Eddi Reader - busking, singing radio jingles and “men you put on the shoulder-pads for”

Word In Your Ear

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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