Michael:  I think she realised that she couldn't hear herself so she couldn't mime and it sort of lost it
 
Nicky:  More later on, not necessarily on Shirl, but we've got Michael Ball, the golden voice of Michael Ball.
 
Michael:  (In a strange voice)  The golden voice of Michael Ball.  Love Changes Everything and many more.
 
Nicky:  Do you want to read this out for us, it's on our discussion, do you think we are less or more caring than we used to be Michael?  What do you think of that?

Michael:  We are far less caring.
 
Nicky:  Really
 
Michael:  Yes, there we are, about certain things.  What a load of wingers
 
Nicky:  I think he means whingers.
 
Michael:  Oh, I thought we were back on Rugby.  Is that how you spell whingers
 
Nicky:  No, it's not
 
Michael:  Oh I see, what a load of "whingers", I spent twenty two years in the Army and now I work in a signal box for four and a half years.  I know where I would rather be.  Service people are well paid and when they leave they all moan.  I suggest these whingers take a long hard look at life on the outside.
 
Some discussion follows between various people
 
Nicky:  He is one of Britain's most popular artistes, singing to sold out audiences, adding to the excitement of the closing ceremony of the Rugby World Cup and he wasn't miming.  Michael Ball has overcome a serious parachuting accident as a young man to take his place on the world's stages singing the songs he loves from the stage and screen.  He joins me in the studio and Jennifer joins us from ..
Where are you from Jennifer?
 
Jennifer:  I'm from Princes ....
 
Nicky:  You've got a bit of a crackly line, what's your question for Michael?
 
Jennifer:  What I'd like to ask Michael, there've been quite a few rumours that he might be going to America next year and I wondered if he would be able to confirm this.
 
Nicky:  Going to America for what Jennifer.  Tell me about these rumours
 
Jennifer:  Emm, well, we're not quite sure yet, there've just been rumours ...
 
Michael:  No
 
Jennifer: ... that he might be doing a musical over in America.
 
Michael:  Oh, well, no, I'm not, so there you go.  That's all I can say.
 
Nicky:  Apparently we're getting lots of calls saying you are going to America
 
Michael:  Really
 
Nicky:  Is this maybe for tax reasons or something
 
Michael:  I wish (laughing) I wish I had the taxes.  No I'm not.
 
Nicky:  Because Bruce Forsyth struggled to make it over there.
 
Michael:  Damn, thats that blown then.  No, no I'm not, I heard this actually, I don't know, things sort of start but I'm not so, Jennifer, I'm here, I'm yours.
 
Jennifer:  You wouldn't be able to tell us what you might be doing at all?
 
Michael:  Probably touring at the end of the year.
 
Nicky:  He's got a wonderful voice Jennifer hasn't he?
 
Jennifer:  Yes, he has, lovely.
 
Michael:  Thank you
 
Nicky:  What is the particular appeal of Michael Ball for you Jennifer?
 
Jennifer:  I really love listening to his songs and if you go to a concert you have a really good time and I just really like him
 
Michael:  Oh, thanks love
 
Nicky:  Thank you very much Jennifer.  It's heart hitting stuff Michael.
 
Michael:  Oh bless
 
Nicky:  Let me ask you about this parachuting accident when you were 18.  Very, very nasty.
 
Michael:  Yes, it was actually.  It sort of changed everything.  It turned my life around.  I've spoken about a catalogue of injuries that took well over four or five years to get under control and get normal and it happened when I was 18, so it was a difficult time, you know, when you're an adolescent
 
Nicky:  You ruptured much of your groin
 
Michael:  Yes, and the urethral area was all damaged and so on.  Luckily surgery and so on has got everything back on track and it's fine now, but mentally it really does your head in, that sort of thing at 18 - 23 year old period when you are supposed to be out enjoying yourself.
 
Nicky:  You couldn't Jack the Lad?
 
Michael:  No (laughing) that's a charming way of putting it but, no, I couldn't be Jack the Lad sadly and I probably would have liked to.  But you know that stuff happens.  I was blessed in so many other ways, so many good things happened so, it probably helped in a sense to, I don't know, to give me an understanding, a sensitivity, an ability to perform in a certain way that I do, so I don't regret it.
 
Nicky:  This is what way.  Explain that a little bit
 
Michael:  I think to be an actor, to be a singer, to do the kind of fairly complex emotional parts that I've done before and things that I try to get across you have to have a certain amount of experience.  I don't think you can be a completely two dimensional breathe through life kind of person.  I kind of appeared like that.  I've never spoken about the things that have happened in my life, but I wouldn't have really been able to do justice to the parts I did if that hadn't been the case, if I hadn't had some sort of understanding.
 
Nicky:  So has this made you a more rounded human being?
 
Michael:  I guess so, yes, I would be surprised if it hadn't.  I think it wouldn't have done if I hadn't gone through it.
 
Nicky:  As a result a better performer.
 
Michael:  It's a pretty high price to pay for it I guess.
 
Nicky:  How high a price is it?  Can you have children?
 
Michael:  Um, aah, I don't think so, no.  I don't know, technology is fabulous so you don't know.
 
Nicky:  It's a terrible thing to happen obviously to parachute.  What were you doing, was it some sort of outward venture?
 
Michael:  It was for charity - here we go again - and it wasn't even me meant to be doing it.  It was a sponsored parachute jump at a place called Aldershot, the smallest site, and I wasn't meant to be doing it, my brother was, and I stepped in at the final moment - they give you bugger all actual class on how to do it - very little training - and it just sort of went pear shaped, one of those things.
 
Nicky:  What happened did it not open properly?
 
Michael:  It didn't open properly, it opened too hard and the straps that you have caused problems and I couldn't steer it and came into the ground too steeply and I was dragged along and ended up in hospital and did my back in as well.
 
Nicky:  You wouldn't get me doing a parachute jump.
 
Michael:  You wouldn't get me doing it again, not for all the tea in China.  Really stupid.  And of course there were the people on there, like these tiny little girls going (in a strange voice) Oh, it was lovely, just landed on the floor and lets do it again and I was carted off in an ambulance.
 
Nicky:  And the good stuff is this new CD you've got which is Stage and Screen songs, including Love Changes Everything, the song that, the Andrew Lloyd Webber song
 
Michael:  God love him
 
Nicky:  Do you love him
 
Michael:  Absolutely, without him I probably wouldn't be here.  He's an extremely talented man.
 
Nicky:  How did he spot you because he's always very particular about and fastidious about the performance he wants for his work.  So how did he light upon you.
 
Michael:  It started by me auditioning for Phantom of the Opera, the recast of it, he saw me do All I Ask of You.  He saw me do the soprano role, I was belting out the big top A and because I didn't know the song very well, he cast me in that, and then Sarah and I worked together, Sarah Brightman, she was in the show at the time, so they put us out on tour together, a kind of musical Andrew Lloyd Webber thing and then he was writing Aspects of Love while I was still in Phantom and he asked me to audition for that and do the role down at Sydmonton, and then to do the role here and then on Broadway, so I was part of the team for a little while.
 
Nicky:  How long were you on Broadway for?
 
Michael:  I was there for a year.  It was just fantastic.
 
Nicky:  A little flat in New York.
 
Michael:  Down Greenwich Village.
 
Nicky:  A little flat down Greenwich Village, a matinee, an evening performance, six days a week, eight shows a week.  Tough life.
 
Michael:  In an American accent It was hard man.  It was hard.  I was out there you know.
 
Nicky:  My goodness me.  Sylvia in Sheffield.  Hello Sylvia.
 
Sylvia:  Goodmorning
 
Michael:  Hi Sylvia
 
Sylvia:  How are you?
 
Michael:  I'm alright love.
 
Nicky:  I'm very well thankyou.
 
Sylvia:  I just want to thank you Michael for that wonderful video and cd that has just come out.
 
Nicky:  You've got your radio on haven't you Sylvia.
 
Sylvia:  I have
 
Nicky:  You can continue your ... go away and turn your radio down.  So are they all women of a certain age.
 
Michael:  No, a lot of women, which is great, for obvious reasons.  Do you know it is strange I have been in the theatre for 14 years, I've been doing my sort of solo stuff in concerts and records for about 9 years and it was almost entirely women to begin with.  Now there's seems to be a kind of a change, more men are coming with their wives, with their girlfriends and enjoying it, they realise that it is not an exclusively sexist kind of thing, it's not all about me standing up and wiggling.  It's a lot more else.  Lot more else??
 
Nicky:  Sylvia in Sheffield.  Good morning.  You're back.
 
Sylvia:  I'm back.  I was listening to all that.
 
Nicky:  That's much better isn't it.  Sorry what were you saying.  It was a hard hitting call.  You were saying thank you for the new video it's wonderful.
 
Sylvia:  Oh it is.  It's absolutely fantastic.
 
Nicky:  I tell you what Gordon Brown and Tony Blair don't know what they have in store for them when they come in.  You must call them with a question as well.
 
Michael:  Laughing  Taking the mikey down here.
 
Sylvia:  No I'm not
 
Nicky:  No, Sylvia's not.
 
Sylvia:  I met Michael in Northampton.  Do you remember.  I brought you the picture.
 
Michael: Oh yes.  Well, the video just went in at number one you know.
 
Sylvia:  Absolutely fantastic.
 
Nicky:  What's your favourite Michael Ball song, because apparently he's done a version of Robbie Williams' Millenium on this one.
 
Sylvia:  Yes, that's lovely. Gethsemene I think is one of my favourites.
 
Nicky:  Anita joins us Sylvia.  Anita meet Sylvia.
 
Anita:  Oh my God, I can't believe this.
 
Nicky:  What meeting Sylvia?
 
Anita:  No actually talking to Michael Ball.  I've loved Michael Ball since the Eurovision Song Contest.
 
Nicky:  Sylvia, have you loved him since the Eurovision Song Contest, or since before that.
 
Sylvia:  I must agree, I have too.
 
Michael:  This is like a love in - this is great Laughing
 
Nicky:  What about our newsreader Tina Ritchie, how long have you loved Michael Ball?
 
Tina:  Oh, I've always admired his immense talent.
 
Nicky:  There you are, Anita, Sylvia and Tina all going crazy for Michael.  What is it about Michael Anita?
 
Anita:  I don't know, it's just everthing, the way he moves, the way he speaks, just everything that he does, he's just absolutely brilliant.
 
Michael:  You're making me blush
 
Nicky:  Could you stand up and move for me?
 
Michael:  Yes I will, I'd be pleased to
 
Nicky:  Oh, Anita, I see what you mean.
 
Anita: I love the way he dances on stage, I saw you in April in Plymouth Pavillion and you were just wonderful Michael and I also, one reason I wanted to phone you was to ask you, I'm actually phoning
from Jersey in the Channel Islands and I was wondering would you ever come back to Jersey
 
Michael:  Of course I would, if you ask me
 
Anita:  Of course we'll ask you.  I can arrange it.
 
Michael:  Let's do it then.
 
Anita:  Also I'd love to thank you actually, I mean you get thousands of letters every day, but I did write to you
 
Nicky:  The Inland Revenue
 
Anita:  No, what it was was that I asked you to record Ave Maria and you did it.  I'm absolutely really thrilled.  I can't tell you how pleased I am.
 
Michael:  The Christmas Album that comes out with this live album we've got, I asked all the fans, and friends what the Christmas Songs were that they wanted to hear.  I've put some of my own in there as well.  So some of them may not be my own favourites but they were top of the list for people.  But Ave Maria was one of my choices.
 
Anita:  There is only one person that can sing it, and sorry it is you.  You have got the voice for it.  Your voice is absolutely superb.
 
Nicky:  You haven't heard me singing it.
 
Michael:  Think yourself lucky
 
Anita:  You're second best.
 
Michael:  I was with him New Year's Eve, with Nicky Campbell, he probably doesn't remember
 
Nicky:  I do
 
Michael:  And he was getting up giving it Rock and Roll in a kilt
 
Nicky:  I played the piano and you were singing
 
Michael:  You're pretty damned good at this
 
Nicky:  Anita and Sylvia stay with us.  I'm glad you remember, that must have been about five years ago.
I think we'd had a ....
 
Michael:  No, well you may well have
 
Nicky:  You were stone cold sober at 4.00 in the morning were you.  Fran, good morning.
 
Fran:  Hi Michael, its Fran in Scotland.
 
Michael:  Hi Fran (in a Scottish accent)
 
Nicky:  We've got Fran, Anita, Sylvia and Tina, all Michael Ball die-hards, Fran on you go.
 
Fran:  Michael, the white coat, are you ditching it?
 
Michael:  It's ditched.
 
Fran:  Oh good.
 
Michael:  I love it.  Sorry I thought it was really good but I did look like apparently an ice berg when I was singing Titanic so ... I liked it.  There you go.  You have to try these fashion statements.  I mean, it was a cool coat I thought, I really liked it.
 
Fran:  It photographed really well.  I did tell you that, it photographed really well.
 
Nicky:  Fran, how can you come on and be so cruel to my guest like that and criticise him for his satorial sense.
 
Fran:  I love him to bits
 
Nicky:  Thank goodness for that.  I thought we were really getting a hard hitter, a hard puncher on the line there
 
Fran:  No, it was a joke.  He knows it was a joke
 
Michael:  Of course I do
 
Nicky:  Eileen in Dudley.  Good morning Eileen.
 
Eileen:  Hello.  I would like to say a big thank you to Michael.  I've been ill this year, I've had cancer
and I've been having chemotherapy treatment
 
Michael:  What kind of cancer did you have?
 
Eileen:  Ovarian cancer and I was feeling really down one morning and out of the blue a get well card arrived from Michael
 
Michael:  What happens, which is great, is that a lot of people who have friends write into me and they say somebody like yourself, under the weather, needs cheering up and its great to be able to do that.  What stage of ovarian cancer were you at?  What's the treatment you're having?
 
Eileen:  Taxol, actually I have finished my chemotherapy now.  I've been lucky.
 
Michael:  You have, taxol, they'll only be prescribing that if you are at an early stage for it to be effective.
 
Eileen:  I was
 
Michael:  The prognosis is great.
 
Eileen:  It was found very very early, I have been fortunate.
 
Nicky:  Eileen, all the very best to you, it must have been a great life getting the signed card.
 
Eileen:  It was.  It came on the morning where the sickness hit me and I was feeling really down
 
Nicky:  Do you want a bit of Love Changes Everything Eileen.
 
Eileen:  Oh, I'd love to.
 
Nicky:  This is specially for Eileen.
 
Michael:  This is for you Eileen and anybody else not feeling great
 
The intro for Love Changes Everything plays with Michael talking about the song from the new album, but time runs out before he starts singing.
 
Michael:  He's going to switch me off
 
Nicky:  I do apologise
 
Michael:  He thinks he's going to do a really great link into one of the great songs of the century, and he sneaks it on and it's got this really long intro which I meant very sincerely at the Albert Hall, so he's going to cut it.  Michael sings Love Changes Everything
 
Nicky:  Michael Ball you've been great fun and all the best with this CD.  I bet she enjoyed that (Eileen)
 
Michael:  Eileen, put the CD on now and ignore Campbell.
 
Nicky:  Thank you Michael, all the best for everything, don't leave us, don't go to America.  You've heard the fans what they feel about you and I'm sure there's many thousands of them out there and all the best with the Christmas CD.  That was Michael Ball and this is 5 Live.