1. The lyrics to Get Happy couldn’t be more fitting
for Rebecca Ferguson right now. After a rocky
year that saw her boyfriend walk out on her while
she was pregnant, the former X Factor finalist has
bounced back with the birth of baby daughter
Arabella plus the release of a new album.
“I’m in a much more positive place and I’ve
moved on,” beams Rebecca, who is also mum to
Karl and Lillie, as hello! catches up with her. “Get
Happy is such an uplifting song and it’s the one the
kids like the most and sing around the house.”
The song features on Lady Sings the Blues, a
compilation of classic Billie Holiday tracks Rebecca
has recorded to coincide with the centenary of the
legendary singer’s birth.
“I said, ‘If we’re going to do this we have to do it
properly and the musicians have to be amazing, it
has to be perfect.’ The next minute I was in Los
Angeles at Capitol Record Studios, singing with
incredible jazz musicians who had performed with
the likes of Frank Sinatra, Ray Charles and Tony
Bennett and I was using Frank’s old microphone.”
At the time of the recording, Rebecca was almost
eight months pregnant with Arabella. “I look back
and think I can’t
believe I did that. I’d
love to live in LA one
day, but I hardly saw
any of it. I was so tired
with the pregnancy I went to the studio and slept.
“There is one song on the album I feel is mine
and Arabella’s song and it’s Embraceable You,” she
says. “I don’t know if Billie was singing it to a child,
but when I was singing it in the studio that’s what I
felt. When I sing it now I think of Arabella.”
Rebecca is looking forward to seven dates at
London’s St James Theatre starting later this month
as well as getting back into the studio to record her
own material. “There are a lot of emotions and
things that I still haven’t written about. I haven’t got
any regrets. I’ve been too trusting in love and
money, but everything has been a lesson,” she says.
“I’m in such a lucky position. I’ve got a beautiful
daughter and I can do what I love, which is sing and
promote this album. She is incredible and is going
to be coming everywhere with me on tour. I’m
still breastfeeding so she’ll have to anyway.”
Lady Sings the Blues is out on 9 March
‘X FACTOR’ STAR
REBECCA FERGUSON
NEW MUM TELLS OF LOVING
LIFE AND SINGING THE BLUES
Having won a hatful of accolades including a
Golden Globe, half a dozen Baftas and two Oscar
nominations, Julie Walters is ready to take a step back.
“I’ve acted now for 40 years, so it’s not like when
you first start and it’s, ‘Ooh, I’ve got an acting job,’”
says Julie. “I’m not jaded, but that need
to make my mark in the profession has
gone. If someone said, ‘You’re not going
to act again,’ I’d be sad – it’s been a
great life – but I wouldn’t feel thwarted.
I look at some things and think, ‘I can’t
be doing with that; I’d rather watch it
than play it.’ I like being at home.”
Even so, with a new role in major
Channel 4 drama Indian Summers, Julie
is not yet ready to bow out. Set in India
in 1932, the ten-part series charts the
decline of the British Empire in the sub-
continent as it tries to cling to power.
Much of the action takes place in the Himalayan
foothills at Simla, a little England where every summer
the British power-brokers escape the heat of the city.
Julie plays grand widow Cynthia, doyenne at the Royal
Club in Simla and a force to be reckoned with. But
there’s a chink in Cynthia’s armour in her dependency
on Kaiser, her trusty servant.
Shot in Penang, Malaysia, and with a budget of
£14million, the series captures the energy, heart and
soul of the Raj and viewers can almost smell the spice.
“The script was fascinating and exciting and I loved
the fact it wasn’t romanticised or nostalgic,” says
Julie. “It was real with an edgy, gritty feel and I’ve
never seen that before.”
She jumped at the chance to film in the Far
East. “Malaysia was a wonderful experience. I
did a bit of shopping and we went
around the coast – we got a little
chugga chugga boat and went to
Langkawi islands and Cambodia
for a few days to see the temples,
which was amazing.”
Despite her incredible career
starring in blockbusters such as
the Harry Potter films and
Mamma Mia!, Julie has kept
her feet firmly on the ground.
Are there any dream parts
she would love to play? “No, it
usually isn’t all about the roles,
it’s about the script and people. I ask, ‘Who’s
going to be in it?’ ‘Who’s going to direct?’ and
‘Are they attractive?’” Julie tells us.
With awards season in full swing, the actress
presented the Drama gong to the cast of Downton
Abbey at last month’s National Television Awards. Is
she tempted to sign up for a star turn in the series?
“Downton Abbey have never asked me,” says Julie
with mock outrage. “But I wouldn’t want to go
‘downstairs’.”
Indian Summers starts on Channel 4 on 15 February at 9pm
INTERVIEWS:DANIELLELAWLER.HILARYMORGAN/FEATSPRESS.JANEODDY.LORRAINEMcBRIDE.PHOTOS:ALPHAPRESS.BBC.CHANNEL4.EROTEME.GETTYIMAGES.LANDMARKMEDIA.REXFEATURES.XPOSUREPHOTOS
Happy days:
Rebecca is in a
“positive place”
thanks to new
daughter
Arabella (inset
above with Mum)
MULTI AWARD-WINNER
JULIE WALTERS
THE MUCH-LOVED ACTRESS ON ENJOYING
AN INDIAN SUMMER AT WORK AND HOME
‘It isn’t all
about roles.
It’s about the
script and
people’
Spice girl: Julie
stars in Indian
Summers as
grande dame
Cynthia, who
rules at the
Royal Club in
1930s India
during the days
of the British Raj
H
Julie with her
husband Grant
Roffey. The
couple live on
an organic
farm in Sussex
H
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