Festival Fever Nears Climax as Beverley Prepares to Host Major Artists

With several hit records under her sleeve including Answer Me, The Caravan Song and January, February, plus various awards for her acting, Barbara Dickson must surely be considered a major coup for the Beverley Festival.

Having begun her singing career in folk clubs around her native Fife in Scotland, she later went on to perform live on stage in the musical John, Paul, George, Ringo….and Bert which became a smash hit.

She later became the guest resident on the series The Two Ronnies and Andrew Lloyd Webber with Tim Rice, invited her to record Another Suitcase in Another Hall from their new musical Evita, which became her second hit single in 1977.

Her role as Mrs Johnstone in Blood Brothers gained her Actress of the Year in a Musical from the Society of West End Theatres in 1984. Her TV dramas including Taggart, Band of Gold and The Missing Postman. She also starred in Spend, Spend, Spend, for which she was awarded ‘Best Actress in a Musical’ at the 2000 Laurence Olivier Awards.

She recorded the song I Know Him So Well, with Elaine Paige, which became a huge hit worldwide and remained at the number one spot in the UK singles charts for many weeks.

But her first love is music and The Daily Telegraph said of her ‘it is no exaggeration to describe [her] as a great singer… without dismissing the work she has done in the other three decades of her career, this is Dickson at her most engaging.’ She has now firmly established herself as one of the most popular, enduring and versatile performers in the UK.

At Beverley she will be performing a mixture of songs from her latest album Words Unspoken, which reflects her traditional roots, along with some of her classic hits.

Billy Connolly said “I love Barbara Dickson. From the very first time I heard her, her voice just nailed me to the wall! Her voice has that kind of smoothness… she’s just a one-off”.