 afternoon. Now Kiki D is coming to Derry for a special concert very shortly, Friday week in fact. And Kiki was the first female singer from Britain to sign with Motown Records, well with Tamla Records and an affiliate of Motown. And well known for big hits like Amorous and I've got the music in me and of course her big duet with Elton John, Don't Go Breaking My Heart and a song that many people have forgotten about, Star. It was the theme song for the talent show Opportunity Knocks back in the 80s. It started out as a session singer to backing vocals for Dusty Springfield among others and then signed with Elton John's label the Rocket Record Company and sang a lot of backing vocals on various Elton John recordings, not just the big hit, Don't Go Breaking My Heart. Anyhow, these days tours with a guitarist and producer and songwriter called Carmelo Lugeri and is, as I say, coming to Derry. The location in Derry is St Augustine's Church and it's on Friday the first of March. I'm delighted that Kiki joins us now for a short chat. Kiki, good afternoon. Hi. How are you? I'm good. More to the point. How are you? I'm very well thanks. I'm very excited about coming over to Ireland again. It's been many, many years and so it's a bit of an experiment for Carmelo and I actually. We're going to come and do a couple of dates and see how it goes. Good, good. And you're playing in a lovely venue in Derry and tell us what we can expect. Will we get the old heads as well as some of your newer material? Well, it's it's what we call a musical journey. We do two sets. We don't do star because it's very much it's very much a pop record and my music kind of evolved since that time, you know, but we do. I've got music in me. We do amourers. We do a slowed down version of Don't Go Breaking My Heart, which we've done for years and some covers of people like Kate Bush and some original music. So it's very, very eclectic. So I'll take star out of my playlist now because I was going to play. No, I love the record. And in fact, the producer, Pitt Williams, is a lifelong friend of mine. Yeah, in fact, I don't know if it's of interest, but his son was the executive producer of Mr. Gates against the Post Office, you know, the documentary, which has been a big help. Yeah. And he's a wonderful man. And it's a good record. It's just it doesn't doesn't kind of fit with with the music we do. OK, OK. Yeah, you have obviously I checked you out on Wikipedia and there's pages and pages and pages of your resume and your musical history. And I see in there as well, musical theatre because you were on stage in the West End many years ago playing the lead in Blood Brothers. And this begs the question, why not more musical theatre? Well, you know, I mean, I was 40 when I did Blood Brothers, and it's a fantastic show. I came to Belfast, actually. I remember coming over there. This we're talking 87. And and I, you know, I felt as though I had unfinished business with singing. And I wouldn't say I'm an actor. And so I kind of went back to my music, you know, which is I decided that that was the direction I wanted to go in, you know, because you have to put all your energy. I do anyway, have to put all my energy into what I'm doing. And so I decided to focus back on my singing and writing. OK, your first year. Yeah. Yeah. And tell us about your association with Elton John, because obviously there was the big hit. But you also sang a lot of backing vocals on on many of his earlier hits. Yeah, I used to tip up at the sessions. I was dating one of the band at the time, you know, you do in the rock world. And, you know, and also he actually produced my first album on Rock It. In fact, I did two albums, which Elton produced. And of course, he produced Samara's as well. So we had Anne P produced Loving and Free, my first ever composition. And so we have quite a musical history, actually, you know, over and above Don't Go Breaking My Heart or Don't Go, as I call it. OK. OK. Yeah, because most people would associate you and him with just that song, but it goes way beyond that. Yeah, you know, it's a funny thing. I once did an interview, which was a questionnaire and it said, Don't Go Breaking My Heart, Milestone or Milstone, which I thought was quite clever. Yeah. And so I I plumbed for Milestone because, you know, it beats my name going, it gives me an opportunity to be free musically. And at my age, you know, I'm not chasing anything. I'm just trying to give pleasure and have fun, you know. On that just before we move on from Elton, on on that mega hit, you actually replaced somebody else. There was there was somebody else lined up originally, wasn't there? Well, apparently, you know, this is a story that goes round. And I think it's a I think it's a bit of a Chinese whisper in that it said that Dusty was lined up to do something with Elton. And the thing is, it wasn't going to be a duet because Gus Dodgen, Elton's producer at the time, and it came up with the idea last minute. I was just going to do a few ooze and arse on it. And he said, why don't you why don't you give Kiki some lines to sing, you know, and then Elton came up with a few. And then he said, well, give her a few more, give her a few more, you know. So that story probably comes from Elton's admiration of Dusty as an artist. And, you know, maybe at one point, I'm surmising now, maybe at one point, you know, he said, you know, I'd love to sing with you or do something with you, you know. But of course, I've sung on some of Dusty's early hits like some of your loving the wonderful Carol King song that she recorded. I love her vocal on that song. Yeah, yeah, brilliant vocalist, obviously. Yeah. And you, what a lot of people might not realise as well, you actually performed at Leavid. Yes, yeah, I got the call. And I was kind of, yeah, I wasn't in the charts in the 80s. So it was a funny period for me, actually. It turned out to be great with the musicals and everything, but I was a bit sort of, what do I do next? I think if I ever wrote the book, which I haven't done, it would be what do I do next, you know? Yeah, he called up and said, would I do it? And I remember very well that George Michael was doing one of his first ever big shows. He was going to guest as well. And I said to him, listen, if you have an apple about an hour before you go on, it'll open you through and you'll feel better. And he did have an apple. And because, you know, his career went on and on, didn't it? All down to the apple. Yeah, all down to the apple. All the apple did it. The apple turned the corner. Yeah, yeah. OK, let's zoom forward now to your current tour and your current dates. And yeah, you toured with Carmelo Lugeri. And how did the, how did that? I mean, you've been touring for years with Carmelo. How did it first come about? Well, actually, it was through a guy called Steve Brown who worked with Elm in the early days. And he put this together again, you know, because I kept in touch with Steve. He ran rocket records, et cetera. And he said, look, I think you should both go off, do what you want, go and do some acoustic shows. And I was a bit thrown by that because I thought, I've never done that, you know? And the first one we did, I burst into tears at the end because it was just so quiet. You know, people were deployed and enjoy it, but it wasn't like a pop rock and a concert. But now I've grown to love it. And yeah, we've been working together for 30 years. I can't believe it. Half of my career nearly. And you've played all sorts of venues from really big festivals to small, intimate venues. I'm thinking about like the Royal Albert Hall and the Walmart festivals and on TV. Yeah, we did. We were very proud to do Walmart because we've done an unusual album at the time, very East West. We're doing Gilfest this year in Gilford. And we did Croppity last year. So and we do art centres, churches, theatres. Yeah. And try and have a good time and give people a good night. OK, well, we look forward to it. It's Friday the 1st of March and it's sent Augustine's Church in Derry. An acoustic live show. Would that be a good way to? Yeah, I mean, I call it, I always say semi-acoustic because we do rock out a bit. And but we also do pin drop quiet songs. So, you know, it's a real mix. Brilliant. OK, well, we look forward to it. Tickets are available now. And if anybody wants more information, they can go to your website. It's Kiki and Carmelo, actually, C-A-R-M-E-L-O dot com. Yeah, it's actually having a bit of a nervous breakdown this morning on the website. Oh, oh. But it's always worth a try. But I've got to get that sorted out. All right. Yeah, it's doing something weird there. And can I? Yeah, I'm listening. Thanks for talking to me. I really appreciate it. It's been a pleasure. It means a lot. It's been a pleasure, Kiki. And can I give you some advice just ahead of the show? Eat an apple, OK? I like it. I'll try that. Yeah, try. Give it a go. Thanks, Kiki. I will. Best look. Bye-bye. Thanks. Bye-bye. Bye-bye.