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Celtic Park will 'flash before my eyes on deathbed' says Shakespears Sister star


When Bananarama and Shakespears Sister star Siobhan Fahey is on her death bed, she’ll be thinking of Paradise. Not heaven. The other one – Celtic Park.

The Dublin-born singer, 60, used to go to Celtic games as a kid with her dad Joseph and one of her proudest memories was when Shakespears Sister were chosen by Prince to support him at his gig in 1992.

Siobhan, who has teamed up again with Marcella Detroit after a three-decade-long fallout, said:
Celtic Park was a massive stand-out memory for both of us.

“When I’m on my death bed and my life is flashing before my eyes, that will be one of them.

Keren Woodward, Siobhan Fahey and Sara Dallin in Bananarama

 

“My dad used to take me to see Celtic when I was at a convent school in Edinburgh. I used to watch them all the time so going back to actually play it was a double whammy for me.

“He was super-proud of me playing Celtic Park.”

Sadly, Siobhan’s dad has passed on, as has Prince, but Marcella, 66, who co-wrote Eric Clapton’s hit Lay Down Sally and sang Shakespears Sister’s biggest hit Stay, which was No1 for nine weeks in 1992, reckons the Celtic Park gig was her biggest achievement – even though they never got to meet the Purple One.

She said: “I think the biggest honour was when we were summoned by Prince to support him at Celtic Park. He watched us from the wings but we never made it into his private party, unfortunately.”

Last week, they stunned the music industry with the announcement of their reunion which includes a new single All The Queen’s Horses, out tomorrow, a single collection and a tour, Shakespears Sister Ride Again, which sees them returning to Glasgow in November.

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Now living in Los Angeles, as is Marcella, Siobhan said: “I love Scotland. I have such fond memories. I went to a convent school there from 12 for a couple of years. It was like a Jean Brodie kind of place.”

In the 80s, Siobhan was a third of Bananarama before she quit in 1988 at the height of their success and formed Shakespears Sister – first as a solo exercise, with Marcella as a hired hand.

But David A Stewart, Siobhan’s then husband and the father of her two kids (and half of Eurythmics), suggested they should team up and, as well as Stay – which still holds the record for longest run at No1 by a UK girl band – had top 10 hits with You’re History and I Don’t Care, while debut album Sacred Heart and follow-up Hormonally Yours both went top 10.

But Stay’s video of the two of them battling on the Moon for an unconscious man’s earthly soul leaked into real life and the pals fell out. Marcella was publicly axed from the band at the Ivor Novello Awards in 1993.

Siobhan carried on, teaming up with Scot Bobby Bluebell, who she’d co-written Bluebells No1 Young
at Heart with – but without Marcella the spark wasn’t there.

The ice melted after Siobhan reunited with Bananarama in 2017. Her friendships with Sara Dallin and Keren Woodward mended, Siobhan’s thoughts turned to Marcella.

Siobhan said: “Going back into Bananarama and celebrating what we meant to each other and what we’d achieved together was the beginning of the whole journey. That had to happen for this to happen.”

Siobhan and Marcella agreed to meet for a coffee and, after some initial awkwardness, rekindled the relationship – as friends and musicians.

Shakespears Sister’s single All the Queen’s Horses is out tomorrow

 

But Siobhan said: “The first meet-up was airing the awful grievances left to fester for 26 years. We realised it was time to make our peace with each other and our past, not drag it all to the grave.

They booked into an Airbnb out in the desert to patch up the friendship through music and five days later had two tracks, new single All the Queen’s Horses and C U Next Tuesday both of which will be on their singles collection.

Going back on the road holds no fear. Siobhan said: “It’s a very different feeling. All the misunderstandings, paranoia and misconstruing have been settled.”

Siobhan seems more at peace after years of depression which saw her check herself into a psychiatric unit in the 90s.

She said: “I think as you get older, you try to work on your demons and evolve so you can mend things that might have been broken earlier.

“And finally, a year ago, I was ready to face it. Marcy had reached out a few times over the years but I hadn’t been able to deal with it.”

In the 90s, Shakespears Sister were women in a male-dominated industry. Siobhan said: “I think we were pioneering women. We’ve never seen ourselves as any different or lesser than men.”

● Shakespears Sister’s single All the Queen’s Horses is out tomorrow. Singles Party is out on July 19. They play the Royal Concert Hall, Glasgow on November 8.





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