Ep 57: Queen Victoria with Jasper Rees

Ep 57: Queen Victoria with Jasper Rees

Jasper Rees is the author of "Let's Do It" the authorised biography of Victoria Wood. The book was written with the consent of Victoria's children following her death in 2016.

Jasper wrote the book by listening to audio recordings mad by Wood herself in preparation to write a memoir. "Let's Do It" has just been published in paperback and is a must read for any Victoria Wood fan. The book was described by the guardian as "a brilliant tribute while also – somehow, almost – bringing Victoria Wood back to life in all her complicated glory".

This interview was recorded live at the Cat Laughs Podcast Festival in Kilkenny in December 2020.

You can buy "Let's Do It" by Jasper Rees here

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Ep 56: Pop and Pride with Bright Light Bright Light

Bright Light Bright Light is welsh musician, artist and songwriter Rod Thomas.

Originally from a small town in Wales, Rod has become one of our most respected independent queer artists with approval in the form of collaborations and touring opportunities from some of the world's biggest stars.

He began learning piano, guitar and saxophone as a child and began performing acoustically under his own name. In 2010 he defined his synth sound with the release of his debut single "Love Part ii". He has gone on to release 4 albums and has just released a compilation album "So Gay, So Dramatic". He has toured with Cher, Scissor Sisters and Elton John.

In this conversation we chat about LGBTQ representation, his place in the music industry and how he has done everything in his career himself.

You can support Fascinated by becoming a member of headstuff+ on headstuffpodcasts.com. In return for your support, you will get access to bonus exclusive bonus content. In the bonus content for this episode, you can hear Rod talk about remixing Dannii Minogue's iconic "All I Wanna Do" and we chat about our mutual love of Gayle and Gillian.

You can listen to Bright Light Bright Light's Music on Spotify, download on Apple or buy gorgeous physicals on brightlightx2.com

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Ep 55: Mother of Invention with Una Gibney

Ep 55: Mother of Invention with Una Gibney

Ireland has always had a great reputation for rock music. In the 90s Sinead O'Connor, U2 and The Cranberries led the pack. It took a while for the explosion of bubblegum pop which was happening in the UK and Europe to hit Ireland. Una was one of the first Irish female pop vocalists to be launched around the time the success of Boyzone was starting to attract international attention. Already a session singer she had recorded backing vocals for Something Happens and Aslan. In 1994 she released her debut single "Crawl" which became a huge Irish hit. But it was with the release of a cover version of Randy Crawford's "You Might Need Somebody" that she discovered the harsh realities of the music industry.

Una continued to perform and formed Boogie Nights a hugely successful party band and continued to release music independently. She then went on a world tour as a solo vocalist in Michael Flatley's "Celtic Tiger". After this She performed in the TV special "The Voice Within" and in 2012 was beaten by Jedward in an attempt to represent Ireland in the Eurovision Song Contest after which she took time out to start a family.

EP 54: Back Home with Una Healy from The Saturdays

EP 54: Back Home with Una Healy from The Saturdays

Una Healy was a gigging singer/songwriter when she answered an ad looking for a female singer for a girlband. What followed was a phenomenal seven years in The Saturdays one of the new millennium's biggest girlbands. A string of massive hits in the UK led to them getting signed by Island Def Jam in America and making their own reality series "Chasing the Saturdays" for the E Network. Since then Una has been a regular on Irish and UK television as a presenter and released a solo album "The Waiting Game" and a string of silly releases including a duet with Sam Palladio. Una returned to Ireland during the lockdown and is back living in the town where she grew up. She is one of the loveliest people and has an incredible new single "Until You".

You can support Fascinated by becoming a member of headstuff+ on headstuffpodcasts.com. In return for your support, you will get access to bonus exclusive bonus content. In the bonus content for this episode, you can watch the interview with Una.

Ep 53: The Undercover Pop Star with Luciana Caporaso

Ep 53: The Undercover Pop Star with Luciana Caporaso

What a guest and what a story. These are the episodes that I love to make!

Luciana Caporaso has been an undercover popstar hiding in plain sight since the 90s. Fate conspired against her for no less than five albums. This episode charts her journey from fresh faced teenager writing music for a detective series in the UK to becoming the Queen of Electro based in Los Angeles.

She has found herself in pop groups and rock bands, signed to 5 major labels. Albums were torpedoed by everything from mismanagement to world events. But when success came it was on her own terms as an independent artist now writing for and collaborating with the biggest artists in the world. This is one hell of a story.

You can support Fascinated by becoming a member of headstuff+ on headstuffpodcasts.com. In return for your support you will get access to bonus exclusive bonus content. In the bonus content for this episode I showed Luciana some photos and CDS and we continued our chat!


Ep 52: Samantha Mumba Lately

Ep 52: Samantha Mumba Lately

’m delighted to kick off season 7 of "Fascinated" with the fabulous Samantha Mumba. Samantha is pop royalty and after an almost unforgivable hiatus she returned to music last December with a double whammy of releases. She dropped two new tracks “Cool” and “Process” within weeks of each other.

Samantha shot to fame in 2000 with the worldwide smash hit “Gotta Tell You”. She followed it with a string of hits and a huge debut album which sold 4 million copies. She then cared out a successful movie career which started with her starring in the Hollywood feature film “Time Machine”.

This episode was recorded on 20th December 2020 at the Set Theatre in Kilkenny as part of The Cat Cast. The Kilkenny Cat Laughs festival could not run last year because of Covid so in December some comedians live streamed the recording of podcasts from the stage of the empty Set Theatre in Kilkenny. Samantha Zoomed in from her home in Los Angeles.

If you would like to support Fascinated you can subscribe to HPN+ on headstuffpodcasts.com where for just €5 a month you can listen to bonus content from all of the shows on the network including Fascinated. For this episode you can watch the interview with Samantha Mumba.

Ep 51: Special Kind Of Something (Part 2) With Kavana

Ep 51: Special Kind Of Something (Part 2) With Kavana

In The first of a special two-part episode I chat to 90s pop star Kavana.

For as long as he can remember Kavana was determined to become a pop-star and he made it happen. At the time Take That were disbanding and a chance meeting with their manager led to him recording a song written by Howard Donald. He became a household name and mega-stardom followed. While he was very well known he didn't have immediate chart success until he released a carefully chosen cover version of "I Can Make You Feel Good".

Kavana's journey to fame and the aftermath have been an astonishing test of his resilience. He is a lovely guy and this is story that needed two episodes. In this episode we talk about his move to LA, coming out of the closet, his relationship with Stephen Gately and reality TV.

Ep 50: Special Kind Of Something with Kavana

Ep 50: Special Kind Of Something with Kavana

In a special two-part episode I chat to 90’s pop star Kavana.

For as long as he can remember Kavana was determined to become a pop-star and he made it happen. At the time Take That were disbanding and a chance meeting with their manager led to him recording a song written by Howard Donald. He became a household name and mega-stardom followed. While he was very well known he didn't have immediate chart success until he released a carefully chosen cover version of "I Can Make You Feel Good".

Kavana's journey to fame and the aftermath have been an astonishing test of his resilience. He is a lovely guy and this is story that needed two episodes. In this episode we talk about his rise to fame in 90s pop.

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