No Rock And Roll Fun

MINI-WHAT THE POP PAPERS SAY: We're back in a period when the Royal Mail seems reluctant to deliver the pop papers in time for Wednesday night, so - in lieu - we thought it was worth bringing you, in full, Chris DeBurgh's comments in this week's Radio Times. Chris is making some sort of cameo appearance in Down To Earth, which is a bit like that Forever Green thing that John Alderton and Simpering Pauline Collins used to appear in ages ago. Anyway, we really don't think that DeBurgh needs any commentary to go with what he had to say: suffice to say, his true nature shines through:

"I did a fair amount of acting in my college days. I seem to remember getting into some fairly deep Samuel Beckett. I really liked the challenge. In Down To Earth, I play myself. Singing Lady In Red.

There were about 70 members o the cast and crew in the studio when I was singing. And, by the time I'd finished, most of them were in tears.

He [Ricky Tomlinson] gave me his autobiography. The inscription was "To Chris. Singer. Actor. My arse.

The DeBurgh name can be traced back all the way to 1066. The Duke of Normandy's second wife was a DeBurgh. It's so amazing to think I'm so connected with history.

That lot [Pop Idol] won't have lasting careers. You need to look at the real artists - Elton John, Peter Gabriel, Phil Collins, Sting, myself. We have one thing in common - we write our own material. Music that speaks to the people. Like Lady In Red.

It [Lady In Red] took me 20 minutes to write and six months to refine. I suppose it's like any piece of art... a painting or a sculpture, for instance. When I sing it, I know it's having an impact on people's lives. It gets used at quite a lot of funerals."

Like any piece of art.

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