INTERVIEW WITH LORRAINE KELLY
UP CLOSE AND PERSONAL
tuesday 9.11.99
 
Lorraine:  He's starred in the West End's most successful musicals, he's had his own Tele show, and last year Michael Ball was named the Variety Shows Best Recording Artiste, before we talk to him, here's a clip of him in action.
 
Clip from video
 
Lorraine:  Oh, the boy can sing, not half.
 
Michael:  Show me your Bay City Roller tattoos.
 
Lorraine:  No I will not, it's on a place that no one will ever see.
 
Michael:  Laughing
 
Lorraine:  You may laugh, I bet there's somebody that's got a Michael Ball tatoo somewhere about their person.
 
Michael:  Hello mum, if you're watching.
 
Lorraine:  There were you giving it plenty, that was great, that's from the new video isn't it?
 
Michael:  Yes, I did my usual UK tour, I did about 30 dates, and I did two nights at the Royal Albert Hall, and we decided we'd film it and also do a bit of a documentary thing which we tagged on to the end.  It's quite sort of nerve racking, I think it was the sixth show that we filmed.  It was a one off so we couldn't re-do anything and it was in the raw and I was really, really pleased with it.
 
Lorraine:  No it's good really, I think that's where you come into your own is live, but live at the Royal Albert Hall is that the ultimate?
 
Michael:  Well I think the first gig I ever did there was the Les Mis Tenth Anniversary Concert and I've never known, I've been to see shows there, obviously, loads of them,  and you're right, there's a kind of wish list that ever performer has, that you think you've arrived, you've done it if you've played certain venues and I've been lucky enough, I've done most of the theatres I've wanted to like the Palladium, Drury Lane and the Palace and so on, the Albert Hall is the venue in this country, Carnagie Hall probably in America.  So having got there and done it with this extraordinary thing with Les Mis, to then go back and sell it out with my own show ...
 
Lorraine:  That is good.
 
Michael: ... I discovered adrenilin is brown (laughing)
 
Lorraine:  No it must be scary because there's nobody else but you
 
Michael:  That's the thing.  And I decided as well that I was going to do the whole show 'cos normally you go out on the road and somebody has the first half and everybody gets the hump, they think well, when is he bloody coming on and then you have the interval and then they go and get drunk and they come back and have a better time.  This time I decided I was going to try and do the whole thing myself, so I did a first half which is one hour and ten minutes and then an interval and then do the second half, so it is a really tiring schedule, but it made for a better show from my point of view because I was able to introduce elements and bits of music that normally I was not able to do because of time.
 
Lorraine:  That's true, and the track that we saw there (Someone Else's Dream) is very close to your heart isn't it.  It really is.
 
Michael:  Yes, that's the first song that I've ever written and it's a curious thing, I've been lucky to have some of the works of some of the greatest writers, lyricists like Don Black and Tim Rice, the list goes on.  I've always wanted to write, I've always written myself in a journal and private thoughts, and so on, but I've never had the courage to do it - but I met an Irish singer/songwriter Brian Kennedy who works a lot with Van Morrison, and we met, we found out we had the same taste in music, both had the same taste in writers, Joni Mitchell, James Taylor, the singer/songwriter kind of performer and he said, "You've got to start writing", and I said, "Well I don't know how" and he actually made me do it.  I sat down and came up with this, it's a song with a lyric that I've had with me going way back in the past and it's truly one of the proudest moments to be able to put that in the show, sandwiched between some truly great songs and it wasn't embarrassing.  You know, it's not the greatest song in the world but it's not the worst either.  It fitted in alright.  Because it was so personal to me I was able to, my performing is about living the song
 
Lorraine:  All the emotions.  No that's right, and sort of exorcising a few ghosts in a way, it was about a time when you weren't happy at all.
 
Michael:  Yes, absolutely
 
Lorraine:  And yet you seem now to really be on top of it, I mean there was a time when you didn't particularly enjoy your success.  I mean I know that sounds daft but
 
Michael:  I know
 
Lorraine:  You worked very hard to get successful
 
Michael:  Yes, I was sort of doing it for other people in a way.  It was kind of justifying myself if you like and it took a long time for me to actually to get it wrong actually and to leave the business and go back in.
 
Lorraine:  Sometime's that's the way to do it, to stand back from it a wee bit, get your priorities sorted out and then go back.
 
Michael:  And also to realise that it isn't the Be all and End all!
 
Lorraine:  Because you can get really sucked in, you can live in a bubble
 
Michael:  You forget what real life is
 
Lorraine:  Especially when you're doing something like a long running show, you've been in many long running musicals, you're in this kind of bubble and that's all there is.
 
Michael:  And your family becomes the cast and having said that when you do your own show going out on tour you don't have anybody, you're really on your own, especially on a stage, there's nobody there to vibe off and that is very lonely.  You come off the stage and you want to go home.  You want to see the people you love to share it with.
 
Lorraine:  And talking about the people you love, the relationship you have with Cathy McGowan really seems to be, it's your rock, isn't it?
 
Michael:  Yes she is, absolutely.  She's a good girl.  We've had an addition to the family as well.  She'll kill me but she's a gran.

Lorraine:  I can't believe she's a gran.
 
Michael:  I know it makes you sick
 
Lorraine:  That means you're a step grandad
 
Michael:  No, I decided
 
Lorraine:  Hello grandad
 
Michael:  I've talked with my manager about billing and they've asked me to be Godfather and I've earned it because at 6.00 a.m. this morning - they were staying over - we were on the early morning shift - so 6.00 a.m. this morning which isn't my best time, that's just about the time I come in and go to bed.  I'm covered in vomit and screaming and smelling - it's the best thing in the world!
 
Lorraine:  Actually it is, it really is
 
Michael:  And it goes so quickly
 
Lorraine:  You should hang onto those feelings
 
Michael:  He's seven months now, you must have found this.  You think when do we get some sleep and peace, but it's soon over.  Treasure it.
 
Lorraine:  You do seem now a really good place in your life.
 
Michael:  Yes, I am
 
Lorraine:  You're very very happy.  You have exorcised a few demons.  I was reading about you had this accident and it might mean that you can't have kids and all of that
 
Michael:  Nodding
 
Lorraine:  And you sort of talked about that, it's out the way
 
Michael:  Well, I felt it was important to do it because I am aware, everytime, it's part of the thing we were talking about before, the not enjoying your own success.  Part of that was because I wanted to appear as something I wasn't which was someone who was always in control, was able to breeze through life with no problems and I realised it's a bit naff.  You look really two dimensional and the stuff I do, the songs I sing, the songs that I write are a bit more profound than that and I wanted to show that I had been there
 
Lorraine:  Well, listen, we wish you all the best, especially with the video.  It is Michael Ball Live At The Royal Albert Hall.
 
Michael:  Thanks love.  And it's marvellous (in a strange voice)
 
Lorraine:  And it's marvellous, and there's a cd as well
 
Michael:  And a free one
 
Lorraine:   It's always a joy to talk to you.  Come back and see me anytime
 
Michael:  Show me your tatoo!
 
Lorraine:  I'll show you my tatoo right after this.  Bye for now.