In Conversation with…

Clare Grogan

Catherine Lawson

For many of us growing up in the 80s, Happy Birthday was the soundtrack to our youth. Now, 45 years later, Clare Grogan is about to hit the road again with Altered Images to perform that iconic album in front of audiences across the UK.

I begin by asking: “How does that feel?”

“I’m really super excited about it. It’s almost like coming full circle. I genuinely love that it’s bringing me back to the person I was then. When I first started out, I was kind of fearless, a little bit gobby… I wasn’t looking for permission or approval, I was just being me. All that stuff falls away a bit as your career moves on, so it’s kind of taking me back to being that bold person again.”

When you look back to that young girl you were in the 80s, is there any part of you that feels the same today as you were then?

“Yeah. I think I’m essentially the same person, I really do, with a lot more experience. And that’s the challenge in it for me, because those songs came from a place of real naivety and there was still a kind of rawness to the band as well. I can’t wipe out all the experiences I’ve had since that moment, but I’m going to really enjoy performing those songs as I did back then.”

It sounds like quite a personal challenge. How do you begin to prepare for a tour which celebrates an album first released four and a half decades ago?

“As part of the process of putting the tour together, we’ve been looking at a lot of footage of me at that age and sometimes it’s quite hard to watch because I’m so young, and literally clueless about the business I’m entering into. But there was something in me that just kept going. And I suppose I feel protective towards my younger self because I look back and think, my god Clare, you had no idea what you were walking into, but I walked in willingly, danced in willingly, with no idea what was going to come. I can’t be 18 – I’ve no desire to be 18 again – but I have to find somewhere in my head that lets me be that person again.”

The post punk era was an interesting time for women in music. Do you think it changed the industry for women, allowing you to be more unapologetically yourself as a female artist?

“One hundred per cent. I looked at women like Siouxsie Sioux and Debbie Harry and they just had this whole new thing going on. Those women really spoke to me, because as much as I loved the likes of Judy Garland and Diana Ross, they were from a different world. And even though Siouxsie Sioux came from a different world from me originally, I became part of her world when I was still at school. It was mad. I often think, how lucky am I to come from a generation of women who said, ‘on you go… what’s stopping you…?’.”

Not everyone who started in the late 70s/early 80s has managed to sustain a career like you have. What keeps you motivated as a performer?

“I love being a lead singer and I really do think if you’re going to do it, give it everything you’ve got. Throw everything at it. There aren’t many women my age who do what I do, and I think there’s maybe something a little bit crazy about that, but it’s who I am. Ultimately, it’s surprised me, the extent of my desire to keep this going. I’ve always loved this business, and I’ve always been a bit of a performer, and to still get to be part of an industry which is so tough is just amazing. I just always want to put on a really good show. And I think a lot of it is about realising that if you have something to say you can say it, and if it genuinely comes from the heart, anything’s possible. You can’t just go through the motions in this business – it has to come from the heart.”

Looking ahead to your upcoming tour, what do you want for your audiences who’ll be coming to see you in September?

“I want my audiences to feel part of it. That’s my favourite thing about it all now – my relationship with the audience. Because I look out at them and I think, right, we’ve all been through some s**t but we’re all in this room together now, connecting, through music, which is amazing. I want it to be a shared, joyous occasion.”