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The Kirsty MacColl web site
1978 - 1986
It all proved too much for the then 22 year old Kirsty in '81!
Plus those early TV appearances listed for the first time.
1978 Kirsty appeared as backing singer with Drug Addix in and around London. They certainly played at the Venue in London at some stage. Did they support Graham Parker or was that just a rumour?
Top
of the PopsMay 8 & May 22, 1980. Jona Lewie performed Kitchen at Parties on TOTP. Kirsty appeared on backing vocals on at least one of these shows, sporting a lemon coloured dress and looking very nervous.
June 25, 1981. Kirsty appeared on the classic UK pop hits show performing Chip Shop. This show was presented by Simon Bates.
July 9, 1981. A second outing for Chip Shop, this show presented by Jimmy Saville, Alan Freeman and Pete Murray. (Show details from the TOTP website). Not clear which show the image came from, but it was apparently the 900th edition of the program.
September 10, 1981. Performing on the German equivalent (Musikladen 64) with Chip Shop.
October 12, 1981 (etc.)
Kirsty's debut tour of Irish ballrooms on the back of Chip Shop proved such a harrowing experience that it was another eight years before she returned to the stage as a solo artist.
"I was nervous before I went but I was absolutely shitting myself by
the time I got home!" she recalls, with the air of someone who's now exorcised
that particular demon. "I was extremely ill prepared for it: I was very
young. I didn't have much guidance and it was thrown together at the last minute.
I've also got a very quiet voice, and though it's a lot louder now, it's not
exactly Tina Turner! The band made a hell of a noise, and I couldn't hear myself
at all. Being young. I didn't realise that you can tell 'em to turn down. I
just couldn't imagine why anyone would put themselves in that position for
pleasure."
The band on this tour included Lu Edmonds. "We did studio stuff and then went on what was for her a very difficult tour around Ireland, the ballrooms, because she had a very bad case of stage fright. We had Terry Woods playing with us. It was a really bizarre bunch, with muggins here on the guitar. We did the ballrooms, from Lochrae to Letterkenny, all the way down to Cashel, Limerick, Dublin. Frank Murray was tour managing it, who was the Pogues manager later, and before that he was Thin Lizzy's tour manager, so it was really Irish. It was great. We went to Strand Hill with Planxty's manager who ran a pub and who put the gig on there."
25 December 1981. The annual Christmas version of the chart show
featured Chip Shop in all its splendour - its third appearance on the show
that year!
February 10, 1983. Performing on the German TV Show (Musikladen 77) with Matchbox, performing I want out .
January 26, 1984. Performing Terry on the German TV Show (Musikladen 85) Matchbox, with Lemmy from Motorhead on guitar trying to keep up. "I was on guitar, dressed in shades and a teddyboy outfit, and I sank to my knees during a guitar solo - actually, I had no idea what I was playing."
June 1985? Record Mirror said this: "This afternoon, Kirsty is rehearsing for a spot on the Wogan show singing He's On The Beach. Even for such a short slot it takes three rehearsals getting the camera angles right. Still, as the show has upwards of seven million viewers it's an audience not to be missed." So presumably this show went out at some point.
© freeworld 1995 - 2008 [ www.kirstymaccoll.com ]
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