "China" being sung, and this person automatically presumed it was Janet Devlin, the red hair I suppose.  So I Tweeted Carol what I had heard.

On the Saturday, Carol Tweets "Amelia Lily will be singing 'China In Your Hand' on The X Factor  tonight." Now Carol is the only person I know of that can sing "China" as it is a difficult song to sing.  But I thought, Amelia seems to give her songs 'some welly', so she might be quite good.

She was introduced and started to sing and I was very impressed with her.  Considering she was only seventeen she really did do the song justice.  

The judges one by one gave her nothing but praise; Louis Walsh said it had the potential after that to go to number 1 again, and no one faulted her.  Gary had just praised her and it was Kelly Rowland's turn, but Gary hadn't finished, so Kelly let him finish.  He said "I remember the song the first time round and it's nice to actually hear it sung in tune!"

I was like "What?  Did he actually just say that?"  Even Dermot said "There was no need to go there."

People watching the programme at the time wouldn't have known this, but I went straight on Twitter and Carol, T'Pau and "China" were all trending.  I logged into iTunes and "Bridge Of Spies" was back in the download charts and "China" was slowly climbing up the download charts too!!

ITV got in touch with Carol and wanted to get Gary to speak to her on The Xtra Factor, but I think he chickened out.  The fans were Tweeting Carol with regular updates re. chart positions.  I think "China" made it as high as the 50's!!

Carol did respond with a Tweet to Gary calling him a T**t!!  I think we were all tweeting him!!

Carol did eventually get an apology via Twitter, just a shame he didn't have the decency to apologise live on air the next night.

Now I know this Blog is a celebration of the last 25 years, but we all know, especially from all the videos I have posted that Carol's pitch is perfect.  So at the end of the day it just makes Gary look silly!!

Also, Carol gained about twenty-two thousand extra followers on Twitter because of it!!

There was a lot of newspaper coverage of the whole thing including TV clips and interviews made by Carol.

Daily Telegraph Article

Mail On-line Article

Metro On-line Article

Heat World.com Article

Unreality Tv Article

Unreality TV Article

The Mirror Article

Digital Spy Article

Entertainment STV Article

Huffington Post Article

Entertainment STV Article

Entertainment Wise Article

A You Tube News Article on the incident :

Carol being interviewed about the whole thing :

Carol said recently on Loose Women that her and her family were all looking forward to it and when Gary had said what he said, she felt like she had been punched in the stomach.  She was hurt at the time because of all what that song has meant to her during her career.  But....she has had time to reflect-"I think I was actually played by the 'X-Factor' machine.  That Decker will have had a glass of two of wine by now, she'll be on Twitter and she's gobby."  So basically Carol was saying they did it for a reaction, and it worked.  As soon as Carol said that I agreed.  Also, why would people want to download it that weekend if Carol sang out of tune!!

Here is Amelia Lily singing "China" and the judges comments :

Amelia singing "China" at Twickenham Stadium in front of 82,000 people!!

Amelia has actually said that "China" was her favourite song of the X-Factor series.

Carol singing "Back For Good" at Christian O'Donnells' Beer and Cake Club