In this episode Gearoid chats to singer songwriter Marcella Detroit who is well-known for her solo records and her time in Shakespears Sister (sic). Before she was a recording artist in her own right she was also a respected songwriter, session singer and backing vocalist working with greats such as Aretha Franklin, Better Midler, Burt Bacharach, Belinda Carlisle and many more. She toured extensively with Eric Clapton and was responsible for some of his best loved songs (she co-wrote “Lay Down Sally” and more with him).
Marcella chats about the highs and lows of Shakespears Sister. The heady period where they attained the longest-running number one for a female artist, a record still unbroken today, to the awards ceremony where it all imploded as they picked up a best album award.
She ruminates on the changes in the music industry and her pride at producing her own records in her home studio and constantly reinventing her sound. She recalls the heady glamour days of lear-jets, live-aid and Elton John. The constant in all of that is her consistently brilliant music.