Interview: Jane McDonald

11:17am Friday 1st August 2008

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JANE McDonald admits she's a bit tired when she answers the phone for our interview.

She's been up since the early hours filming for ITV's Loose Women, on which she's a regular presenter, and I'm her last in a long afternoon of interviews.

But she's still warm and friendly, and it's not long before she's cracking jokes.

"I love doing Loose Women but the early mornings are what kill us," says Jane.

"We all roll into make-up looking like the cast of Prisoner Cell Block H and come out looking human."

She's doing a blaze of publicity at the moment to promote two things: a brand new album, entitled Jane, which includes five self-penned songs; and a documentary, Return to the Cruise, which celebrates the 10th anniversary of the docu-soap that made her famous, to be shown on BBC2 on Friday, August 8.

She's also touring her new material, starting with a gig at Blackpool Winter Gardens tonight.

"I'm nervous, of course I am," she says.

"I've done it with my own money and it's a huge leap of faith.

"I could be living in a caravan this time next year!

"But I thought to myself 'If I don't do it now, I'm never going to do it'.

"People have suggested doing my own music before but I've never felt ready. Now I'm ready."

Chances are it will be a huge success. Jane has some of the most loyal fans in the music business.

"I've got fantastic fans," Jane agrees. "And they're ready for this album to come out.

"I workshop my stuff to death before I ever release it and I know this is the stuff they want to hear.

"I'm very grateful to my fans. If it wasn't for them I wouldn't be here and it's thanks to them I'm still going strong after 10 years.

"A lot of my fans have become really good friends — the first four rows of my concerts are usually always the same so I get to see them a lot."

To write the album Jane and co-writer Lisa Harman "holed themselves up" for a week and worked non-stop.

"It was a cathartic experience," says Jane.

"We were both going through some tough things at the same time we were inspired at the same time, which was lucky.

"A bit of tragedy doesn't do you any harm — might as well use it to make a few bob," she jokes.

Return to the Cruise, celebrating 10 years since the hit show which made her famous, hits our screens next week and Jane laughs when I tell her I'm excited about seeing it.

"Oh, behave," she chastises. "They've been on at me to do it for a while and I always said no but one day I thought 'Who do you think you are? If it wasn't for The Cruise you wouldn't be where you are today.’ "It's been really fun watching it all back and it's been great to see how people have changed and come on.

"Everybody's done really well. They're all really successful."

At the time Jane says she didn't have a clue the show would propel her to fame.

"All I was bothered about was keeping my job," she says.

But that it did. The show was watched by 14 million viewers and made Jane a celebrity overnight. Her wedding to Henrik Brixen in 1998 was televised by the BBC, although the couple have since divorced. After signing a major-label recording contract, Jane began to carve out a mainstream showbiz career, first as a guest presenter on BBC's National Lottery and subsequently with her debut album Jane McDonald, which spent three weeks at number 1 in the UK album chart.

In 2000, Jane released her autobiography Follow Your Dreams.

She's since launched her own haute couture collection, released six more albums, performed in Vegas and become a regular presenter on daytime TV's Loose Women.

But despite all of this, Jane says nothing beats performing in front of a live audience.

"Touring is the best bit for me," she says.

"I get to see the fans and I'm most confident singing live.

"It's my grown-up proper job. Doing TV is OK for my spare time but performing is where my heart is."

* See Jane McDonald at Blackpool Winter Gardens tonight, August 1; Palace Theatre in Manchester on September 20; and Floral Hall in Southport on October 5.