On approaching Britney for his latest collab – “It was my husband David who said ‘how about Britney Spears doing this?’ We’ve been in a bit of a Britney bubble because we watched the documentary and been following what’s been happening to her and I said I’d love her to do it; I’d love to sing with her and I think it would be good for her, tremendously good for her. So we approached her and I think she was a little nervous but she went in to the studio in LA and she sang brilliantly and the result is Hold Me Closer. It all worked out and I’m happy because this is not about her personal life – this is music and so many people are on her side, and love her and haven’t had any music from her since 2016. It’s a real big bonus for me to have her on the song, she still sings amazingly and I’m trying to get her back to what she does – singing.
On his next possible collaboration – ‘I’m open to anything but I’ve got to finish my tour and I probably won’t release anything next year but who knows! I may get an offer from somebody, you never know… I might do something on someone else’s record but not on mine.“
How he helped Lewis Capaldi choose the first single from his new album – “Lewis came round and played me three or four songs [from the album] and the song that they were going to release as a single was a beautiful ballad. I said go with the more up tempo one because people won’t expect that. I mooted that because of Ed Sheeran and X. When he put that album out he wanted to go with a ballad. I said listen you’ve had two ballads out – The A Team and Lego House – so go with Sing because no one will know it’s you. So instead of putting a ballad out they went with Sing and it just smashed it straight away.’
Why he’s never been happier at the age of 75 – “I’ve just had the most incredible life, I’m 75 and I’ve never been as happy as I am now. My career never been as good as it is now, I have two incredible sons, a beautiful husband and that’s the real thing. The thing that matters to me most is my personal life and it’s just amazing.
On the secret to finding love – “I used to chase love, always made the wrong mistakes, always chose the wrong person. I wasn’t in a fit state to have a relationship because of my addictions and I got sober in 1990 stopped chasing love and in the end love found me. I’m a great believer that I was always doing the running and I would fall in love with someone at the drop of a hat. I would walk into a bar and I would be living with someone I’d never met, have a house with a picket fence and we’d be together and I’d never even met them!’
On taking a break – ‘After next year when I finish [the tour] in Stockholm I’ll go on a bit of a hiatus and figure out what I’m going to do next. It won’t be performing but what it will be, who knows. There’s a documentary out next year, I have a musical coming out next year. I have a musical coming out this year at the Almeida Theatre called Tammy Faye which I’ve written with Jake Shears from the Scissor Sisters. I like to keep myself busy but music to me is the most incredibly healing and fabulous thing. My whole life has been informed with music and it’s not going to stop now.’
His next tip for the top – ‘There’s a boy called Stephen Sanchez in America who has the most incredible record out. He sounds a bit like a young Chris Issak and the record is going up the American radio charts, it’s just fabulous.’