Kiki Dee and Carmelo Ruggeri: More than 25 years of performing together
BRADFORD soul singer-songwriter Kiki Dee and guitarist Carmelo Luggeri bring their acoustic live show to All Saints Church, Pocklington, tomorrow night.
“I remember playing Pocklington Arts Centre with Carmelo years ago,” she says. “It’s lovely to be back in Pocklington again.”
Kiki and Carmelo have performed together for more than 25 years, from front rooms to churches, and now on The Long Ride Home tour of stripped-back songs that will visit East Riding Theatre, Beverley, too on October 18, the tour taking its title from their 2022 album, the fourth they have made as a duo.
The “long road home”? “I started trying to make it as a singer when I was 16 – I recorded On A Magic Carpet Ride for the Fontana label that year, which is worth a lot now – and now I’m coming to the end of my professional career and still enjoying it, which most of the time I have,” says Kiki, who was born Pauline Matthews in Little Horton, Bradford on March 6 1947.
Kiki has lived in Hertfordshire for 16 years, preceded by 24 in London, but Bradford will always have its place in her heart. “I grew up there and it formed me,” she says. Will she be returning “home” to perform in Bradford’s year as UK City of Culture 2025?
Kiki Dee and Carmelo Luggeri’s itinerary for The Long Road Home tour
“I haven’t got anything confirmed yet, though I did speak to them at the end of last year, when we played Silsden Town Hall [near Keighley] in November, hoping if anything could be worked out, but I haven’t been asked to do anything yet,” she says. Event organisers, please take note.
Now 78, Kiki has her place in British pop history as the first female singer from British shores to sign with Motown’s Tamla Records label in 1970 “I went to Detroit for 12 weeks to record with Frankie Wilson, doing some recordings in what is now the museum, a little house in the suburbs.
“I was over there initially as a guest, but they did sign me. I only had four tracks written for me, so some of the others picked for me were in keys that I wouldn’t have chosen, but as I was so far away from home, I went with it. You always needed ‘the song’ with Motown because they didn’t become an albums label until the 1970s.”
The Motown association continues. “I’m doing four dates as the special guest on Smokey Robinson’s tour this year, at Glasgow, Birmingham Cardiff and London in July,” says Kiki. “Originally they were going for a young soul singer, but I believe Smokey said, ‘No, Kiki Dee would be a better fit’.” Spot on, Smokey!
Tomorrow’s gig in Pocklington will combine Kiki and Carmelo’s stories with haunting songs from The Long Road Home, eclectic covers and Kiki’s treasured hits, I Got The Music In Me, Loving & Free, Amoureuse, Star and the chart-topping Don’t Go Breaking My Heart.
Kiki Dee and Carmelo Ruggeri taking the long road home
Covers, Kiki? “We do Kate Bush’s Running Up That Hill – our version is very different! – and Robert Palmer’s Every Kinda People, Frank Sinatra too, and we’re kicking around some new ideas at the moment,” says Kiki.
“With a semi-acoustic set, we have more flexibility to do what we want than you do in a full band line-up.”
Don’t Go Breaking My Heart will feature, of course: the one that brought Elton John his first UK number one in 1976 in a duet with Kiki. “I was on Elton’s Rocket Record label and Amoureuse had been a hit in the charts. Gus Dudgeon had produced I’ve Got The Music In Me for me, and it was Gus’s idea to try out Don’t Go Breaking My Heart as a duet after originally I was only going to do backing vocals,” she says.
“It came about in a very casual way, and it’s interesting how certain significant events in your life can come out of such relaxed circumstances. Like doing the video in only ten minutes! Who knew it would become so successful. Elton was quite impatient anyway! He was never going to do 16 takes.”
Kiki Dee and Carmelo Luggeri, All Saints Church, Pocklington, Saturday, March 29, 7.30pm. Box office: kikiandcarmelo.com
Gareth Gates: Bringing Valentine romance to York Barbican
GARETH Gates was visiting York Barbican for the first time on Wednesday – or so he thought – to promote his upcoming visit on February 16 with a concert of love songs from the movies.
A perusal through The Press files revealed the Bradford pop singer, musical theatre actor and pantomime regular, now 40, had performed there in Mad About The Musicals, singing the songs of Rodgers & Hammerstein, Kander & Ebb, Boublil & Schönberg and Lloyd Webber & Rice, in November 2015.
Forgive him for not recalling that York performance. After all, much water has passed under the bridge since former Bradford Cathedral head chorister Gareth was piloted to pop success at 17 by his 2002 Pop Idol clash of the stammering northern working-class lad versus the unstoppable southern posh boy, Will Young.
In York, he also had appeared as bad-boy Warner in Legally Blonde The Musical in September 2012 and in his first comedy role as cowboy Willard in Footloose in May 2017, both at the Grand Opera House. “I did two tours of that show and they asked me to do it a third time, but I thought, ‘I’ve ticked that box,” he says.
Tanned, teeth pearly white, hair and beard matinee-idol dark, full and thick, he looked the very picture of gym-toned good health in the Barbican bar, his vocal coach a calming presence by his side as the stammer that never affects his singing or stage performances only rarely punctuated his affable conversation.
“I used to come to York as a child,” he says. “I’m from Bradford and we’d always have a day out here over the summer, bringing me over for a cruise on the River Ouse. I’ve always loved this place, going to the Minster, and being able to perform here over the years has been a thrill.”
His latest return, in the week of St Valentine’s Day, will see producer and performer Gareth leading a company of singers and a four-piece band in Gareth Gates Sings Love Songs From The Movies, a show rooted in his 2002 cover of The Righteous Brothers’ Unchained Melody.
“That was my biggest hit and first ever number one, made famous by that scene in the movie Ghost, and I got thinking about how the world’s greatest love songs come from the movies and how I should do a show built on all those incredible movie songs,” says Gareth.
“The more I’ve looked into it and put together the set list, I realised that the synergy between music and movies is huge, and I hope that tapping into that will be a great move.
“If the show is a roaring success, we could look at doing an album, either as a live concert recording or going into the studio.”
Expect songs from Armageddon, Dirty Dancing, Titanic, A Star Is Born, My Girl, Top Gun and Footloose, among others, in a concert show divided into two sets of “beloved classic ballads, heart-warming melodies, electrifying up-tempo modern hits”. “And of course I’ll be doing Unchained Melody too,” says Gareth.
“I’m working again with Carrie Courtney, who booked the tour for Mad About The Musicals, and I’ve put together an incredible cast featuring West End talent. We have Maggie Lynne, who’s done Wicked and worked with me on a show many, many years ago, and Britt Lenting, a Dutch singer, who’s just finished doing panto with me in Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs at the Churchill Theatre in Bromley, where I was Prince Gareth of Greenwich and she was the Evil Queen.
The tour poster for Gareth Gates Sings Love Songs From The Movies
“We started rehearsals when I was looking to cast the show. I heard her sing and thought, ‘I need you to be in the cast’. She’s done The Phantom Of The Opera, Love Never Dies and Little Mermaid, and she can be very operatic when she sings. She has such a powerhouse voice.
“She made a big name for herself in Holland but in 2016 she decided to take a leap across the water to see if she could make it in the West End and she’s absolutely smashing it.”
Completing Gareth’s vocal line-up will be Dan Herrington. “He’s fresh out of college after studying at Performers College in Essex,” says Gareth. “I like to put together an experienced bunch of performers but I also like to give aspiring, budding talent a chance to shine.
“I went to a showcase at Performers College, heard him sing and booked him straightaway for my autumn tour, where he was one of the Four Seasons in my Gareth Gates Sings Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons show.”
The band from that tour – all of them session musicians from big shows in the West End – will be joining Gareth for the 25-date movie music tour of England, Scotland and Wales. “We also had this crazy idea of taking the Frankie Valli show out again at the same time, doing one show in some cities, the other show in other cities. It seemed like a good idea – I’ll tell you how it goes!”
Gareth has worked with lighting designer Matt Boyles on the movie show’s design. “It’s essentially a concert show, but because of my roots in theatre, there will be a narrative to it too, with an old-school TV screen that we’ll start the show on and then we launch into all these amazing songs, which I’m really excited about singing all in the same show.
“Putting the set list together is based on instinct and experience over the years of doing these shows, which counts for a lot. If, after the first show or two, we feel something doesn’t work where we’ve placed it, we will change things up, based on the reaction of the crowd. I’m a great believer in that: you have to read the room.”
Gareth has lived in London since his Pop Idol discovery at 17, “but any opportunity I get to come back to Yorkshire, I do,” he says. “The first house I ever bought was up here in Yorkshire, on the edge of the Dales, which I bought for my family and I still have a house up here. I come up as often as I can and Yorkshire will always be my home.”
Hence his Love Songs tour will open in Yorkshire in Valentine’s week with shows at Wakefield Theatre Royal on February 10 and Hull Connexin Live on February 13, as well as York Barbican on February 16, and later dates at Bradford St George’s Hall on March 14 and Sheffield City Hall on March 28, while Gareth Gates Sings Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons will play the Victoria Theatre, Halifax, on March 1.
He has filmed a piece for ITV’s Calendar show on Bradford City of Culture 2025, visiting “some of the places where I grew up, like my old school Dixons City Academy and Bradford Cathedral, where I joined the choir when I was nine and was head boy chorister at 11,” recalls Gareth.
“I sang for The Queen at the Maundy Thursday Service in 1997 when I was 12 and was given Maundy money as I was the head boy soprano soloist, so essentially I was working for The Queen!
“For that sort of pressure to land on your shoulders at that age was a challenge, but all great training for what was to come.”
“The more I’ve looked into it and put together the set list, I realised that the synergy between music and movies is huge, and I hope that tapping into that will be a great move,” says Gareth Gates
Gareth had the honour of meeting HM The Queen again on his 18th birthday. “I was invited to Buckingham Palace for a Young Achievers ceremony after I’d helped many people with stammering and speech impediments. She didn’t remember me singing at the Maundy service!.”
Gareth hopes to take part in Bradford’s year as City of Culture, on top of his home-city performance of Gareth Gates Sings Love Songs From The Movies. “We’re in talks about doing a show at Bradford Live, the brand new venue at the old Bradford Odeon, hopefully towards the end of the year,” he reveals. Watch this space.
Gareth’s diary is ever busy. “I’m constantly working, and the biggest thing I’ve learned of late is not to overdo it,” he says. “I’m very fortunate to be as much in demand as I’ve ever been. There’s never been a dry spell – I find it hard to say ‘No’ – though I do have to at times.
“In 2023 I worked the most I’d ever worked with only ten nights off. It was a mixture of work, like performing every night when I was on board on cruise ships, with my own lounge, and also doing pantomime and The SpongeBob Musical, which was a fun show to do.
“I did lots of festivals, lots of Nineties and Noughties shows, and do you know what, I did burn out. I did way too much, so last year I eased off when I could, and this year I’ll be trying to do a little less – and that’s through the fear of my voice becoming slightly smashed. I do have to be careful with it and look after it.”
Staying fit is important to Gareth. “I’m massively into the gym,” he says. “I’m a health freak! I get all that right but I am very guilty of over-working.”
Twenty-three years on from Pop Idol, he and Will Young maintain their friendship. “I’ve only stayed in touch with Will and with Zoe Birkett too from that time. We’re really good friends; we hook up whenever we can – I spoke to him last week.”
Looking back to 2002, he says: “We went into it completely blind, not knowing what to expect, and we had each other to rely on throughout. Then we had a number one hit together with The Long And Winding Road and went on tour together. We were the guinea pigs of it all but we could fall back on each other.”
Pop careers rooted in the hothouse of talent shows can crash and burn, but not so with Gareth. “I’m fortunate that people have not turned on me, but a big part of that is I’ve not changed from the person I was, whereas you open yourself up to criticism if you do. I’ve stuck with the same people, always being grounded, rather than overstepping the mark,” he says.
“The danger of pop stars losing their way is if they surround themselves with ‘yes’ people, and then the moment someone goes against them and says ‘No’, that’s their downfall. I’ve kept the friends I’ve always had around me and they’ve kept me the person I’ve always been.”
He may live in London, but you cannot take the Yorkshireman out of Gareth. “It’s massively important to me,” he says. “I take a lot of pride in keeping my roots. My accent is still quite broad and I actually enjoy that. I get a lot out of coming from Bradford and Yorkshire. It’s made me the person I am. I love being from Yorkshire – and I love playing to a home crowd as they love to see a Yorkshireman doing well.”
Gareth Gates Sings Love Songs from The Movies – A Valentine Special, York Barbican, February 16, 7.30pm. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk. Also Hull Connexin Live, February 13, 7.30pm. Box office: connexinlivehull.com.
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