Jane McDonald

0:03Jessie Ware: Jessie's new album, Superbloom, is available to pre-order now. There's a 10 % discount if you go to her store, jessieware.com, and put in table manners. James Norton's not included. T's and C's apply.

0:17Lennie Ware: Dancing through circles of time It lets me leave It's Mr. Rice

0:29Lennie Ware: Hello and welcome to Table Manners. I'm Jessie Ware and I'm here in my kitchen with my mum. She's got her leopard print on. She's just given me a bag of food that I didn't ask for, which now I will have to use, even though I had an Ocado order this morning. So thanks for that mum.

0:44Jessie Ware: There's five of you in the house. Yeah, do you think my children eat lettuce? But you do.

0:48Lennie Ware: But maybe I didn't fancy letters tonight, Lenny. You can have it tomorrow. Yeah, it's like wilting, nearly dead, but yeah. Where are you going tomorrow, Mum? Sri Lanka. Ooh, Lenny.

0:59Jessie Ware: I'll be in Colombo on Saturday. Oh, that's the best. Can't wait. The best time. Going everywhere. Colombo, Dambula, Kandilama. How are you travelling around in cars?

1:09Lennie Ware: Chauffeur. I know, it's so fun.

1:12Jessie Ware: I'm going to try and get down to the south and go to Papasanth.

1:16Lennie Ware: Oh yeah, St. Margot sent you. Yeah, St.

1:20Jessie Ware: Margot sent me.

1:21Lennie Ware: So today we have...

1:24Jessie Ware: Oh, an icon at home.

1:25Lennie Ware: National treasure, absolutely.

1:28Jessie Ware: Absolute icon.

1:29Lennie Ware: Grey star screens in 1998 on a BBC One documentary about cruise ships. She was the kind of breakout star and the nation fell in love with her. Jane MacDonald was a cruise ship singer. She was completely warm and open and fabulous. And she was just kind of cherished from that day on.

1:55Jessie Ware: Well, she's a Yorkshire lass, isn't she? She has made, I think, over 10 studio records.

2:02Lennie Ware: She's headlined the MGM.

2:04Jessie Ware: Number one.

2:05Lennie Ware: Yep. Yeah.

2:07Jessie Ware: BAFTA.

2:08Lennie Ware: Yep. With her Channel 5 show Cruising with Jane MacDonald, where she goes and travels around. She was one of the first panel members on Loose Women, I believe. And we just love her. She's also covered one of my songs. She does very famous covers.

2:22Jessie Ware: Which song does she cover, darling? Remember Where You Are. She didn't do another one of yours.

2:27Lennie Ware: Don't know.

2:27Jessie Ware: She didn't do Say You Love Me.

2:29Lennie Ware: I mean, if she hasn't, she should.

2:31Jessie Ware: Okay.

2:32Lennie Ware: And she's coming on to talk about her new Nashville country-inspired album, Living the Dream.

2:38Jessie Ware: Yeah.

2:39Lennie Ware: Which she actually made in the Blackbird Studios, which is in Nashville, which is a very famous studio. And it's fab.

2:46Jessie Ware: I wonder when you make a country album whether you have to drink bourbon.

2:50Lennie Ware: We can ask her. Jane MacDonald coming up on Tegermannons.

3:02Lennie Ware: Jane MacDonald. Oh my God, I'm here. You've just come in with the biggest bouquet of flowers, giving me the most gorgeous cuddle. it's really nice to finally meet you oh right back at you can I just say your cover of Remember Where You Are is fantastic and it gave me it was like a career highlight for me seeing you do a cover of my song so thank you well thank you for doing it because it's one of the best songs I think in a long long time it's one of those songs that I had to stop the car you know that and just listen to it and it was just, because I don't know about it, my favourite artist is Minna Ripperton.

3:43Lennie Ware: Oh, well, she's my dream, yeah. And I thought, this is as close to Minna Ripperton as I can. And it was just like, so I've been a fan of yours for such a long time. Thank you. How can we talk about those? Let's drink to that. Oh, lovely. And congrats on the new record. Thank you. And congrats on yours. Oh, thank you. Cheers, Mum. Cheers, darling. And, well, I mean, before we get into the new record, How do you When you've done You've done some really iconic covers Jaiho Yeah Big one You with the Two bits of material Oh no Fucking Nobody needs a dancer You've got two bits of material And you're giving it It's amazing Can do anything with soft furnishings Re-upholster your body Absolutely You've done Kate by the Ocean Yeah Do you know what that means?

4:28No What does it mean?

4:30Lennie Ware: Are we allowed to say? Well yeah Well I thought I heard it was really dirty Yeah Did you hear about that? I've heard it's really dirty and I said, la, la, la, la. Don't, because I sing it in my show. I mean, but then I heard someone, I think they've like PG'd it on the internet. Oh, I love this. I am quite naive. I don't know if you've noticed that. But I just think it's about having a piece of Victoria's Sponge,

4:55Jessie Ware: looking out at sea, looking out at a cup of tea. Yeah. And that's how I picture it. And my fans all sing along. And I love it. And they don't know.

5:04Lennie Ware: Your cake by the ocean would be a Victoria sponge. It would love, yeah. Yeah. Drinking, a cup of tea? A cup of tea or champagne. Okay.

5:11Jessie Ware: You know. Do you like champagne the best? Love champagne. Me too. I do. It is my favourite go to drink. Me too.

5:18Lennie Ware: So we are so happy to have you on. And it feels like, I mean, you've had such a huge career. And yet you're still Jane that everyone feels like they fell in love with on the cruise ship. And you're exactly the same. Well, that's very kind of you to say. I don't take it too seriously. I just think, blimey, I'm still here. I can't believe it, really. I love what I do, and I never take it for granted. And I feel blessed to be able to do what I do and travel the world and sing. I mean, we've got a gift that is God-given. We're so lucky that we get to do it, yeah. And it's joyful. And I've always thought, I'm great if I'm feeling a bit down.

6:04and I think, what are you doing? Change that vibration, girl. You know, and so I'm into that a little bit and I sort of think how blessed, really, that we are to do a job that we do.

6:18Lennie Ware: Do you still get nervous? Oh, God, yeah. Okay. What do you do to calm your nerves? Click it. Okay. So I used to be so bad, I used to be sick. Oh, wow. You know, nausea, sweats, palms. Was this before the cruise ships in the clubs? Yeah. Was that when you were the most nervous? Okay. So, and I've always been a sickly child as well. I was a very sickly child. Really? I've always been on my mum's apron. I was pathetic, actually. I was a bit pathetic.

6:45Jessie Ware: You were shy, weren't you? Very shy. Very, very shy. Are you just an only child? No, no. I've got a lovely sister and a fabulous brother. You know, my sister can't even believe I do what I do, really, because Janet will say, you were so mongey as a kid. Mangey? Mangey. Oh, mongey is a Yorkshire word darling. Orkstra. Very, you know. It's a bit like.

7:05Lennie Ware: You'd call it a Mary Mian. Yeah.

7:06Jessie Ware: Or a bit Mardy. A bit Mardy, yeah. Mardy. Do you know Mardy?

7:10Lennie Ware: Wasn't that a bit more attitudy?

7:12Jessie Ware: No. Do you remember Arctic Monkeys? Mardy ass.

7:15Lennie Ware: Oh, okay. Yeah.

7:16Jessie Ware: Mardy is like. I get the air pop culture reference. Kind of miserable. Not very. Yeah. Not very joyful. No, I wasn't. I was always sick. Very nervous, you know. And so when my mother said, you know, go off and sing. I was like, please don't make me do this. And my dad used to argue with my mother and say, Jean, just leave her, leave her. But she didn't. She just kind of pushed a little bit. Because she knew you had a sad voice. Well, I won't go that far, but she knew I had a way of earning a living. So she sort of pushed a little. And then when I got the microphone, it was a different thing, really.

7:51Jessie Ware: So how did it begin, Jean? Well, I got an old piano. We went to a house. We were moving house at the time. and there was a piano in it and I just went over to it and played a tune. You're joking? Just played a tune on the piano. How? I don't know. She's got a good melody, haven't you? How old were you then? I was probably about seven. Wow. So that's when I knew, how long is it, some musical. So then my mother sent me to piano lessons and my first teacher said she's not got a musical note in her body. So my mother sent me to a blind man called Francis Walker, who was incredible, and he got me to grade seven.

8:29in piano. Wow. Yeah. Wow. That's brilliant. So that, so I, I play, yeah. Cause I write and that's what I do all my songs on. That's amazing.

8:41Jessie Ware: But then when did the singing start? So, well, I, this lovely piano player, Francis, uh, he had a, an accordion band and said to me, do you sing at all? I went, yeah, I can't, yeah, I can sing. And he just played something and I, I started to sing and, and he went, I want you to stop piano lessons and I want you to go to singing lessons. And I went, is it that bad? You know, cause I thought, Oh, you thought you could, I didn't think. And I said, Oh, please don't tell my mother, please don't tell my mother that you're sacking me from piano because I'd already had one teacher. And anyway, he talked to my mother and she found the money.

9:19She got a job in a corner shop and she sent me to both. So I still did piano and then I went to singing lessons as well. Jane needs to tell you what her first word was. Downtown.

9:31Jessie Ware: Bloody hell. I know, because... Were you listening to Petula? Yes, because my mother loved the radio and still today I put the radio straight on because it was my mother. And she ran a boarding house and she used to come in and say, now, mum's going to be a bit busy for a bit and she says, you never ever muffed. She said, I put the radio on and she says, but your first words were downtown. Do you know the song? Yes, of course I do. So that's, that's strange. That's, that's child abuse now, isn't it?

10:04Lennie Ware: Yeah, but. But fantastic. I mean, yeah. And you know, maybe it made you have that great pitch. Probably. So tell us about the lodging house, you know, your mum, how many lodges did your mum have? Yeah, we, we would, a police house. So we, we had. Was your dad a policeman then? No.

10:22Jessie Ware: So my dad worked down the pit. Oh, gosh. But my mother and my grandmother ran the boarding house and we used to take in lodges and it was all the police because we had a school in Wakefield where all the police from all over the world used to come and stay. So we had sort of the lodges from the police and they ran a great... Never made any profit. I mean, my mother was rubbish at business, but a great cook. Really? Yeah, really good. Always a clean bed, you know. So she had all that, but no business. So I always said if I was the age that I was now, and my mother said, let's have a boarding house, it would have been brilliant.

11:01You say she's a great cook.

11:02Lennie Ware: So can you describe a very memorable family meal from your childhood? Yeah, there was always a pan of soup. Okay. And you know how to sell by dates and all this.

11:14Jessie Ware: She just kept adding to this soup. I mean, literally, it was on there for weeks. I've heard that before, a good soup, a good vase, and you just keep adding to it. Honest to goodness, we all came in from school and just got some of this soup. But it was good stock. It was a ham stock that had been soaked overnight and then lentil split peas, leeks, all the seasonal veg. Oh, gorgeous. And then when it got down a bit, she put a bit more stock in and then just add some more veg. So there was always a big pant. There was always a lovely smell of food in the house. Not in my house, because I can't cook.

11:52You didn't? I can't cook. I'm rubbish.

11:54Jessie Ware: Your mum didn't teach you? Well, yeah, I found her a soup recipe. And? And I made it. I had three attempts. Two of them had to chuck out. Doesn't take. But yeah, I finally, finally got it. And it's in her handwriting. Oh, I know. So that cheered me up that day. It was a really winter day. And I thought, right, come on, mother. Make this soup with me. And it was delightful. and all the memories came flooding back of my mother and the smell and the soup and it tasted great. And I thought, I've got it. So that's my only thing. She's there now. She is, yeah. When did she hold, was she, when she passed away?

12:32She was 87. Good age. Yeah, she was great. And she was ready to go. Oh, she was? Yeah. So, you know, I don't mind when they're ready to go. But she was great.

12:44Lennie Ware: You lost your dad before the cruise started. Yeah, 93. Yeah. 93. So you were, what, 30 or something, 20 something? Yeah. But I still feel like he's roadying for me now. Yeah, you're quite spiritual, Jane, because you talk about this quite a lot, that you felt like you talked, I watched some clips of you from the cruise, and, like, you know, you do talk about, like, your dad's there with you, and does he pop out in, like, in different situations? is he kind of does he no that is just my father and my mother were like yin and yang i mean they were so different how they got together i'll never know i think he lied i think that could have been it was he good looking very see yeah he was a very good and a great dancer

13:30Jessie Ware: oh wow he was a really good did they go dancing then yeah so there it is and i used to go ballroom dancing with my dad did you so he taught me how to dance in fact he sent me to dance lessons and I came back and I was very, and he went, no, no, no, no. Dancing is for enjoying. He says, I don't want you to feel stiff. I don't want you to think about steps. I want you to just feel the partner and follow. Have you ever been approached for Strictly? Yeah, no. Couldn't you do it? No, it's too long. Oh, she's got too much to do. She's got too busy, yeah. Yeah, I can't. But be fun, I think. No, I'm in sequence all the time anyway.

14:07Okay. And it's hard work.

14:11Jessie Ware: It's hard work. They work so hard on that. They do. They work hard. Where do you... So you're often very glamorous. Yes. Who dresses you? I have a lovely girl called Kay Healy who worked in a wedding shop in Wakefield. But she was really good at just saying... And I'd say to her, can you whip up a frock?

14:31Lennie Ware: And what were you asking for, Nicole? Is it always sequins? Well, I've upgraded now. I'm more beading. Congratulations. Yeah, diamante. I love a bit of a diamante. Do you like feather, frou-frou?

14:45Jessie Ware: Yeah, I love that. Feathers are really in a 26. Oh, thanks for telling me. Yeah. So, yeah, a bit of everything, really. So this lovely lady has done my gowns for 20-odd years. And this is why we love you, James.

14:59Lennie Ware: She's still using the local wedding dress shop woman from Wakefield. Yeah, I mean, she's angel couture now, but she's angel couture. I love that. But it's, her gowns are second to none. So where's your next gig? My next gig is at the Mighty Hoopla. Whoa! Now, we need to, you are playing the main stage. Are you doing the Saturday or the Sunday? I think it's the Sunday. Okay, amazing. Oh, we're coming. We're coming. Oh, amazing. Because I wanted you to get on stage with me at Hoopla. And you were, lo and behold, on a cruise, I think. I was, yeah. I was mortified. You're very on brand. But you are now going and performing.

15:40Lennie Ware: They are going to adore you. Oh, that's so lovely. It's such a great festival. Glyn, who runs it, is heaven. So, yeah, I can't wait to watch you perform. And then you're doing two nights at the Palladium. Yes. And a big old tour. Yeah. Arenas, apparently, now. Oh, wow. Yeah, I know what's going on. What? That's amazing. I know, an arena tour. Hang on. Fantastic. We've got another thing. It's the Palladium stuff. So you're doing them and then you're going on to arenas. Yeah, so I'm doing two theatres. I'm doing Blackpool because I love Blackpool Locker House. So I'm doing two nights at Blackpool, which is like a rave.

16:15You've never seen anything like it in your life. So we're doing two nights there. And then we're doing, I think, two nights at the London Palladium. But then we're off to Leeds Arena. We're doing the BIC at Bournemouth. You know, the Sheffield Arena.

16:29Lennie Ware: Amazing.

16:30Jessie Ware: It's Cardiff Arena. I mean, what's going on? Well, you're a big deal. You've done Vegas too. MGM thank you very much I did Vegas as well which was amazing it was great but you know it's really strange this because I should have had the best time of my life I just got to Vegas but I knew my marriage was on the brink oh ok was this when your husband was managing you as well

16:53Lennie Ware: he was yes nice guy though a lovely fella how long had you been together at that point? 8 years and you got married very publicly but you were in love I know. And I really was. And everybody could see it. I'm going, that's not going to last. Oh, so I was the only one that didn't see it. But he was a great guy and he did his best, you know. Was he a good manager? He was.

17:26He was in certain things. He was brilliant, but he was he was very Danish and didn't understand that. it's all a game this is all a game is our business and you have to play it do you find that hard

17:40Lennie Ware: do you feel like i mean you've been doing it over what like we're on to your third yeah third decade right do you can you see how the industry because you got basically it was quite a big thing when after the cruise um aired and people fell in love with you and heard your amazing voice you got this record deal you went to number one you were kind of a breakout reality start now i don't think you are a reality it's not no that's exactly that's what you were yeah but um you weren't going on

18:12Jessie Ware: the telly to gain fame you were she was doing a job you were doing your job yeah and they've

18:18Lennie Ware: yeah and you've talked about chris who was the director and just this guy with a camera on his own on this cruise ship who fell for you and knew that everyone else would and he documented the wedding as well didn't yes and um but do you feel like you've had like you said you adapt and play the game and stuff but do you feel like it gets easier to play the game or do you think it's if you must have been quite hard to have been coming at such a high level and maybe there being this great expectation for you then yeah and I was a club artist a cruise ship singer which was like oh we don't allow this in our industry and nobody thought for one minute that I would go straight to number one with that album nobody so not even the record company which record company I can't possibly go into that but it was a shock to everybody and then my tour sold out massively which was you know another learning curve and I was learning the business with Henrik along the way you know so it was like hang on a minute this is not tallying up that's not tallying up but it's a game and you have to play it and then I got dropped from my labels and I thought how hard can this be so I did it all myself well now you're probably making way more money than you did when you were a label so there you go congratulations thank you but you don't realize that every artist thinks they need a record company and you don't you just need a bit of money so if you've got a backer or a good bank like I had you know they'll just say yeah off you go I put my house up more times to fund yeah because I had no kids it didn't matter to me so my mother would live wherever I were so I put my house up all the time to fund the tours and the albums and I just kept going and building the fan base and my fans are the best in the world and they've stuck with me so it's only been the last sort of five years that I've finally I can breathe now but I never gave up and I think that's the thing I think so many people get frightened lose a lot of money think this is not for me I can't stand this or they get so disillusioned with the industry you've just got to play it or do it a different way and because I got dropped from everything Loose Women was my saving grace yeah they saved my life on that show I went on there and I could just be me didn't have to be anything else were you one of the panel yes I was on who was on with you uh Kay Adams Jackie Brambles yeah uh Carol McGiffin uh Zoe Tyler.

21:15They were just great, great girls. Denise Welsh.

21:19Jessie Ware: How did you get into that? Well, I was a I was a guest. Yeah. Oh, OK. And it was the first interview I did just after Henrik and I had split up. Yeah. And they showed my wedding. Do you believe that? Crikey, that was, they didn't read the room no and I I went to pieces on it you know and I just I just said well what can I say he's left me and I don't know what to say he left you yeah he left me bog off yeah he did but I don't blame him I don't I don't blame him it was hard he did you a term he did it was the best thing he ever did because I learned everything all the books he'd read I then read and that's when I thought how hard can this be yeah so I've run the company and the label and I've managed myself for you manage yourself yeah I managed myself oh she's a bad bitch and so that's that's how I do it I had a tv agent it was great uh but I managed everything all the music, everything in-house, production, all the tours I did in-house, because nobody had touched me.

22:35And then all of a sudden Leeds Arena went, we'd love to have you here. And as soon as I got into Leeds Arena, it went woof. And then thankfully I'm now with Peter Taylor, Coffin Taylor and Live Nation. So Live Nation picked me up straight away and boom, that's it. It's just gone bang now.

22:53Jessie Ware: So where's your favourite place to perform? blackpool blackpool i've never played in blackpool blackpool i know you've got to do that do you go after the show do you go to funny girls oh it's great oh my mom couldn't get over it she said this is like paris like moulin rouge i've never seen so many fabulous people i know it's just the best night out is yeah such good funny girls where do you eat though in blackpool is it still fish and chips it's a yeah fish and chips but there's a really good street where there's a fabulous Italian on there. Yeah. And I can see it. I know where to get to it. It's just up from the front door of the opera house.

23:34Yeah. You go up there and you turn left and there's a really good Italian restaurant. Okay, so you say you don't cook? No. So what do you eat?

23:42Lennie Ware: Is this because, yeah, what do you eat? And is it because you've been spoiled by being on cruise ships? Yeah, I've been spoiled because I live with my mate as well. Yeah. Sue lives with me. Is this Sue who does Gogglebox with you? She's fantastic. Isn't she amazing? Oh, you two are fab. She was supposed to come today. Oh no! I know! She was supposed to be here. She's gutted that she's not here. Why isn't she come again with Sue? Oh, that'd be great. She's fab. How do you know each other? 35 years ago, we had the same agent in the clubs. Right. And we had the same fan base. And the guys used to say, you've got to go and see Sue.

24:15And they used to say, you've got to go and see Jane. And then one day we met in our agent's pub and we had to do a free gig for him. I know. He always said it was for charity. But I think, you know, it wasn't. It's charity. I know, it's charity. But God love him. And anyway, he brought this friendship together. And I instantly liked her. And I watched her. And I laughed my head off. Because she was that type of person who would sing a song, you know, belt out the park. And then say, oh, what a day I've had. You know, so I was similar. I used to say, have you seen Emmerdale this week? You know, so, because always get the women on side.

24:53That was the secret of me and the clubs. Don't even acknowledge the men. Never did that. Always speak to the women. Because I'm a real woman's woman. I like women's company. And so I used to say, oh, flipping heck, have you watched Demodale this week? You know, something like that. And they'd say, oh, it's kicking off on that. So the women were straight on then. And the men just follow. So, you know. So what do you normally eat? You don't cook. so do you open packets? No, I've got some great restaurants that I go to but I've only just started to live on my own for the first time in my life.

25:33Lennie Ware: You lived with your mum for a long time. I lived with my mother. Then Ed took over the cooking. He was a great cook. And then Sue, Sue came in and she lived with me for a while and she was a fabulous cook. And so it's only just now I thought, nothing in the fridge. Better learn how to boil an egg. which I have done, I can now poach an egg which I'm very proud of myself Do you add vinegar? No Do you do the spinny thing? No I just put it in fresh eggs, I've learnt that just google it, snapchat whatever it is I think it's YouTube chatGBT oh chatGBT where's that come from? I don't know really you're so youthful not, not so yeah, so I've done quite a Oh, I'm so glad she's reached at Boccalina.

26:23Lennie Ware: So, okay, because I've never been on a cruise.

26:27Jessie Ware: Yeah. Oh, what? We were just talking about it now because Tully is a big cruise fan.

26:32Lennie Ware: Tully, oh, gorgeous Tully. You've just been on one of the Virgin ones. Oh, my God. Adults only. Yeah. Oh, yeah. It's fab up, though. I've just started doing my own fan cruise now. Yes, let's talk about it. Oh, my God. Can we come on that? Of course you can if you want to come. Is the food good? Excellent. Okay. Which boat? What is it, though? It's the ambassador. It's the ambience. And it's just gone into dry dock. It's all been done up. Is it as good as the galaxy? Well, it's different now because I'm a headliner now, whereas I was just, you know. Look at me, I'm a headliner.

27:05Jessie Ware: Yeah, Whoopi Goldberg. That's right. Headline is still the old language for me, you know, because I was a cruise ship singer so long. So if you'd have said to me when I were a cruise ship singer, one day you're going to hire your own cruise. and you're going to have, it's going to be full of your fans. All the staff, all the sailors are going to be really cute. Oh, they are. Yeah. They are gorgeous. Nice little outfits, tight bottoms. Beautiful. They are gorgeous. And it's just the best party ever. We tried it out. We thought, should we have a go? Yeah. So me and Peter Taylor and Jonathan Blackburn all got together, had this meeting, said, right, let's do this.

27:43Lennie Ware: How exciting. And we got this ship, and it was the biggest party you've ever seen in your life. People were dressed up as me. People were in my outfits that I'd give to charity. It was just the best week of my life. I've never known out like it. Didn't feel a bit single white female? No. Okay, fine. It felt fab. It felt like it was like your birthday party to a week.

28:06Jessie Ware: How many women and how many men would you say? Probably more women. But then again, I have a fabulous gay following. So there was lots of young men who were just having the time of their lives. and the disco was up till like three in the morning because we had Mary Mac on there as well with us and it was doing the next one with us, which is fabulous. Lots of single people. That's what I loved. Lots of single. They got onto the chats and everything that we have going. I'm on my own, never done a cruise before. Then another would come on. So am I. Should we share a cabin? And these friendships just are, isn't it gorgeous?

28:46But that's because you're so warm and gorgeous. That's very kind

28:49Lennie Ware: But I I want to ask Like when you When you graduated From the kind of The clubs To the cruise ships Did you have to Get your sea legs Because that's the thing That gives me the Fear Because I get a little Me and mum are not Right on a boat Just take a tablet Right And then she get used to it Yeah But then it kind of Drugged us And we're like

29:09Jessie Ware: Which is the best Sea sick Still grown Still grown I think we had that Jessie I think we had Is that the one That made us sleep No So Avamine was the one that... No, that's probably a prescribed one.

29:19Lennie Ware: That's a prescribed one, probably. I didn't see the ocean. I was like, ah. No, you would do. Yeah. No, it's still grown. And just take it. Even if you're not seasick, I'll say to anybody, take it anyway, because you never know. And I guarantee you'll be fine. Okay. Yeah. Now, what does a day in the life of Jane MacDonald and food on a cruise ship look like? Right. I don't do three meals a day. Okay. So... You intermittent fasting? I do, yeah. Okay. So I don't eat until probably midday. Right. So then I have a really good lunch and then some are quite light. At night. Like fish at night. Is that because you're going to be singing or because you're going to be partying?

30:00Both. Okay. Yeah. So I don't, I sometimes look at myself like, how do I keep that thing? Because I live on cruise ships and I eat in restaurants. Yeah. And it's there and it's like.

30:10Jessie Ware: But it's your metabolism. Yeah. I think you're probably right. Yeah. I mean, you're very slim. I wouldn't go that far. You are. I love you for that. You are very slim. But I just, I've got to be careful. What's your favourite meal? Probably Sunday roast. Yeah. I love a Sunday roast.

30:28Lennie Ware: Well, should we go into the last supper? Your last supper. Let's talk about the last supper. I'm just going to sort out the bit. Start it. You start it.

30:34Jessie Ware: Your starter main drink, rye and dessert. Always champagne. Always champagne. Gosh, we got it right, Jess. Yes, you did. That is brilliant. probably a prawn cocktail something similar without tomato I don't like raw tomato cooked tomato fine so a prawn cocktail Sunday roast bit of brown bread that's nice buttered never margarine and then what do I fancy I do like profiteroles Oh

31:10Lennie Ware: Yeah Wow that's a very That's a very quick Have we gone straight Have we gone straight

31:16Jessie Ware: Yeah Which roast No but which No which meat though Jane Beef Beef Yorkshire Of course Yeah Who made the best Yorkshire you've ever tasted Oh Sue Sue makes them Sue is just They're like This big Oh what's she do Is it just very hot fat Equal No she Equal of everything Milk Eggs Eggs And flour Flour All equal Okay. Then whisk it like a demon. Yeah. Season it, put it in the fridge. Does she leave it rest? Yeah, let it rest. Then really hot fat. Really hot. Which fat would she use? Oil or fat? She'd probably use oil. Yeah. And then just stir it, pour it, boom. Leave it. Don't open, just leave it. And hers are like...

32:02So she makes great.

32:04Jessie Ware: Which is your favourite song to sing? Oof. at the moment at the moment probably dance yourself dizzy because of ed ed was in liquid gold and uh he was the drummer in liquid gold the mad one and uh i remember going out with him when i was very very young and that was in the charts and i thought i'm going out with a superstar so when and it's one of those songs that everybody just goes oh i love this song you know so when we kick into Dance Yourself Dizzy? You would do if you heard it. Would I? Come on, Jay. Come on, just give us a little bit of it. It goes like... Oh, yeah. Dance Yourself Dizzy.

32:52Yeah,

32:54Jessie Ware: I know. That's it. Yeah. And which is your normal finale song? It's always a disco medley. Oh, a disco medley? I love people to feel up when they're leaving. So I've got them crying, I have them laughing, and then everybody's singing on their way out. And disco, Donna Summer, Kylie, all of them. Yeah, all of it. But usually really well-known, like burn, baby burn, stuff like that.

33:23Lennie Ware: Have you ever done The Last Dance? I feel like that's always really good. Last dance, that one. Oh, last chance. Oh, I love that song. She was so wonderful. Amazing. Amazing. I know. Should I just serve out here? Because it's a bit easier. Yeah. So we're having Persian chicken rice with pomegranates and pistachios. And then just with a cucumber basil onion salad. Oh, marvellous. If you've got into my head. Is that good? That's absolutely fantastic. Yeah. Perfect.

34:10Jessie Ware: What made you do a Country and Western album? Well, it's a country album. Country. Sorry. What's the difference then? Well, Country and Western was very much about three wheels on your wagon. Okay. Shot my dog. That type of thing. But country is massive. Yeah. So it's like country rock. You've got everybody's having a go at a country album. And when we were writing it, this was the first time I've had sort of proper, a team of writers in. I've never done that before. Yeah. And all of a sudden it started to go down a country. And I went, oh, this is, I said, this is very country. I said, why don't we go to Nashville?

34:53So they were like, what? Thank you so much. You what? You want to go to Nashville? I went, yeah, let's just go. I love Nashville. it's such a great it's an amazing place totally were you really were you really inspired yeah and I think I got it because I didn't want to do I've done all my vocals back in Castleford I know that sounds weird but Castleford Yorkshire right okay because the studio there is second to none it's called Chairworks and I found it during Covid because I wanted to do an album but you know everything was shut and then I found this place up the road and apparently everybody goes there everybody records there chair works in chair chair oh chair works as in sitting oh right I thought you were saying chair works in chair works in castle no that's a good one and so I got the flu when I got to Nashville so I couldn't record the vocals Oh, no.

35:55But just getting that. We were at the Blackbird studio and just recording. What's it like? Have you been there, Jessie? Well, Taylor Swift did her album there. Of course she did. Coldplay did. There's just every massive star on this wall as you walk in. There was only me, I didn't know. And I thought, wow, this is incredible. So it was just a vibe. And then all the musos just came in. and I remember watching Muscle Shoals and I thought I want that vibe and they got it

36:30Jessie Ware: What's a Muscle Shoals? Muscle Shoals is a group of people who used to work with the Reef of Franklin It was in Tennessee Yeah

36:37Lennie Ware: And it was This amazing rhythm section that were like all the incredible songs you're going to hear There's an amazing documentary on it Yeah And I thought I want that vibe and we were I was in there one night because I was filming through the day and then I used to get in at night and I've written this song called Ain't Gonna Beg and it's all about that when you know your partner's cheating on you and you've known it for a while but you've never actually admitted it and all of a sudden you're like I'm done with you I'm not going to do this anymore and I just went, I want it to be like ain't no way and they went, got you and they just went into this bluesy and I just thought, I can't wait to sing this.

37:22And it's one of my favourite tracks on the album. I love it. Ain't Gonna Beg.

37:27Jessie Ware: And I thought, yeah, come on. Sounds so exciting. It was brilliant. Have you got a new TV series coming up? Well, I've got the Nashville. I filmed in Nashville for two weeks. Making the album? Yeah, not so much making the album, getting the inspiration for the album. So I spoke to some great writers out there. And it's a community of musicians out there who, unlike here, people really want to help you. Why is it different? When you get to Nashville, it's like a pilgrimage for a musician to go to Nashville. And people will say, I know this bar, they'll take you on. Or there's a place here that you could stay.

38:18or do you need a musician for that? So there's loads of people who you can go to and ask for help. And the people that I spoke to were very much saying that. It was a community of singers and writers. And the writers are revered as much as the musicians over there.

38:35Lennie Ware: I'd love to go and do a writing trip there. Loads of songwriters are, the LA songwriters, all moving to Nashville. Do you have to work on your voice still? Because I'm having so many singing lessons at the moment. I'm really, really working at it at the moment. Not because I think I've lost it, because I want to keep on getting better. Do you feel like your voice has changed? And for the better, are you more challenged by it? You've still got a fantastic voice. That's very kind. But has it changed? Yeah. I'm much more earthy now. So it's dropped a little, but it's stronger. so um i got a virus on the ship just before covid i think i had covid when i got back from one of the ships and it took me ages to get over it and when i went back in the studio it was let the light in it was the the album i was doing was let the light in and i was like my voice is changing then sean sean barry who's my md i'm one of the producers on the album and one of the writers went like it better he says you've got a lot more power it's it's like a grown-up voice now and he helped me a great deal so I went yeah I quite like this so it's more gritty it's more powerful now and it's I can sing rock now and and really go for it whereas my earlier albums were very I could hit any note that I wanted but there was no no soul in it but i think the older you get the more life you live your voice takes on a completely different tomber is that right yeah um i thought i just made that word up and it's um and and just embrace it so when your voice changes don't worry just think oh this is new i'm gonna work on this now i think you could have like self-help books maybe that's like the next step could be could be you never know but don't be afraid of that okay but so when you're singing do you have a little routine that you prepare yeah i just um i used to i can't believe i'm gonna admit this I used to literally cough have a drambuey and go on stage that was me and for years I don't worry about my voice I think if I can talk I can sing so don't be worried about it

41:07Jessie Ware: I think the worry is the thing that constricts you

41:10Lennie Ware: well yeah you were doing like 12 shows a week on the ships that's like you're in kind of musical theatre land of like how much you're having to work your voice. And the full sets and stuff. I mean, it's kind of remarkable. You sort of have a mind like Jessie. That steamer. Dr. Nelson. Yeah, I don't do anything really. No. Do you warm up? I do now because I'm a bit older. And I had a great Fiona McDonald who I worked with in Cats. In fact, she was very pivotable. Pivotable? Pivotal.

41:46Jessie Ware: Because how many have I am? Keep going. Pivotal. She was very pivotsal in my career because she started to work with me and gave me a few runs and, you know, this is bring your voice out, blah, blah, blah. And she went, you've no idea where you can go with your voice. And she made me superwoman.

42:09Lennie Ware: Oh, that's amazing. So I then recorded Never Enough. I did This Is Me. and boom, just hit every note. Wow. So it was just someone saying to me, you've got no idea where you can go with that voice. And singing Cats every night when I was in Cats.

42:31Jessie Ware: Which cat were you? I was Grisabella. The best cat. Which song do you get? Memory. Memory, yeah. So when you're hitting a top C every night, you know, and thinking, here we go, and you've got to hit it because that's what they're here for. That's for, you know, it's... Come for the top scene. That's right, come for the top scene. Is the top scene The Bodyguard, the song? Oh, God, you'll know that. I don't know. Which song? I Have Nothing. I Have Nothing. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah, that is that. Yeah.

43:03Lennie Ware: Is that the top scene? I don't know. Probably with Whitney, yeah.

43:07Jessie Ware: Okay. Yeah. Do you sing any Whitney? I used to... Whitney made me who I am today. Did you? Because I took all Whitney's songs in the 80s and, you know, the 90s. And I was like queen of the clubs because I could sing Whitney. Oh. And that was it. And I did a place called The Maid Marian in Skegness. And I was on the summer season there. And I remember going, if I... And the whole place was two and a half thousand people. Oh, keep going, Jane. I love that song you know when you think

43:51I would only be in your way and then I learnt you don't have to shout if you just bring it down people will come down to you and that's what I learnt at the Maid Marian that you don't have to keep shouting above it come down and they'll come down to you

44:14Lennie Ware: I think you need Jane McDonald's school of soul and sass and success I'm in I'm drinking it all up before we let you go we do have a cookie that you have you got a sweet tooth yes would you like a cup of tea oh I'd love a cup of tea oh yes please and I know I'm going to get a teapot out for you because I know that's how you like it I do like it I'm going to do that. Have you got the Yorkshire tea? I do have the Yorkshire tea. Oh, yeah. Bloody hell. This is marvellous.

44:51Lennie Ware: I've done your tea how I think you like it. Yeah. Do we need to let that brew more? Yeah. Just leave it for a good, a minute at least. A minute or two. A minute more than that? No, I think you've done two minutes now. Okay. Shall we check? Yeah. Because I don't want to get this wrong. You don't want it over-brewed? No, you don't. You want it brewed, not stewed. Okay, got it. That's grand. Thank you. All right, sorry, I haven't got it in a jug. No, it's fine.

45:17Jessie Ware: I know people that leave this bag in when they drink it. It's bitter. It's awful. Horrible. That should never happen. I think in a shop, they should have a colour chart, you know, for coffee. You have any points to it. And you say, I'd like it that. That's a good idea. That's a great idea. Yeah, I think you're exactly right. Yeah.

45:36Lennie Ware: We have a dark chocolate and rye with sea salt cookie, if you want a little bit. Absolutely. Okay, great. Thank you so much. I'm going to all this trouble. Jane, I actually could just have you live with me. If you want to move in, you don't fancy living on your own anymore. You can just come and be in here. And we could just do duets all night. That'd be lovely, wouldn't it? I was hoping for a duet. No, I'm not warmed up. I'm not as good as Jane on the spot. before we let you go would you be able to give us a nostalgic taste that can transport you back somewhere happy or sad, would it be your mum's soup?

46:13Lennie Ware: My mother's soup Split please

46:17Jessie Ware: I can't believe how drunk I am you're not drunk Split peas, lentils leeks, turnip fennel that's her secret fennel that is unusual because it's not a common vegetable but that was her take and it gives it just a slightly different taste. I mean, I don't think my mum knew about broccoli till I was kind of in my teens. Well, that was sort of a latecomer, wasn't it, broccoli? Yeah, it was broccoli. Yeah, nobody ate broccoli. It was almost cauliflower.

46:48Lennie Ware: Also, I mean, is there, like, a very memorable food moment on the cruise ships that you can remember? Good or bad, you know? Sundays. Oh, yeah. Mashed potato. What do you mean? They did mashed potato on a Sunday. Instead of roast?

47:07Jessie Ware: Celebrity, yeah. No, it could have what you wanted. Okay. The fact that there was proper mashed potato, and that's when I was a cruise ship singer in the old days, and I used to think mashed potato and gravy. That's all I've graved. That's what you wanted. You love gravy. Do you like an onion gravy? I love any gravy. Okay. Do you have a secret recipe for gravy? Yeah, I do. Oh, you do? I do have a secret.

47:30Lennie Ware: Go on. I'm good at sort of Yorkshire's gravy. I'm good at the side bits it's just the main thing red currant jelly that's the secret and I learnt that in Denmark of all places so a friend of Henrik's said this is the secret to a really good gravy and it was a little bit of Worcester sauce oh nice can I look at me I sound like I'm Delia

48:02Lennie Ware: nigella i want to know nigella um i want to know is there the place where all the people on the cruise ships like you go behind a door and there's like a dirty dancing party happening for all the stuff like titanic yeah or titanic is there these after hours places that only the start that go and it's like the wildest of parties below decks There are, yeah. Are they great parties? Fabulous. Really? And of course, when you're staff or officer or crew or whatever, there's hundreds of people work. There's another city underneath this, you know. And there's always somebody who's got a birthday.

48:47Jessie Ware: Of course, it speaks through. So there's a party every night. Oh, fab. So, and we used to have this, when I worked on Celebrity, and I had a fabulous cast on there. They were just amazing. And we used to say, after the show, are we going out for a drink or straight to bed? And everybody used to say straight to bed and end up in the bar. So we'd just say, we're straight to bed tonight. So we just called it straight to bed. But I ran a singles club on there as well because there's a lot of people who don't want to cop off. I did my ears of that and I had a fabulous time. Did you? Oh, I did. And I did all that.

49:30And then I thought, no, just now. I like just a bit of solace now. But there were a lot of people who didn't want or got partners at home or something like that. So I used to run a singles club and we used to have the best time. Cat around trips. So I used to run quite a lot of things in the background as well as being a singer. So you're also a tour operator, holiday rapper. Sure, of course.

49:54Lennie Ware: You can do it all. Jane MacDonald, you do it all. Thank you so much for being such a delight, for sharing such gorgeous stories and just being really inspiring. Thank you for your kindness and your lovely hospitality. Such a pleasure. Can't wait to watch you perform. Oh, God help us.

50:24Lennie Ware: Jane MacDonald is my spirit animal. She's a fabulous woman. She's really inspiring.

50:31Jessie Ware: She's inspiring because she absolutely knows who she is and completely comfortable within her skin and just adores what she's doing, which is so wonderful, and she feels lucky to do it.

50:46Lennie Ware: And she has fun with her.

50:48Jessie Ware: The best fun.

50:50Lennie Ware: Also, she's a businesswoman. She is. And a very good one at that. and I like her and I respect her and I just, it was a real treat to meet her.

50:58Jessie Ware: She could run the world probably.

51:01Lennie Ware: Jane MacDonald for prayers.

51:02Jessie Ware: Yeah, travel the world and run the world, Jane. Oh, I loved her.

51:05Lennie Ware: Thank you Jane for coming on the podcast for being so open and gorgeous loved you. Yeah. Jane's album Living the Dream is out on March the 20th.

51:16Jessie Ware: And she's certainly living the dream.

51:18Lennie Ware: She's also going to be on tour in the autumn.

51:21Jessie Ware: Oh, we're definitely going, darling.

51:23Lennie Ware: So you can go and get tickets for any of those shows. It's a big stretch. And the mighty Hoopla. And the Hoopla is the bank holiday. She's playing the Sunday. So definitely, definitely catch Jane MacDonald this year.