The chart-topping star Michael Ball's UK tour with long-time collaborator Alfie Boe culminated in a huge Christmas show at London’s O2 Arena last month.
As well as four hugely successful albums in partnership with Alfie Boe, Michael Ball has more than three decades of solo success, including debut solo single Love Changes Everything, which peaked at No.2 in 1989.
His self-titled debut solo album was released in May 1992 and peaked at No.1 - the first of five chart-toppers including 2019's Coming Home To You. Last year's solo album We Are More Than One made No.2.
Alongside his career as a recording and touring artist, Michael Ball is a popular broadcaster on BBC Radio 2.
Here, he reflects on his career so far, overcoming nerves, the late Captain Tom, and the strangest birthday he’s ever had…
It was my partner Cathy McGowan who encouraged me to diversify my career…
“We met 30-odd years ago. I was doing Aspects Of Love and she said, ‘You really could have a career outside the theatre – you should make records and do concerts.’ It had never occurred to me I could do that. So I made a conscious decision to go into the studio, to make an album, to learn how to do concerts. It changed everything, a completely different trajectory.”
Alfie Boe and I just work well together…
“We’re really different as people and different vocally, but there’s something that connects us, something works. We know each other’s strengths and weaknesses, we know how to complement each other musically. We’ve learned that it’s not him and me – it’s us. I think that comes from a theatrical world for me, because you’re part of the show, you’re not the show, so it’s all about creating the best frame for doing it as a team, and not thinking of it as yourself. Because Alfie and I have been doing this now for a while, there’s a shorthand. We know what’s going to work, we just get a feel.”
I learned how to channel nerves…
“Way back in the day when I was doing Les Misérables, I had a real crisis and left the show because I was having panic attacks. It was all tied up with not feeling well: I had ME so I didn’t have the physical wherewithal to get through it. I understood that you have to look after yourself physically in order to look after yourself mentally. It was hitting that low point and realising it’s ‘shit or get off the pot’. And I decided to shit! I went, ‘I’m gonna do this.’ I still get really nervous, but I’ve learnt to use that adrenaline positively.”
The trick to singing festive hymns in arenas is…
“Being inclusive and being yourself and having faith in the music and the band. Alfie and I get on well on stage so it’s trying to stay relaxed. It’s very easy to get overwhelmed if you think too hard about it: you’re at the O2, it’s sold out and you’re thinking, ‘Oh, man, this is too big, can I do this?’ You can’t let yourself go down that route. You have to remember that the audience are here because they want to see you. People don’t want you to fail. They just want to have a good time.”
Enjoy the good times, trust that the bad times will pass…
“‘This too shall pass’ is the greatest lesson any of us can learn. When you’re having these phenomenal highs, they’re not going to last forever, so enjoy them. When things are going badly, you never know what’s around the corner; something will take you down a different path and the bad times will be in the past. Try not to get stuck in the moment.”
Going to No.1 with Captain Tom Moore was a beautiful moment in my life…
“It came along when things were really bleak for everybody in my industry. I was lucky because I was still working on the radio. Tom came on because I’d heard about his campaign [to raise money for NHS charities during the coronavirus pandemic] – he’d got a few thousand pounds at that point. The idea came to me as I was talking to Tom on breakfast TV, going, ‘We could have a No.1 for his 100th birthday.’ It was Tom’s triumph. I was watching the news and suddenly we were in a feature about Tom hitting No.1 aged 100. I’m going, ‘Fucking hell, we’ve made the news!’ It was great.”
The most surreal moment of my career is…
“When I was doing my TV show back in the ’90s. It was my birthday and, at the end of recording, on came Cher and Tony Bennett singing Happy Birthday to me, pushing a cake in the shape of my dog that had been made by Jane Asher. I couldn’t cut the cake because it was my dog. And then I’ve got Cher and Tony Bennett singing Happy Birthday! Very surreal.”
INTERVIEW: Niall Doherty
