Texas star Spiteri ‘still living the dream’ ahead of Belladrum

Texas’ Sharleen Spiteri says her love of performing live has not diminished – almost 40 years after the Glasgow band was formed.

Famous for hits including Say What You Want and Black Eyed Boy, Texas completed an arena tour last year and are about to play a series of dates across Europe.

“I never walk out on stage thinking ‘I’m not really in the mood tonight’,” says Spiteri.

“In that moment I’m thinking about the people dragged along by their partners, who are kind of like ‘I don’t really like Texas’ – I’m thinking about making sure they leave the gig thinking ‘Texas are the greatest band I’ve ever seen’.”

Texas enjoyed chart success through the 1990s and 2000s, with Summer Son in 1999 and 2006-released single Sleep among their other hits.

The rock pop band have played the Glastonbury music festival twice, and will close the 21st anniversary Belladrum Tartan Heart Festival in the Highlands this August.

Today Bellshill-born Spiteri juggles the demands of touring with family life.

She says: “When you’re free and single you’re going on the road for years at a time. You don’t care, you’re away, you’re living the dream.

“I’m still living the dream to be honest.

“I get to do what I love more than anything – standing on those stages and playing the songs I love so much.

“We’re doing festivals this summer, working four-day weeks in June, July and August, and then I get to be home the rest of the week to recover. It’s perfect.”

Spiteri admits to still having the occasional “pinch herself” moment.

“I do feel very lucky and very privileged,” she says.

“I do have those moments when I go ‘wow’. It can be surreal sometimes.

“A couple of years ago, I was standing on the Pyramid Stage at Glastonbury and punching the air and then suddenly looking out and it was just a sea of people.”

She says a performance at Glasgow’s OVO Hydro last year was particularly memorable.

“The first night we walked on we couldn’t hear ourselves, the audience was that loud.

“We stood on the stage looking at each other thinking ‘Oh my god’.

“I thought ‘Don’t start the songs, I need a moment to get my breath’. It was so emotional.”

She adds: “We’ve been doing this for a long time. We’re an old band and we’re still playing to all these people. That’s nuts.”

Texas previously played Belladrum in 2011 and Spiteri says the challenge of keeping a festival going should not go unrecognised.

The singer adds: “The music industry is really hard. We’ve seen how many venues and studios have closed.

“It’s really hard work making a festival, and so many people think they can do it and it’s just about putting a load of bands on and that’s that.

“A great amount of thought goes into the acts that play.

“We’re proud to have been invited back to Bella for its 21st. We must have done something right.”

Spiteri says the Highlands as a whole is a special place, with Texas having also played gigs in Inverness, a few miles down the road from the Belladrum site.

“The air up there is better than anywhere else in the world,” she says.

“When you’re a singer that’s pretty important when you’re taking in big gulps of air.

“Breathing that Highland air you feel ready.

“And to walk out into that beautiful landscape, to play amongst that, that is something pretty damn special.”