As a multi-million selling recording artist with an equally impressive Olivier Award winning acting career, Barbara Dickson OBE has firmly established herself as one of the most enduring and popular entertainers in Britain today.
Born in Dunfermline, Scotland, Barbara showed an early interest in music. By the tender age of five she had already started studying piano and by twelve had also taken up the guitar. She developed a love of folk music whilst at school and began to perform at her local folk club. At seventeen she moved to Edinburgh, combining a job in the Civil Service with evening spots performing in local pubs and clubs.
In 1968, Barbara was offered a three week engagement at the Tivoli Gardens in Copenhagen, Denmark, and when she was refused leave from her job she resigned, deciding that it was ‘now or never’ to try her luck as a professional singer.
The late ‘60’s and early ‘70’s saw her gradually ‘paying her dues’ on the Scottish folk scene, building a reputation and working with the likes of Archie Fisher, Billy Connolly, Gerry Rafferty and Rab Noakes. Her first album, ‘The Fate o’ Charlie’, a collection of Jacobite songs recorded with Archie and John McKinnon, was released on Bill Leader’s Trailer Records label in 1969. She then went on to record three well-received folk albums for Decca Records in the early ‘70’s.
On the advice of Scottish performing legend Hamish Imlach, Barbara next began to look for opportunities south of the border in the booming folk scene of the North of England and she was soon well-established there.
It was in Liverpool that she became re-acquainted with musician and playwright Willy Russell. Their friendship led to Barbara being offered the singing role in his 1974 musical ‘John, Paul, George, Ringo… and Bert’, staged at the Everyman Theatre. Barbara was on stage throughout the entire performance, singing the songs of the Beatles at the piano. The show became a huge critical success and went on to enjoy a long run at the Lyric Theatre in London.
In the West End, the show was co-produced by Robert Stigwood, who signed Barbara to his small stable of artistes at RSO Records, which also included The Bee Gees and Cream.
In 1976 she had her first hit single with ‘Answer Me’, produced by fellow Scot, Junior Campbell and later that year she appeared on ‘The Two Ronnies’ having been spotted in the theatre by Terry Hughes, their then producer at the BBC. This led to a guest residency on the show, which was drawing in regular Saturday night audiences in excess of 15 million viewers.
Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber had also been impressed by Barbara’s performance in ‘John, Paul, George, Ringo…and Bert’, and invited her to sing ‘Another Suitcase in Another Hall’ on the original cast recording of their new musical ‘Evita’. Released as a single, the song went on to become her second hit single in 1977.
In 1980 ‘Caravan Song’ from the film ‘Caravans’ was released. Although it was to prove much less of a chart success than her other hit singles, it is still Barbara’s most requested song wherever she plays!
‘January, February’, released the same year, provided another Top 20 recording, with the accompanying LP, ‘The Barbara Dickson Album’, produced by Alan Tarney, giving Barbara her first gold album.
In 1982 ‘All for a Song’, her first compilation album, shot into the UK charts at No.9, based on sales in Scotland alone. It was her first platinum-selling album and went on to spend 38 weeks in the charts.
Barbara then accepted the leading role of Mrs. Johnstone in Willy Russell’s new musical ‘Blood Brothers’, which opened in Liverpool at the Playhouse Theatre in January 1983. The show, which marked her debut as an actress, transferred to London’s Lyric Theatre and she was named ‘Best Actress in a Musical’ at the 1984 Society of West End Theatre Awards.
In tandem with her stage work, Barbara was also building a considerable reputation as a concert artiste, with lengthy sold out tours which took her to every major town and city in the UK, culminating in shows at the Royal Albert Hall in London.
In 1985 the duet ‘I Know Him So Well’ recorded with Elaine Paige and taken from the new musical ‘Chess’, written by Benny Andersson, Bjorn Ulvaeus and Tim Rice, was released. It went on to become a Top Ten hit around the world and sold over 900,000 copies. Barbara’s subsequent ‘Gold’ album, released later that year, was certified Platinum.
Further hits followed, but in the 1990’s Barbara began to move away from the pop scene and back towards acoustic and folk music. This resulted in the 1992 album ‘Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right’ a selection of the songs of Bob Dylan and 1994’s ‘Parcel of Rogues’ featuring folk music from the British Isles. 1995 saw the release of ‘Dark End of the Street’, which combined traditional music with tracks by favourite songwriters including Randy Newman, Sandy Denny and Jackson Browne.
During the 90’s, Barbara also began to diversify more and more into acting, with major roles on TV including ‘Taggart’, Kay Mellor’s award-winning ‘Band of Gold’ and ‘The Missing Postman’, directed by Alan Dossor.
For many years, Barbara and ‘Blood Brothers’ director Chris Bond had talked of working together again for the theatre and finally in 1996 this culminated in ‘The Seven Ages of Woman’, a musical walk through the life of ‘everywoman’. The show toured the UK twice, in the process earning Barbara some of the best reviews of her career as well as the 1997 Liverpool Echo ‘Best Actress in Theatre’ Award.
In 1999 Barbara was delighted to return to the theatre again in the new musical ‘Spend, Spend, Spend’, based on the life of the infamous 1960’s pools winner, Viv Nicholson. Her role as Viv won her the ‘Best Actress in a Musical’ at the 2000 Laurence Olivier Awards in London.
In 2005 she released her first studio album for eight years, ‘Full Circle’. Produced by Troy Donockley, it was widely acclaimed as a long-awaited return to her musical roots with The Daily Telegraph noting: “it is no exaggeration to describe Barbara as a great singer. She stood out a mile among the Scottish folk singers of her generation, and she has consistently shown her class when performing for a wider public. This is Dickson at her most engaging.”
Her follow-up CD, ‘Nothing’s Gonna Change My World’, released by Universal in the autumn of 2006, took its title from ‘Across the Universe’, the Beatles classic included amongst a specially commissioned selection of the songs Lennon, McCartney and Harrison. The album was arranged by Troy and produced by Chris Hughes.
In 2007 Barbara was invited to guest on Channel 4’s long-running quiz show ‘Countdown’ and she returned to television again the following year with a leading guest role in the BBC drama series ‘Doctors’.
2008 was to prove a busy year for Barbara. Her CD, ‘Time and Tide’, was released, featuring the new direction which has become a feature of her music, blending together old and new songs with a distinctive atmosphere prevailing throughout. The varied song choice included ‘Lady Franklin’s Lament’, ‘Goin’ Back’ and ‘Palm Sunday’, which marked her first writing collaboration with Troy, who again produced the album.
‘Into the Light’, Barbara’s first ever live DVD was also released to coincide with ‘Time and Tide’, and featured some of her best-loved hits, tracks from the new album and other favourites she has made her own through the years.
In the summer of 2008 she played live at the Stonehaven Folk Festival, her first festival appearance since 1973 and an experience which she enjoyed immensely.
In December 2008 Barbara was invited to record her first Christmas special for BBC Radio Scotland, produced by her old friend Rab Noakes. Barbara performed seven Christmas carols, specially arranged for the show by Troy, and hopes to expand the project into a CD of seasonal songs in the near future.
Barbara has recently released her autobiography, 'A Shirt Box Full Of Songs', and 2011 sees her long-awaited new album, 'Words Unspoken,' which she will be promoting with a major tour of the UK and Ireland.
Now in her 43rd year in the music business, Barbara continues to do what she loves best - performing live for her loyal audience. “Singing live is really the kernel of what I do," she explains, “Finally, after all these years I'm now in a position where I'm entirely responsible for what I sing - and I'm happier than ever!”
A lengthy UK tour at the start of 2009 was followed by invitations to perform at the prestigious International Eisteddfod Festival in Llangollen, as well as the Brampton Live and the Linlithgow Folk Festivals.
Barbara’s long-awaited autobiography, ‘A Shirt Box Full of Songs,’ was published by Hachette Scotland in October 2009. To tie in with its release Barbara undertook a major promotional tour with appearances on TV and radio and at book festivals across the UK to talk about her life and career.
Following a 25-date national concert tour between February and March 2010, Barbara plans to begin work on her new studio album. Tentatively entitled ‘Full Circle 3’, it will follow on from her recent musical collaboration with Troy Donockley, further exploring the music of the British Isles as well as including some newly-written tracks of her own and songs from her ‘shirt box’ which she has always wanted to record.
Barbara lives in Lincolnshire with her husband Oliver and three sons, Colm, Gabriel and Archie.
