Jane McDonald

This week, we have the legendary singer and cruise extraordinaire, Jane McDonald! Jane arrived with a gorgeous bunch of flowers in hand and mum & I instantly fell in love with her. We talked about everything from her life on the cruise ships (and the secret crew parties), performing everywhere from Blackpool to Vegas, learning to dance with her dad, growing up in a police lodging house, her tips for the perfect gravy and we discover that she is also her own manager - there’s no end to her skills! Jane is welcome to join us for lunch anytime, maybe even on the high seas next time! Jane's brand new album 'Living The Dream' and tickets to her tour are available now. Listen & watch Table Manners here - https://tablemanners.komi.io/ Follow Table Manners on: Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/tablemannerspodcast/ TikTok - https://www.tiktok.com/@tablemannerspodcast Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/tablemannerspodcast YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/@TableMannersPodcast Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy https://acast.com/privacy for more information.

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:00Speaker 00

  Hey, we're Nick and Jack, hosts of The Best One Yet. Behind every episode, there's research, emails, spreadsheets, and our shared Google Doc, the headline hammer. With Google Workspace with Gemini, Google's AI is built right into the premium versions of tools we already use, like Gmail, Docs, and Sheets. No new tools or extra logins, just personalized AI for the way we work. That means less time on the work around the work and more time finding the stories worth talking about. Get AI tools for work. Upgrade to Google Workspace with Gemini at go.o.gle/workspacewithGemini. That's go.o.gle/workspacewithGemini.

• 0:33Speaker 01

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• 1:13Jessie Ware?

  Hello and welcome to Table manners. I'm Jessie Ware and I'm here in my kitchen with my mom. She's got a 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 Akado order this morning. So thanks for that, Mum.

• 1:27Speaker 03

  There's five of you in the house.

• 1:29Jessie Ware?

  Yeah, do you think my children eat lettuce?

• 1:31Speaker 03

  But you do.

• 1:32Jessie Ware?

  But maybe I didn't fancy lettuce tonight, Lenny.

• 1:34Speaker 03

  You can have it tomorrow.

• 1:36Jessie Ware?

  Yeah, it's like wilting, nearly dead, but yeah. Where are you going tomorrow, Mum?

• 1:41Speaker 03

  Shrank.

• 1:41Jessie Ware?

  Oh, Lenny.

• 1:43Speaker 03

  I'll be in Colombo on Saturday.

• 1:45Jessie Ware?

  Oh, that's the best.

• 1:47Speaker 03

  Can't wait, going everywhere. Colombo, Dambula, Kandalama.

• 1:52Jessie Ware?

  How are you travelling around in cars?

• 1:53Speaker 03

  Chauffeur.

• 1:55Jessie Ware?

  I know, it's so fun.

• 1:56Speaker 03

  I'm going to try and get down to the south and go to Papasant.

• 2:00Jessie Ware?

  Oh, yeah. Saint Margaux sent you.

• 2:04Speaker 03

  Yeah, Saint Margaux sent me.

• 2:05Jessie Ware?

  So today we have...

• 2:08Speaker 03

  Oh, an iconic one.

• 2:10Jessie Ware?

  A national treasure, absolutely.

• 2:12Speaker 03

  Absolute icon.

• 2:13Jessie Ware?

  Grace Star Screens in 1998 on a BBC One documentary about cruise ships. She was the kind of breakout star.

• 2:25Jessie Ware?

  And the nation fell in love with her. Jane McDonald was a cruise ship singer. She was completely warm and open and fabulous. And she was just kind of cherished from that day on.

• 2:39Speaker 03

  Well, she's a Yorkshire lass, isn't she?

• 2:41Jessie Ware?

  She has made, I think, over ten studio records. She's headlined the MGM.

• 2:48Speaker 03

  Number ones.

• 2:49Jessie Ware?

  Yep.

• 2:50Speaker 03

  Yeah. After.

• 2:52Jessie Ware?

  Yep, with her Channel Five show Cruising with Jane McDonald, 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.

• 3:06Speaker 03

  Which song does she cover, darling?

• 3:07Jessie Ware?

  Remember Where You Are.

• 3:08Speaker 03

  She didn't do another one of yours?

• 3:11Jessie Ware?

  I don't know.

• 3:11Speaker 03

  She didn't do Say You Love Me?

• 3:13Jessie Ware?

  I mean, if she hasn't, she should.

• 3:15Speaker 03

  Okay.

• 3:16Jessie Ware?

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

• 3:22Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 3:23Jessie Ware?

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

• 3:30Speaker 03

  I wonder when we make a country album, whether you have to drink bourbon?

• 3:34Jessie Ware?

  We can ask her. Jane McDonald coming up on Table manners.

• 3:46Jessie Ware?

  Jane McDonald.

• 3:47Speaker 04

  Oh, my God, I'm here.

• 3:48Jessie Ware?

  I'm s- you've just come in with the biggest bouquet of flowers, giving me the most gorgeous cuddles. It's really nice to finally meet you.

• 3:56Speaker 04

  Oh, right back at you.

• 3:58Jessie Ware?

  And can I, can I just say, your cover of Remember Where You Are is fantastic.

• 4:02Speaker 04

  Oh, bless you.

• 4:03Jessie Ware?

  And it gave me, like, it was like a career highlight for me that I got, seeing you do a cover of my song, so thank you.

• 4:09Speaker 04

  Well, thank you for, for doing it, because it's one of the best songs, I think, in a long, long time.

• 4:16Jessie Ware?

  Thank you.

• 4:16Speaker 04

  It's one of those songs that I had to stop the car. You know that? And, and just listen to it and it was just, because I don't know about, my favourite artist is Minnie Riperton.

• 4:26Jessie Ware?

  Oh, well, she's my dream, yeah.

• 4:29Speaker 04

  And I thought, this is as close to Minnie Riperton as I can. And it was just like, so I've been a fan of yours for such a long time.

• 4:36Jessie Ware?

  Thank you.

• 4:36Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 4:36Jessie Ware?

  How can we talk about those?

• 4:38Speaker 03

  Let's drink to that.

• 4:39Speaker 04

  Oh, lovely.

• 4:40Jessie Ware?

  And congrats on the new record.

• 4:42Speaker 04

  Thank you, and congrats on yours.

• 4:43Jessie Ware?

  Oh, thank you. Cheers, Mum.

• 4:45Speaker 03

  Cheers, darling.

• 4:46Jessie Ware?

  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.

• 4:54Jessie Ware?

  Jaiho, big one. You with the two bits of material.

• 4:57Speaker 04

  Oh, no.

• 4:58Jessie Ware?

  Fucking, no, nobody needs a dancer. You've got two bits of material and you're giving it. It's amazing.

• 5:03Speaker 04

  Can do anything with soft furnishings.

• 5:06Speaker 03

  Rear pulse to your body.

• 5:08Speaker 04

  Absolutely.

• 5:09Jessie Ware?

  Uh, you've done Cape by the Ocean.

• 5:10Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 5:11Jessie Ware?

  Do you know what that means?

• 5:12Speaker 04

  No. What does it mean? Are we allowed to say?

• 5:15Jessie Ware?

  Well, yeah. Well, I thought I heard it was really dirty.

• 5:18Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 5:19Jessie Ware?

  Did you hear about that?

• 5:20Speaker 04

  I've heard it's really dirty and I said, la, la, la, la, dope, because I sing it in my show.

• 5:24Jessie Ware?

  I mean, but then I heard someone, I think they've like PG'd it on the internet.

• 5:29Speaker 04

  Oh, I love this. I am quite naive. I don't know if you've noticed that. But, um, I just think it's about having a piece of Victoria sponge. Looking out at sea.

• 5:40Jessie Ware?

  Yeah.

• 5:41Speaker 04

  Looking out, a little cup of tea.

• 5:42Jessie Ware?

  Yeah.

• 5:43Speaker 04

  And that's how I pictured it and my fans all sing along and I love it.

• 5:47Jessie Ware?

  So your cake, your cake by the ocean would be a Victoria sponge.

• 5:50Speaker 04

  It would love you.

• 5:51Jessie Ware?

  Yeah. Drinking, what, what, a cup of tea?

• 5:54Speaker 04

  Cup of tea or champagne.

• 5:55Jessie Ware?

  Okay.

• 5:55Speaker 04

  You know.

• 5:56Speaker 03

  Do you like champagne the best?

• 5:57Speaker 04

  Love champagne.

• 5:58Speaker 03

  Me too.

• 5:59Speaker 04

  I do. It is my favourite go to drink.

• 6:01Speaker 03

  Me too.

• 6:02Jessie 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.

• 6:16Speaker 04

  Well, that's very kind of you to say. I don't, I don't take it too seriously. I, I just think, blimey, I'm still here. 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, to do what I do and travel the world and sing. I mean, we've got a gift that is God given.

• 6:40Jessie Ware?

  We're so lucky that we're yet to do it. Yeah.

• 6:42Speaker 04

  And it's joyful. And I've always thought. I'm great at if I'm feeling a bit down, I think, what are you doing? Change that vibration, girl, you know, and so I'm I'm into that a little bit. And I I I sort of think how blessed, really, that we are to do a job that we do.

• 7:02Jessie Ware?

  Do you still get nervous?

• 7:04Speaker 04

  Oh, God, yeah.

• 7:04Jessie Ware?

  Okay, what do you do to calm your nerves?

• 7:07Speaker 04

  Click it.

• 7:08Jessie Ware?

  Okay.

• 7:08Speaker 04

  So I used to be so bad, I used to be sick.

• 7:12Jessie Ware?

  Oh, wow.

• 7:13Speaker 04

  You know, I nausea, sweats, palms.

• 7:16Jessie Ware?

  Was this before the cruise ships in the clubs?

• 7:18Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 7:19Jessie Ware?

  Was that when you were the most nervous?

• 7:20Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 7:20Jessie Ware?

  Okay.

• 7:21Speaker 04

  So, and I've always been a sickly child as well. I was a very sickly child.

• 7:25Jessie Ware?

  Really?

• 7:25Speaker 04

  I always been on my mum's apron. I was pathetic, actually. I was a bit pathetic.

• 7:28Jessie Ware?

  You were shy, weren't you?

• 7:29Speaker 04

  Very shy, very, very shy.

• 7:31Speaker 03

  Are you just an only child?

• 7:32Speaker 04

  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 mangy as a kid, you know.

• 7:43Jessie Ware?

  Mangy?

• 7:43Speaker 04

  Mangy.

• 7:44Speaker 03

  Oh, mangy is your job, darling.

• 7:46Speaker 04

  Yeah, it's a real Yorkshire, very.

• 7:48Jessie Ware?

  Yeah. You'd call it a merry mean.

• 7:50Speaker 03

  Yeah, or a bit Mardi.

• 7:51Speaker 04

  A bit Mardi, yeah.

• 7:52Speaker 03

  Mardi.

• 7:53Speaker 04

  Just, no, I didn't want to do anything.

• 7:54Jessie Ware?

  Wasn't that a bit more attitudey?

• 7:56Speaker 03

  No, do you remember Arctic Monkeys, Mardi Ass?

• 7:59Jessie Ware?

  Oh, okay.

• 8:00Speaker 03

  Yeah, Mardi is like, kind of miserable, not very.

• 8:04Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 8:04Speaker 03

  Not very joyful.

• 8:05Speaker 04

  No, and I wasn't. I was always sick, very nervous, you know, and so when my mother said, you know, go 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 just leave her, leave her. But she didn't. She just kind of pushed a little bit.

• 8:23Speaker 03

  Because she knew you had a fab voice.

• 8:25Speaker 04

  Well, I'm not 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.

• 8:35Speaker 03

  So how did it begin, Jane?

• 8:37Speaker 04

  Well, I got an 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.

• 8:49Jessie Ware?

  You're joking.

• 8:49Speaker 04

  Played a tune on the piano. I don't know.

• 8:51Jessie Ware?

  She's got a good melody, haven't you?

• 8:53Speaker 03

  How old were you then?

• 8:54Speaker 04

  Probably about seven.

• 8:55Jessie Ware?

  Wow.

• 8:56Speaker 04

  So that's when I they knew, how long on 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 in piano. Wow. Yeah. Wow, that's brilliant. So that's, so I, I. And you still play, do you? I play, yeah, because I write and that's what I, I do all my songs on. That's amazing.

• 9:25Jessie Ware?

  But then when did the singing start?

• 9:27Speaker 04

  Well, I, 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, 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? Hmm. You know, because 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, uh, anyway, he talked to my mother and she found the money. She got a job in a corner shop and she sent me to both. So I still did piano and, and then I went to singing lessons as well.

• 10:11Jessie Ware?

  Jane needs to tell you what her first word was.

• 10:13Speaker 04

  Downtown. Bloody hell. I know, because. We're listening to Petula. Yeah, 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 said to, she used to come in and say, now mum's gonna be a bit busy for a bit. And she says, you never ever mum, she said, I put the radio on. And she says, but your first words were downtown. Do you know the song?

• 10:39Jessie Ware?

  Yes, of course I do.

• 10:40Speaker 04

  Yeah, so that's, that's strange. That's, that's child abuse now, isn't it?

• 10:48Jessie Ware?

  Yeah, but.

• 10:49Speaker 04

  But fantastic.

• 10:50Jessie Ware?

  I mean, yeah, and you know, maybe it made you have that great pitch and, you know.

• 10:55Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 10:56Jessie Ware?

  So tell us about the, the lodging house, you know, that your mum, how many lodges did your mum?

• 11:01Speaker 04

  Yeah, we, we were a police house, so that we, we had. Was your dad a policeman then? No, my dad worked down the pit. Okay, oh gosh. But my mother and my grandmother, uh, ran the boarding house and we used to take in lodges and, and it was all the police, because we had a, a school in Wakefield where all the police from all over the world used to come and, and stay. So we, we had sort of the lodgers from the police. And, uh, they ran a great, never, never made any profit. I mean, my mother was rubbish at business, but a great cook.

• 11:33Jessie Ware?

  Really.

• 11:33Speaker 04

  Yeah, really good. I was a clean bed, you know, so she had all that but no business. So I I always said if I was the age that I was now and my mother said, let's have a boarding house, it'd have been brilliant.

• 11:45Jessie Ware?

  You say she's a great cook. So can you describe a very memorable family meal from your childhood?

• 11:53Speaker 04

  Yeah, there was always a pan of soup.

• 11:55Jessie Ware?

  Okay.

• 11:56Speaker 04

  And you know how to say, oh, sell by dates and all this. She just kept adding to this soup. I mean, literally, it was on there for weeks.

• 12:01Jessie Ware?

  I've heard that before, a good soup, a good base, and you just keep adding to it.

• 12:06Speaker 04

  Honest to goodness, we all came in from school and just got some of this soup, you know, but it was it was good stock. It was a ham stock that had been soaked overnight and then lentil, split peas, leeks, all the seasonal veg.

• 12:21Jessie Ware?

  Gorgeous.

• 12:21Speaker 04

  You know, so 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 pan. There was always a lovely smell of of food in the house. Um, not in my house, because I can't cook.

• 12:36Jessie Ware?

  You'd know.

• 12:36Speaker 04

  I can't cook. I'm rubbish.

• 12:38Jessie Ware?

  Your mum didn't teach you?

• 12:39Speaker 04

  Well, yeah, I found I found her soup recipe.

• 12:42Jessie Ware?

  And?

• 12:42Speaker 04

  And I made it. I had three attempts. Two of them I had to chuck out. But yeah, finally, finally got it. And it's in her handwriting.

• 12:51Jessie Ware?

  Oh, I know.

• 12:52Speaker 04

  So um 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 this smell and the soup. And it tasted great. And I thought, I've got it. So that's my that's my only thing.

• 13:11Jessie Ware?

  She's there now with you, yeah.

• 13:12Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 13:13Jessie Ware?

  When did she old was she when she passed away?

• 13:15Speaker 04

  Um, she was eighty seven. So she, yeah, she was great. And she was ready to go.

• 13:21Jessie Ware?

  Oh, she was?

• 13:22Speaker 04

  Yeah. So, you know, I don't mind when they're ready to go. So but she was she was great.

• 13:28Jessie Ware?

  You lost your dad before the cruise.

• 13:31Speaker 04

  Yeah, ninety three, ninety three.

• 13:34Jessie Ware?

  So you were you were.

• 13:35Speaker 04

  Yeah, quite young.

• 13:36Jessie Ware?

  Thirty or something, twenty, something.

• 13:38Speaker 04

  But I still feel like it's roading for me now, because.

• 13:40Jessie Ware?

  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. Um, from the cruise and like, you know, you, you do talk about like your dad's there with you. And does he, does he pop out and like in different situations, is he the kind of, does he?

• 13:59Speaker 04

  No, that is just, my father and my mother were like Ian 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.

• 14:09Speaker 03

  Was he good looking?

• 14:10Speaker 04

  Very.

• 14:11Speaker 03

  See.

• 14:11Speaker 04

  Yeah, he was a very good and a great dancer.

• 14:14Speaker 03

  Oh, wow.

• 14:15Speaker 04

  He was a really good.

• 14:16Speaker 03

  Did they go dancing then?

• 14:17Speaker 04

  Yeah, so there it is. And I used to go ballroom dancing with my dad.

• 14:21Speaker 03

  Did you?

• 14:21Speaker 04

  So he taught me how to dance. In fact, he sent me to dance lessons. And I came back and I was very, anyway, 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.

• 14:39Speaker 03

  Have you ever been approached strictly?

• 14:41Speaker 04

  Yeah, no.

• 14:42Speaker 03

  Couldn't you do it?

• 14:43Speaker 04

  No, it's too long.

• 14:44Speaker 03

  Oh, she's got too much to do, yeah.

• 14:47Speaker 04

  Yeah, I can't.

• 14:48Speaker 03

  But be fun, I think.

• 14:49Speaker 04

  No, I'm in sequins all the time anyway, I'm so, you know, and it's, it's hard work. It's hard work. They work so hard on that.

• 14:57Speaker 03

  They do, they work hard. Where do you, so you're often very glamorous.

• 15:02Speaker 04

  Yes.

• 15:02Speaker 03

  Who dresses you? Where do you choose your clothes?

• 15:05Speaker 04

  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?

• 15:15Jessie Ware?

  And what were you asking for in a kind of, well, is it always sequins?

• 15:19Speaker 04

  Uh, well, I've, I've upgraded now, more beading.

• 15:23Jessie Ware?

  Congratulations.

• 15:24Speaker 04

  Yeah, diamond tea, I love a bit of diamond tea.

• 15:27Speaker 03

  Do you like feather, fru-fru?

• 15:29Speaker 04

  Yeah, anything.

• 15:30Jessie Ware?

  Feathers are ready in in twenty six.

• 15:31Speaker 04

  Are they? Oh, thanks for telling me. Yeah. So, yeah, a bit of everything really. So this lovely lady has done my gowns for.

• 15:41Speaker 04

  So she's still.

• 15:42Jessie Ware?

  And this is why we love you, Jo Maitland. You're still making.

• 15:44Jessie Ware?

  Still using the local wedding dress shop woman from Wakefield.

• 15:46Speaker 04

  That's right. Yeah, I mean, she's Angel Couture now, but she's.

• 15:50Jessie Ware?

  Angel Couture, love that.

• 15:50Speaker 04

  Angel Couture, but it's, her gowns are second to none.

• 15:55Jessie Ware?

  So where's your next gig?

• 15:57Speaker 04

  My next gig is at the Mighty Hoopla.

• 16:00Jessie Ware?

  Oh. Now, we, we need to, you are playing the main stage. Are you doing the Saturday or the Sunday?

• 16:07Speaker 04

  I think it's the Sunday.

• 16:08Jessie Ware?

  Okay, amazing.

• 16:08Speaker 04

  Oh, we're coming.

• 16:09Jessie Ware?

  We're coming.

• 16:10Speaker 04

  Oh, amazing.

• 16:11Jessie Ware?

  Because I wanted you to get on stage with me at Hoopla and you were, lo and behold, on a cruise, I think.

• 16:17Speaker 04

  I was, yeah. I was mortified.

• 16:19Jessie Ware?

  You're very on brand. But you are now going and performing. They are going to adore you.

• 16:26Speaker 04

  Oh, that's so lovely.

• 16:27Jessie Ware?

  It's such a great festival. This, Glynn, 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.

• 16:35Speaker 04

  Yes.

• 16:36Jessie Ware?

  And a big old tour.

• 16:37Speaker 04

  Yeah, arenas apparently now.

• 16:40Jessie Ware?

  Oh, wow.

• 16:40Speaker 04

  Yeah, no, what's going on?

• 16:42Jessie Ware?

  What? That's amazing.

• 16:43Speaker 04

  I know, arenas, sir.

• 16:45Jessie Ware?

  Hang on, we've got, we've got in the thing, it's the Palladium stuff, so you're doing them and then you're going on to arenas?

• 16:50Speaker 04

  Yeah, so I'm, I'm doing two theatres. I'm doing Blackpool because I love Blackpool, like a house. So I'm doing two nights at Blackpool, which is like a rave. You'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 like to Leeds Arena, we're doing the Bic at Barmouth, would, you know, the Sheffield Arena.

• 17:13Jessie Ware?

  Amazing.

• 17:14Speaker 04

  It's Cardiff Arena. I mean, what's going on?

• 17:16Jessie Ware?

  Well, you're a big fan. You've done Vegas too. MGM, thank you very much.

• 17:21Speaker 04

  I did Vegas as well, which was amazing.

• 17:22Jessie Ware?

  How was that?

• 17:23Speaker 04

  It was great, but, you know, it's, it's really strange this because I should have had the best time of my life. I'd just got to Vegas, but I knew my marriage was on the brink.

• 17:32Jessie Ware?

  Oh, okay.

• 17:33Speaker 04

  So.

• 17:34Jessie Ware?

  Is this when your husband, he was managing you as well?

• 17:35Speaker 04

  Yeah, I might. He was, yes. Yeah. Nice guy, though.

• 17:39Jessie Ware?

  Okay.

• 17:40Speaker 04

  You know, a lovely fella. Um.

• 17:42Jessie Ware?

  How long had you been together at that point?

• 17:44Speaker 04

  Eight years.

• 17:44Jessie Ware?

  And you got married very publicly, like, you know, no, but you were in love.

• 17:49Speaker 04

  I know. And I really was and everybody could see it. I'm going, that's not gonna last.

• 17:53Jessie Ware?

  Oh, crikey. Oh, mate.

• 17:56Speaker 04

  So I was the only one that didn't see it, but he was a great guy and he did his best, you know, and.

• 18:03Jessie Ware?

  Was he a good manager?

• 18:05Speaker 04

  He was, um.

• 18:08Jessie Ware?

  Okay.

• 18:10Speaker 04

  He was in certain things. He was brilliant, but he was, he was very Danish and um didn't understand that it's all a game. This is all a game is our business.

• 18:21Jessie Ware?

  I know.

• 18:22Speaker 04

  And you have to play it.

• 18:23Jessie Ware?

  Do you find that hard?

• 18:25Speaker 04

  Hmm.

• 18:25Jessie Ware?

  Do you feel like, I mean, you've been doing it over what, like, we're on to the third.

• 18:29Speaker 04

  Twenty seven years, yeah.

• 18:30Jessie Ware?

  Yeah, third decade, right?

• 18:32Speaker 04

  Mm hmm.

• 18:34Jessie Ware?

  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.

• 18:45Speaker 04

  Mm hmm.

• 18:45Jessie Ware?

  You were kind of a, a breakout, reality star. Now, I don't think you are a reality, it's not.

• 18:51Speaker 04

  No, that's exactly who I am.

• 18:52Jessie Ware?

  That's what you were.

• 18:53Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 18:54Jessie Ware?

  But um you weren't going on the telly to gain fame, you were.

• 18:59Speaker 04

  She was doing a job.

• 19:00Jessie Ware?

  You were doing your job and people adored you.

• 19:03Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 19:03Jessie Ware?

  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.

• 19:11Speaker 04

  Mm hmm.

• 19:12Jessie Ware?

  And he documented the wedding as well, didn't he?

• 19:14Speaker 04

  Yes.

• 19:14Jessie Ware?

  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, have you, it must have been quite hard to have been coming at such a high level and maybe there being this great expectation for you then?

• 19:35Speaker 04

  Yeah, and I was a, a club artist, a cruise ship singer, which was like, ooh, we don't allow this in our industry.

• 19:44Jessie Ware?

  Hmm.

• 19:44Speaker 04

  And nobody thought for one minute that I would go straight to number one with that album. Nobody. So not even the record company.

• 19:53Jessie Ware?

  Which record company was it?

• 19:54Speaker 04

  I can't possibly go into that.

• 19:55Jessie Ware?

  Okay, fine.

• 19:56Speaker 04

  But it was a shock to everybody. And then my tour sold out massively, uh which was, you know, another learning curve.

• 20:06Jessie Ware?

  Hmm.

• 20:07Speaker 04

  And I was learning the business with Henrik along the way, you know, so it was like, hang on a minute, this is, this is not tallying up. That's not tallying up. But it's a game.

• 20:18Jessie Ware?

  Hmm.

• 20:19Speaker 04

  And you have to play it. And then I got dropped from uh my labels. And I thought, how hard can this be?

• 20:31Speaker 04

  So I did it all myself. Well, now you're probably making way more money than you did when you were on a label. So there you go, congratulations. Thank you. But you don't realise that. I know. 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 see you, 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, and my mother would live wherever I was. So I put my house up all the time to fund the tours and the albums. And I just kept going and building the fanbase and my fans are the best in the world and they've stuck with me.

• 21:11Speaker 04

  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 or were you? Yes, I was. Who was on with you?

• 21:51Speaker 04

  Kay Adams, Jackie Brambles, Carol McGiffin, Zoe Tyler. They were just great, great girls. Denise Welch. How did you get into that? Well, I was a, I was a guest. Yeah. Oh, okay. And it was the first interview I did, just after Henick and I had split up. Yeah. And they showed my wedding. Do you believe that? Crikey, that was, they didn't read the room properly there, did they? I, I went to pieces on it, you know, and I, I just, I just said, well, what can I say? He's left me and I, I don't know what to say. He left you? Yeah, he left me. Bog off.

• 22:33Speaker 04

  Yeah, he did. But I don't blame him. I don't, I don't blame him. It was hard. He did your turn, really? He did. It was the best thing he ever did because I learnt everything. All the books he'd read, I then read. And that's when I thought, how hard can this be? So I've run the company and the label and I've managed myself for.

• 22:57Speaker 03

  You manage yourself?

• 22:58Speaker 04

  Yeah, I manage myself.

• 22:59Speaker 03

  Oh, she's a bad bitch.

• 23:03Speaker 04

  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. And 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, Cuffin Taylor and Live Nation. So. Live Nation picked me up straight away and boom, that's it. It's just gone bang now. So.

• 23:37Speaker 03

  So where, where's your favourite place to perform Blackpool?

• 23:41Speaker 04

  Blackpool.

• 23:42Jessie Ware?

  I've never played in Blackpool.

• 23:43Speaker 04

  Oh, Blackpool, I know. You've got to do that.

• 23:46Speaker 03

  Do you go after the show, do you go to Funny Girls?

• 23:48Speaker 04

  Oh, it's great.

• 23:50Speaker 03

  Oh, lovely.

• 23:50Speaker 04

  Isn't it brilliant? Oh my.

• 23:53Speaker 03

  My mum couldn't get over it. She said, this is like Paris, like Moulin Rouge. I've never seen so many fabulous people.

• 23:59Speaker 04

  I know. It's just the best night out is Blackpool.

• 24:02Speaker 03

  Such good fun.

• 24:02Speaker 04

  Especially Funny Girls, yeah.

• 24:03Speaker 03

  Where do you eat though in Blackpool? Is it still fish and ch- it's a struggle?

• 24:07Speaker 04

  Fish and chips, but there's a really good street. Well, there's a fabulous Italian on there. So, uh, and I can see it. I know where to get to it. It's just up from the, uh, the front door of the Opera House.

• 24:17Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 24:18Speaker 04

  You go up there and you turn left and there's a really good Italian restaurant.

• 24:22Jessie Ware?

  Okay. So you say you don't cook?

• 24:23Speaker 04

  No.

• 24:24Speaker 03

  So what do you eat?

• 24:25Jessie Ware?

  Is this because, yeah, what do you eat? And is it because you've been spoilt by being on cruise ships?

• 24:29Speaker 04

  Yeah, I've been spoilt because I live with my mate as well. So Sue lived with me for, you know.

• 24:34Jessie Ware?

  Is this Sue who does Gogglebox with you? She's fantastic.

• 24:37Speaker 04

  Isn't she amazing?

• 24:38Jessie Ware?

  Oh, you two are fab.

• 24:39Speaker 04

  But I know. She was supposed to be here. She's gutted that she's not here, but.

• 24:44Jessie Ware?

  You can come again with Sue.

• 24:45Speaker 04

  Oh, that'd be great.

• 24:46Jessie Ware?

  Fab. You, how do you know each other?

• 24:49Speaker 04

  Thirty five years ago, we had the same agent in the clubs. Right. And we, we had the same fanbase and the, the guys used to say, you've got to go and see Sue. And 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. His charity. I know, his charity, but God love him. And anyway, he brought this friendship together. And I instantly liked it 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. You know, so I, I was similar. I used to say, have you seen Emmerdale this week?

• 25:34Speaker 04

  You know, so, because always get the women on side. That was the secret of me and the clubs. Oh, really? Don't speak to, don't even acknowledge the men. Never did that. Always speak to the women. And because I'm a real woman's woman, I like, I like women's company. Yeah. And, uh, so I used to say, oh, flipping heck, have you watched Emmerdale this week? You know, something like that. And they'd say, oh, oh, it's kicking off on that. So the women were straight on then. And the men just follow. So, you know. So what, what do you normally eat? Do, do, you don't cook? So do you open packets? No, I've, I've got some great restaurants that I go to. But I've only just sta- started to live on my own for the first time in my life. You've lived with your mum for a long time.

• 26:18Speaker 04

  I lived with my mother. Then I, then Ed took over the cooking. He was a great cook. And then Sue, Sue came in and she, uh, lived with me for a while and she was a fabulous cook. And so it's only just now I thought, nothing in fridge. Better learn how to boil an egg. Yeah, 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, fresh eggs. I've learnt that. Just Google it. Snapchat, whatever it is. What is it called? What is it? Snapchat? I think it's YouTube. Chat G P T. Chat G P T. Yeah. Okay. Where's that come from? Well, I don't know. There's, really, you're so youthful.

• 27:00Speaker 04

  Not, not. So, yeah. So I've done quite a few. Oh, I'm so glad she's reached a bottleneck.

• 27:07Jessie Ware?

  So, so, okay, let, cause I, I've never been on a cruise.

• 27:11Speaker 04

  Yeah. Oh, what?

• 27:12Speaker 03

  We were just talking about it now, cause Tully is a big cruise fan.

• 27:16Jessie Ware?

  Oh gorgeous Tully, you've just been on one of the Virgin ones.

• 27:19Speaker 04

  Oh my god, adults only.

• 27:20Jessie Ware?

  Yeah.

• 27:21Speaker 04

  Oh, yeah. Oh, it's fab, though. I've just started doing my own fan cruise now.

• 27:26Jessie Ware?

  Yes, let's talk about it. Can we come on that?

• 27:29Speaker 04

  Of course you can, if you want to come.

• 27:30Jessie Ware?

  Is the food good?

• 27:31Speaker 04

  Excellent.

• 27:32Jessie Ware?

  Okay.

• 27:32Speaker 03

  Which boat is it, though?

• 27:34Speaker 04

  It's, it's the Ambassador. It's the Ambiance, and it's just gone into dry dock. It's all been done up.

• 27:39Jessie Ware?

  Is it as good as The Galaxy?

• 27:43Speaker 04

  Well, I, it's different now, cause I'm, I'm a headliner now, whereas I was just, you know. So, I'm like, me, I'm a headliner.

• 27:49Speaker 03

  Yeah, Whoopi Goldberg and sister.

• 27:52Speaker 04

  Yeah, that's right. Headliner is still the old language for me, you know, cause 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 gonna hire your own cruise, and you're gonna have, it's gonna be fully your fans.

• 28:06Speaker 03

  All the staff, all the sailors going to be really cute.

• 28:09Speaker 04

  Oh, they are.

• 28:10Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 28:11Speaker 04

  They are gorgeous.

• 28:12Speaker 03

  Nice little outfits, tight bottoms.

• 28:14Speaker 04

  Beautiful. They are.

• 28:17Speaker 04

  And it's just the best party ever. We, we tried it out. We thought, shall we have a go?

• 28:21Jessie Ware?

  Yeah.

• 28:22Speaker 04

  So, me and Peter Taylor and Jonathan Blackburn all got together, had this meeting, said, right, let's do this.

• 28:27Jessie Ware?

  How exciting.

• 28:28Speaker 04

  And we, we got this ship, and it was the biggest party you've ever seen in your life. People were dressed up as me.

• 28:35Jessie Ware?

  Oh my god.

• 28:35Speaker 04

  People were in my outfits that I'd, I'd give to charity. It was just the best week of my life. I've never known out like it.

• 28:43Jessie Ware?

  Didn't feel a bit single, white, female?

• 28:45Speaker 04

  No.

• 28:45Jessie Ware?

  Okay, fine.

• 28:46Speaker 04

  It felt fab.

• 28:47Jessie Ware?

  Felt like it was like your birthday party during the week.

• 28:49Speaker 04

  Yeah, yeah.

• 28:49Speaker 03

  Is it, how many women and how many men, would you say?

• 28:52Speaker 04

  Probably more women.

• 28:53Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 28:54Speaker 04

  But then again, I have a fabulous gay following.

• 28:56Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 28:57Speaker 04

  So, there was lots of young men.

• 28:59Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 28:59Speaker 04

  Who were just having the time of their lives. And the disco was up till like three in the morning, cause we had Mary Mack 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 on to the chats and everything that we have going. I'm on my own, never done a cruise before. Then another had come on, so am I. Shall we share a cabin? And these friendships just all, isn't it gorgeous?

• 29:29Jessie Ware?

  Built a community, but that's because you're so warm and gorgeous.

• 29:32Speaker 04

  That's very kind, but.

• 29:33Jessie Ware?

  But I, I wanna 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? Cause that's the thing that gives me the fear, cause I get a little, me and mum are not great on a boat.

• 29:48Speaker 04

  Just take a tablet.

• 29:49Jessie Ware?

  Right. And then you get used to it. Yeah, but then it kinda drugged us and we're like. Yeah.

• 29:53Speaker 03

  Which is the best seasick?

• 29:54Speaker 04

  Stugaron.

• 29:55Speaker 03

  Stugaron. I think we had that, Jessie. I think we had.

• 29:59Jessie Ware?

  That one that made us sleep?

• 29:59Speaker 03

  No, Avermine was the one that.

• 30:01Speaker 04

  No, that's, that's probably a prescribed one. That's a prescribed one, probably.

• 30:04Jessie Ware?

  I, I, I didn't see the ocean. I was like.

• 30:06Speaker 04

  No, you would do.

• 30:07Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 30:08Speaker 04

  No, Stugaron. And just take it, even if you're not seasick, I'll say to anybody, take it anyway, cause you never know. And I guarantee you'll be fine.

• 30:16Jessie Ware?

  Okay.

• 30:17Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 30:18Jessie Ware?

  Now, what does a day in the life of Jane McDonald and food on a cruise ship look like?

• 30:24Speaker 04

  Right. I don't do three meals a day.

• 30:26Jessie Ware?

  Okay.

• 30:27Speaker 04

  So.

• 30:27Jessie Ware?

  You intermittent fast?

• 30:28Speaker 04

  I do, yeah.

• 30:29Jessie Ware?

  Okay.

• 30:30Speaker 04

  So I don't eat until probably midday.

• 30:33Jessie Ware?

  Right.

• 30:34Speaker 04

  So then I have a really good lunch and then some at quite light, like fish at night.

• 30:40Jessie Ware?

  Is that because you're gonna be singing or because you're gonna be partying?

• 30:44Speaker 04

  Both.

• 30:45Jessie Ware?

  Okay.

• 30:45Speaker 04

  Yeah. So I don't, I sometimes look at myself, I'm like, how do I keep that thing? Cause I, I live on cruise ships and I, I eat in restaurants.

• 30:52Jessie Ware?

  And it's there in its sight.

• 30:54Speaker 03

  But it's your metabolism.

• 30:56Speaker 04

  Yeah, I think you're probably right.

• 30:57Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 30:57Speaker 04

  You know.

• 30:58Speaker 03

  I mean, you're very slim.

• 30:59Speaker 04

  I won't go that far. I love you for that.

• 31:01Speaker 03

  Yeah, you are very slim.

• 31:04Speaker 04

  But I, I just, I've got to be careful.

• 31:06Speaker 03

  What's your favourite meal?

• 31:07Speaker 04

  Oh, probably Sunday roast.

• 31:10Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 31:11Speaker 04

  I love a Sunday roast.

• 31:12Jessie Ware?

  Well, should we go into the last supper now?

• 31:14Speaker 03

  Your last supper.

• 31:15Jessie Ware?

  Let's talk about the last supper. I'm just gonna sort out the, start it.

• 31:17Speaker 03

  You'd rather start a main drink and dessert?

• 31:21Speaker 04

  Always champagne.

• 31:23Speaker 03

  Always champagne. Gosh, we got it right, Jo.

• 31:25Speaker 04

  Yes, you did. That is brilliant. Probably a prawn cocktail, something similar.

• 31:30Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 31:30Speaker 04

  You know, without tomato.

• 31:31Speaker 03

  Without, you don't like.

• 31:33Speaker 04

  I don't like raw tomato.

• 31:36Speaker 04

  Cooked tomato, fine.

• 31:37Speaker 03

  Okay.

• 31:38Speaker 04

  But, um, so a prawn cocktail.

• 31:40Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 31:41Speaker 04

  Sunday roast.

• 31:41Speaker 03

  Bit of brown bread.

• 31:42Speaker 04

  Oh, yeah.

• 31:43Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 31:44Speaker 04

  That's nice.

• 31:44Speaker 03

  Nice buttered.

• 31:45Speaker 04

  Oh, love it. Butter only, never margarine.

• 31:48Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 31:48Speaker 04

  Um, and then, uh, oh, what do I fancy? I do like profiteroles.

• 31:54Jessie Ware?

  Oh.

• 31:55Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 31:55Jessie Ware?

  Wow, that's a very, that's a very quick, have we gone straight?

• 31:59Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 32:02Speaker 03

  No, which meat though, Jane?

• 32:05Speaker 04

  Beef.

• 32:05Speaker 03

  Beef, Yorkshire, of course. Who made the best Yorkshire you've ever tasted?

• 32:10Speaker 04

  Oh, Sue.

• 32:11Speaker 03

  Sue makes them.

• 32:12Speaker 04

  Sue is just, they're like this big.

• 32:14Speaker 03

  Oh, what's she do? Is it just very hot fat?

• 32:17Speaker 04

  No, she, equal of everything.

• 32:20Speaker 03

  Milk, eggs, um.

• 32:22Speaker 04

  And flour.

• 32:22Speaker 03

  Flour.

• 32:22Speaker 04

  All equal.

• 32:23Speaker 03

  Okay.

• 32:24Speaker 04

  Then whisk it like a, a demon.

• 32:26Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 32:27Speaker 04

  Season it, put it in the fridge.

• 32:29Speaker 03

  Does she leave it rest?

• 32:30Speaker 04

  Yeah, let it rest, then really hot fat.

• 32:32Speaker 03

  Really hot.

• 32:33Speaker 04

  And then.

• 32:34Speaker 03

  Which fat would she use?

• 32:35Speaker 04

  Probably oil.

• 32:36Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 32:36Speaker 04

  She'd probably use oil.

• 32:37Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 32:37Speaker 04

  And then just, just stir it, pour it, boom, leave it, don't open, just leave it. And hers are like, so she makes great.

• 32:48Speaker 03

  Which is your favourite song to sing?

• 32:51Speaker 04

  Oof, at the moment.

• 32:53Speaker 03

  At the moment.

• 32:54Speaker 04

  Probably Dance Yourself Dizzy because of Ed. Ed was in Liquid Gold.

• 32:59Speaker 03

  Oh, he's in Liquid Gold.

• 33:00Speaker 04

  And, uh, he was the drummer in Liquid Gold, the mad, 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.

• 33:22Speaker 03

  Oh.

• 33:22Speaker 04

  You would do if you heard it.

• 33:23Speaker 03

  Would I?

• 33:24Jessie Ware?

  Come on, Jane, give us a.

• 33:25Speaker 03

  Come on, just give us a little bit of it.

• 33:30Speaker 04

  Oh, yeah.

• 33:37Speaker 03

  Yeah, I know.

• 33:38Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 33:39Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 33:39Speaker 04

  So.

• 33:40Speaker 03

  And which is your normal finale song?

• 33:43Speaker 04

  Uh, prop- 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 the way out. And what disco, Donna Summer, Kylie, all of them? Yeah, all of it, but usually really well-knowns like, "Burn, baby, burn", stuff like that, and.

• 34:07Jessie Ware?

  Have you ever done, have you ever done, um, "The Last Dance"? I feel like that's always really good.

• 34:13Speaker 04

  "Last Dance", that one, "Oh, last chance". Oh, I love that song. She was so wonderful. Amazing, amazing. I know.

• 34:23Jessie Ware?

  Should I just serve out here? Cause it's a bit easier.

• 34:25Speaker 04

  Yeah, yeah.

• 34:26Jessie Ware?

  So we're having, we're having Persian chicken rice with pomegranates and pistachios, and then just with a cucumber basil onion salad.

• 34:37Speaker 04

  Oh, marvellous. If you've got into my head.

• 34:40Jessie Ware?

  Is that good?

• 34:41Speaker 04

  That's absolutely fantastic.

• 34:43Jessie Ware?

  Yeah, perfect.

• 34:53Speaker 00

  Hey, we're Nick and Jack, hosts of The Best One Yet. Behind every episode, there's research, emails, spreadsheets, and our shared Google Doc, the headline hammer. With Google Workspace with Gemini, Google's AI is built right into the premium versions of tools we already use, like Gmail, Docs, and Sheets. No new tools or extra logins, just personalized AI for the way we work. That means less time on the work, around the work, and more time finding the stories worth talking about. Get AI tools for work. Upgrade to Google Workspace with Gemini at goo.gle/workspacewithGemini. That's goo.gle/workspacewithGemini.

• 35:26Speaker 01

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• 36:06Speaker 04

  What made you do a country and western album? Well, it's a country album. Country, I'm sorry. No, I think it's changed. What's the difference, Sam? Well, country and western was very much about three wheels on your wagon and. Oh, okay. Shot me dog, that type of thing. But country is massive. Yeah. So it's, it's like country rock, you've got, everybody's having a go at a country album. And when we were writing it, I had, I, 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. So, and I went, oh, this is, I said, this is very country. I said, why don't we go to Nashville? So they were like, what?

• 36:51Speaker 04

  Thank you so much. You what? You want to go to Nashville? I went, yeah, let's just go. I love Nashville. Hmm. It's such a great, it's an amazing place. Vibe, isn't it? Totally. Were you really, were you really inspired there? And I think I, I got it because I didn't want to do, I've, I've done all my vocals back in Castleford. I know that sounds weird, but. Castleford? 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. And then I found this place up the road and apparently everybody goes there. Everybody records there. Chairworks in Castleford. Share? Chair. Oh.

• 37:36Speaker 04

  Chairworks, as in sitting down. Oh, right, I thought you were saying share works in. Shareworks in Castleford.

• 37:44Speaker 04

  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. But just getting that, we were at the Blackbird Studio and just recording. What's it like? Well, it, it's. Have you been there, do you think? No. Well, Taylor Swift did her album there. Oh, she did? Coldplay did and 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, it, it was just a vibe and then all the musos just came in. And I remember watching muscle shows with, oh. And I thought, I want that vibe and they got it.

• 38:26Speaker 03

  What's a muscle show?

• 38:27Speaker 04

  Muscle shows is a group of people who used to work with the Reefer Franklin.

• 38:31Jessie Ware?

  It was in Tennessee, wasn't it?

• 38:32Speaker 04

  Yeah, yeah. And, and it was.

• 38:34Jessie Ware?

  Yeah, but this amazing rhythm section that were like, all the incredible songs you're gonna, there's an amazing documentary on it.

• 38:41Speaker 04

  Yeah, and I thought, I want that vibe. And we were, I was in there one night and, cause I was filming through the day and then I used to get in at night. And I, we, 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 gonna do this anymore. And I just went, I want it to be like, ain't no way. You know, that theory, and, and they went, got you. And they just went into this like, bluesy. And I just thought, can't wait to sing this. And, and I, I'm just, it's one of my favourite tracks on the album. I love it. Ain't Gonna Beg. And I thought, yeah, come on.

• 39:25Speaker 03

  Sounds so exciting.

• 39:27Speaker 04

  It was, it was brilliant.

• 39:29Speaker 03

  Have you got a new TV series coming up?

• 39:32Speaker 04

  Well, I've got the Nashville, I've, I filmed in Nashville for two weeks.

• 39:36Jessie Ware?

  What, making the album?

• 39:38Speaker 04

  Yeah, not so much making the album, getting the inspiration for the album. So I spoke to some great writers out there. Um, and it's a community of musicians out there who, you know, unlike sort of here.

• 39:52Jessie Ware?

  Mm-hmm.

• 39:53Speaker 04

  People really wanna help you, you know, so, you know.

• 39:57Speaker 03

  Why is it different?

• 39:58Speaker 04

  When you get to Nashville, it's like a pilgrimage for a musician to go to, 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. Or, do you need a musician for that? So there's loads of people who you can go to and, 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.

• 40:31Jessie Ware?

  I'd love to go and do a writing trip there. Loads of songwriters are, kind of the LA songwriters are all moving to Nashville.

• 40:37Speaker 04

  Mm.

• 40:37Jessie Ware?

  Do you have to work on your voice still? Like, cause 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 wanna keep on getting better.

• 40:46Speaker 04

  Hmm.

• 40:47Jessie Ware?

  Do you? Do you feel like your voice has changed? And for the better, for, you know, do you, are you more challenged by it? Like, I'm sure, you know, you've still got a fantastic voice, so. But it, has it changed?

• 40:59Speaker 04

  Yeah, I'm much more earthy now. So it's dropped a little, but it's stronger. So, um, I got a, 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.

• 41:21Speaker 04

  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 has changed. And then Sean, Sean Barry, who's my M D. And 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.

• 42:01Speaker 04

  But I think the older you get, the more life you live, your voice takes on a completely different. Tombrer, is that right? Tombrer. Um, I thought I'd just made that word up.

• 42:16Speaker 04

  And it's, um, and, and just embrace it. So when your voice changes, don't worry. Just think, oh, this isn't you. I'm gonna work on this now.

• 42:25Jessie Ware?

  I think you could have like self-help books.

• 42:30Jessie Ware?

  Maybe that's like the next avenue.

• 42:31Speaker 04

  Could be, could be, you never know. But don't be afraid of that.

• 42:35Speaker 03

  But so when, when you're singing, do you have a, a little routine that you prepare?

• 42:41Speaker 04

  Yeah, I just, um, I used to, I can't believe I'm gonna admit this. I used to literally cough. Have a dram beauty and go on stage. That was me.

• 42:52Jessie Ware?

  That's, that's.

• 42:54Speaker 04

  And for years, I never, I don't worry about my voice. I think if I can talk, I can sing.

• 43:01Speaker 04

  So, don't, don't be worried about it.

• 43:03Speaker 03

  I think the worry is the thing that constricts you.

• 43:06Jessie Ware?

  Well, yeah, you were doing like twelve shows a week.

• 43:09Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 43:10Jessie Ware?

  On the ships, like you, that's like, you're, you're in kind of musical theatre land of like, how much.

• 43:15Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 43:16Jessie Ware?

  You're having to work your voice. And the full sets and stuff, I mean, it's kind of.

• 43:22Speaker 04

  Like Jessie.

• 43:27Jessie Ware?

  No, do you warm up?

• 43:29Speaker 04

  I do now, cause I'm a bit older, so, um, and I had a great Fiona McDonald, who I, I worked with in Cats. In fact, she was very pivotable. Pivotable? Cause how many of I am?

• 43:44Speaker 03

  Keep going.

• 43:45Speaker 04

  Pivotal, she was very pivotal in my, in my career, because she started to work with me and, and gave me a few. Uh, runs and, and, you know, this is, bring your voice out, blah, blah, blah. And, uh, and she went, you've no idea where you can go with your voice.

• 44:03Speaker 04

  And she made me superwoman.

• 44:05Jessie Ware?

  Oh, that's amazing.

• 44:07Speaker 04

  So I, I then recorded Never Enough. I did This Is Me and boom, just hit every night.

• 44:16Jessie Ware?

  Wow.

• 44:17Speaker 04

  So it was just someone saying to me, you've got no idea. Yeah, where you can go with that voice. And singing Cats every night, that, when I was in Cats.

• 44:27Speaker 03

  Which cat were you?

• 44:28Speaker 04

  I was Grisabella.

• 44:29Jessie Ware?

  The song you get, memory.

• 44:31Speaker 03

  Memories.

• 44:31Speaker 04

  Memory, yeah. So when you're hitting a top C every night, you know, and, and thinking, here we go. And you've got to hit it, cause that's what they're here for. You know, it's.

• 44:42Speaker 03

  Come for the top C.

• 44:43Speaker 04

  That's right, come for the top C.

• 44:44Speaker 03

  Is the top C in The Bodyguard, the song?

• 44:48Jessie Ware?

  God, you'll know.

• 44:48Speaker 03

  Which one, which, which song?

• 44:52Speaker 03

  I Have Nothing.

• 44:53Speaker 04

  Oh, yeah, yeah.

• 44:57Speaker 04

  Yeah, that is sad.

• 44:59Jessie Ware?

  Yeah.

• 44:59Speaker 04

  Is that the top scene?

• 45:00Jessie Ware?

  Dunno.

• 45:01Speaker 04

  Probably with Whitney, yeah. Okay. Yeah. Do you sing any Whitney? I used to. Whitney made me who I am today. Did she? Because I took all Whitney's songs in the eighties and, you know, the nineties. And I was like queen of the clubs. Because I could sing Whitney. So, and that was it. And I did a place called The Maid Marian in Skegness. And I know, and I, I was on the summer season there and, and I remember going. If I. And the whole place was two and a half thousand people. Oh, keep going, Jane.

• 45:39Speaker 04

  Uh, and. I love that song. You know, when you think, oh.

• 45:47Speaker 04

  I would only be in your way. And then I learned you don't have to shout.

• 45:57Jessie Ware?

  Yeah.

• 45:57Speaker 04

  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.

• 46:10Jessie Ware?

  I think you need a Jane McDonald's school of, uh, of, of soul and sass and, and success. I'm in.

• 46:17Speaker 04

  Wow.

• 46:17Jessie Ware?

  I'm drinking it all up.

• 46:19Speaker 04

  Oh, lovely.

• 46:20Jessie Ware?

  Before we let you go, we do have a, a cookie that you, I don't, do you, have you got a sweet tooth?

• 46:25Speaker 04

  Oh, yes.

• 46:26Jessie Ware?

  Do you like a cup of tea?

• 46:27Speaker 04

  Oh, I'd love a cup of tea.

• 46:28Jessie Ware?

  For the cookie?

• 46:29Speaker 04

  Oh, yes, please.

• 46:30Jessie Ware?

  And I know I'm gonna get, I'm gonna get a teapot out for you because I know that's how you like it.

• 46:34Speaker 04

  I do like it.

• 46:35Jessie Ware?

  Yeah, I'm gonna do that.

• 46:35Speaker 04

  Have you got the Yorkshire tea, Jessie?

• 46:37Jessie Ware?

  I do have the Yorkshire tea.

• 46:38Speaker 04

  Oh, yeah. Bloody hell. This is mine.

• 46:47Jessie Ware?

  I've done your tea, how I think you like it.

• 46:49Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 46:50Jessie Ware?

  Do we need to let that brew more?

• 46:52Speaker 04

  Yeah. Just leave it for a good... A minute at least, a minute or two.

• 46:57Jessie Ware?

  Minute more than that?

• 46:59Speaker 04

  No, I think you've done two minutes now.

• 47:00Jessie Ware?

  Okay, shall we check?

• 47:02Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 47:02Jessie Ware?

  Because I don't want to get this wrong.

• 47:04Speaker 04

  You don't want it over-brewed? No, you don't, you want it brewed, not stewed.

• 47:08Jessie Ware?

  Okay, got it.

• 47:09Speaker 04

  That's grand, thank you.

• 47:11Jessie Ware?

  Right, sorry I haven't got it in a jug.

• 47:12Speaker 04

  No, it's fine, it's fine. I know people that leave this bag in when they drink it.

• 47:17Jessie Ware?

  It's bitter.

• 47:18Speaker 04

  It's awful, no, that should never happen. I think in a shop, they should have a colour chart. You know, for coffee.

• 47:25Jessie Ware?

  And you point to it.

• 47:26Speaker 04

  And you say, "I'd like it that." That's a good idea.

• 47:28Jessie Ware?

  That's a great idea!

• 47:30Speaker 04

  Yeah, I think you're exactly right. Yeah.

• 47:32Jessie Ware?

  Um, we have a dark chocolate and rye with sea salt cookie, if you want a little bit.

• 47:40Speaker 04

  Absolutely.

• 47:41Jessie Ware?

  Okay, great.

• 47:41Speaker 04

  Thank you so much. And all this trouble.

• 47:44Jessie Ware?

  Jane, I just, I actually could just have you live with me. If you want to move in, if 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.

• 47:53Speaker 04

  That'd be lovely, wouldn't it? I was hoping for a duet, Jane.

• 47:57Jessie Ware?

  No, I'm not warmed up, I'm not as good as Jane on the, on the, um, 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?

• 48:08Speaker 04

  My mother's soup.

• 48:09Jessie Ware?

  Yeah.

• 48:10Speaker 04

  Split peas, lentils, leeks, turnip, fennel. That's her secret fennel. Fennel, gorgeous. That is unusual, because it's not a common vegetable. But that was her take, and it gives it just a slightly different take. 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? It was broccoli. Yeah, nobody ate broccoli, it was almost cauliflower.

• 48:34Jessie Ware?

  Also, I mean, is there like a very memorable food moment on the cruise ships that you can remember? Good or bad, I, you know?

• 48:45Speaker 04

  Sundays.

• 48:46Jessie Ware?

  Oh, yeah.

• 48:47Speaker 04

  Mashed potato. What do you mean? They did mashed potato on a Sunday. Instead of roast? Celebrity, yeah. No, they could have what you wanted.

• 48:56Jessie Ware?

  Okay.

• 48:56Speaker 04

  The fact that there was proper mashed potato, and that's when I was a cruise ship singer in the old days.

• 49:13Speaker 04

  And I used to think, much better than gravy, that's all. That's what you want.

• 49:16Jessie Ware?

  You love gravy. Do you like an onion gravy?

• 49:19Speaker 04

  Love any gravy.

• 49:20Jessie Ware?

  Okay. Do you have a secret recipe for gravy?

• 49:23Speaker 04

  Yeah, I do. Oh, you do? I do have a secret. Go on. I'm good at sort of Yorkshire's gravy. I'm good at the side bits. Okay. It's just the main thing, I can't handle. Red currant jelly. Oh, isn't it? Yeah. That's the secret. Gorgeous. And I learnt that in Denmark of all places. So, she, you know, a friend of Henrik's said, this is the secret to a really good gravy. And it was a little bit of Worcestershire sauce.

• 49:49Jessie Ware?

  Oh, nice. Um, can I?

• 49:52Speaker 04

  Look at me, I sound like I'm Delia.

• 49:58Jessie Ware?

  I, I wanna know, uh, you're Nigella. Um, I wanna know, is there

• 50:05Jessie Ware?

  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 staff? Yeah, all the Titanic. Is there these after hours places that only the staff that go and it's like the wildest of parties? Below decks.

• 50:23Speaker 04

  There are, yeah.

• 50:25Jessie Ware?

  Are they great parties?

• 50:26Speaker 04

  Fabulous.

• 50:27Jessie Ware?

  Really?

• 50:27Speaker 04

  And of course, when your staff or officer or crew or whatever,

• 50:34Speaker 04

  there's, there's hundreds, hundreds of people work. There's another city underneath this, you know. And there's always somebody who's got a birthday. 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, uh, with the, and I had a fabulous cast on there. They were just amazing.

• 50:57Speaker 04

  And we used to say, after the show, are we going, 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, I ran a singles club on there as well, because there's a lot of people who don't want to cop off, you know.

• 51:18Jessie Ware?

  Yeah.

• 51:18Speaker 04

  Um, I did my years of that and I had a fabulous time.

• 51:22Jessie Ware?

  Did you?

• 51:22Speaker 04

  Oh, I did. And, um, I didn't know that. And then I thought, no, just, no, I like just a bit of solace now. But there were a lot of people who were, 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.

• 51:47Jessie Ware?

  So you're also a tour operator, holiday rep, sure. Of course, you can do it all. Jane McDonald, you do it all. Thank you so much for being such a delight, for sharing such gorgeous stories and just, um, being really inspiring.

• 51:59Speaker 04

  Thank you for your kindness and your lovely hospitality.

• 52:02Jessie Ware?

  Such a pleasure. Can't wait to watch you perform.

• 52:05Speaker 04

  Oh, God, Elton.

• 52:21Jessie Ware?

  Jane McDonald is my spirit animal. She's a fabulous woman. She's really inspiring.

• 52:27Speaker 03

  She's inspiring because she's 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.

• 52:42Jessie Ware?

  And she has fun with it.

• 52:44Speaker 03

  The best fun.

• 52:46Jessie Ware?

  Also, she's a businesswoman.

• 52:48Speaker 03

  She is.

• 52:48Jessie Ware?

  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.

• 52:54Speaker 03

  She could run the world.

• 52:55Jessie Ware?

  Yeah.

• 52:56Speaker 03

  Probably.

• 52:57Jessie Ware?

  Jane McDonald for prayers.

• 52:58Speaker 03

  Yeah, travel the world and run the world, Jane.

• 53:00Jessie Ware?

  I loved her. Thank you, Jane, for coming on the podcast, for being so open and gorgeous. Loved you. Um, Jane's album, Living the Dream, is out on March the 20th.

• 53:12Speaker 03

  And she's certainly living the dream.

• 53:15Jessie Ware?

  She's also going to be on tour in the autumn.

• 53:17Speaker 03

  We're definitely going, darling.

• 53:18Jessie Ware?

  So you can go and get tickets for any of those shows. It's a big stretch.

• 53:22Speaker 03

  And the mighty hoopla.

• 53:22Jessie Ware?

  And the hoopla is, is. The bank holiday, she's going Sunday, so definitely, definitely catch Jay McDonald this year.

• 53:45Speaker 00

  Hey, we're Nick and Jack, hosts of the best one yet. Behind every episode, there's research, emails, spreadsheets, and our shared Google Doc, the headline hammer. With Google Workspace with Gemini, Google's AI is built right into the premium versions of tools we already use, like Gmail, Docs, and Sheets. No new tools or extra logins, just personalized AI for the way we work. That means less time on the work around the work and more time finding the stories worth talking about. Get AI tools for work. Upgrade to Google Workspace with Gemini at goo.gle/workspacewithGemini. That's goo.gle/workspacewithGemini.

• 54:18Speaker 01

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