Last updated 10:19, Saturday, 24 May 2008

When Nicki French was asked if she’d consider recording a song for the Eurovision Song Contest she couldn’t wait to get in the studio.

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Eight years on: Nicki French on stage in Brazil

Carlisle-born Nicki, who shot to fame in 1995 after selling more than five million copies of her debut single Total Eclipse of the Heart, remembers getting the phone call from producer John Springate.

“I had worked with John on Total Eclipse of the Heart but he was cagey about asking me about a track for Eurovision because he didn’t realise I was a huge fan of it,” she said.

“He played me the song and I loved it.”

It was in 2000 that the song Don’t Play That Song Again was short-listed as one of the UK songs and Nicki went to the live final in London and won her ticket to the show in Stockholm.

She said: “I was so proud. I am very patriotic and it was the most amazing feeling.

“There was a great atmosphere at the final, everybody was so friendly.”

She loves the whole Eurovision experience and can’t wait for tonight’s show.

She likes the UK’s entry this year – Even If by 2005 X Factor runner-up Andy Abraham.

“I met Andy a few years ago and I love the song,” she said. “It is funky but classy.

“Everyone always complains about the voting and Terry Wogan’s commentary but I think it is part of the quirkiness of the whole experience. I watched Eurovision in Finland in 1999 and it wasn’t the same without Wogan.

“I would love to represent the UK again.”

Nicki made up for coming 16th in the contest by winning a Weakest Link Eurovision special in 2004.

She said: “Gina G had pulled out because she had gone into labour so they asked me to fill in. I was quite scared as Ann Robinson is very dominating. I was thrilled to win and raised a lot of money for Cancer Research.”

Nicki was born in Carlisle and lived in Durdar and Kirkstone Crescent, off Dunmail Drive, until she was four, when the family moved to Kent.

And she showed signs of a talent in music from an early age.

She said: “One of my earliest memories is singing to the top 20 on the radio. My godmother auntie Sally said that I was going to be a singer when I grew up.”

Nicki performed O Little Town of Bethlehem when she was seven in a school concert and this was her first taste of performing.

Other members of her family were musical, with her mother Eileen playing the violin and her dad Joe playing the drums. Her brother Tim is also a musician although her sisters Allison and Carolyn have stayed away from music.

After studying music and drama at West Kent College she made the move to London, where she started auditioning for theatre shows and bands and working pubs and clubs. It wasn’t long before she started appearing on the gay club scene and at a gig in a Cardiff club she met producer John Springate, who has had a huge influence on her career.

It was in 1994 that they recorded the Bonnie Tyler track Total Eclipse of the Heart.

Nicki said: “John had been approached about doing a dance version of Total Eclipse of the Heart and was asked if he knew a singer.

“I had worked in his studio before and so he asked me. I wasn’t very keen at first because I thought you shouldn’t muck around with such a classic song but the involvement of Mike Stock meant it was made into more of a mainstream song.”

The song reached number five in the UK and number two in the Billboard Hot 100 in America and reached number one in Australia, Japan, Brazil, Israel, Spain, Holland and Canada.

The success of the single meant Nicki was asked to appear on Top of the Pops, an experience she describes as ‘surreal’.

“Growing up I always wanted to be on the show,” she said. “It is a funny feeling because your dream has been realised so what do you do next?

“The song beat Michael Jackson’s single Scream in the American charts which was a great feeling.”

Nicki released her debut album Secrets later that year, which sold more than 50,000 copies in its first week of sale in the USA. Her second album French Revolution includes tracks co-written by Nicki.

From this point Nicki started touring and although things are not as hectic now, she still performs and tours, working with her own band and priding herself on the fact that she always sings live.

She said: “I don’t like miming because I feel it is short-changing the audience and I think people appreciate that.

“I have worked hard at my stagecraft. I don’t just stand there and sing and I think this is where a lot of today’s artists fall down. You have to have personality and bring this into your performance.”

Last year Nicki toured in Brazil and she is due to perform at Stockholm Pride in July.

She is currently an understudy for Menopause the Musical and the show is in the middle of a tour in Ireland. She hopes to be involved in more musical theatre in the future.

“Menopause the Musical is a celebration of that time of a woman’s life,” she said “It is full of famous songs but the words have been changed. The song Hot Stuff has been changed to Night Sweats. It is very funny.

“I always wanted to do musical theatre. I think there is more longevity in theatre than music.”