If Deacon Blue’s Ricky Ross ever advertises for a personal assistant, I reckon I’ll apply.
I’ve just pointed out that he and wife Lorraine have their 30th wedding anniversary coming up.
“Oh, well reminded, Mike!” Ricky cries. “I’d actually forgotten until you said that.”
To be fair, it’s a hectic time for the Glasgow-based couple, who’ve been bandmates as well as partners since the mid-80s.
Hectic in a good way, mind. There’s the superb new album, City Of Love, out today. There’s a big UK tour later this year. And, naturally, there’s the job of promoting both.
Ricky and wife Lorraine have their 30th wedding anniversary coming up (Image: PA)
Mind you, it sounds as if at least one sale is already notched up.
“I got a tweet the other day,” Ricky tells me, “from a guy calling himself Glasgow Tory Boy! He said: ‘I’ve ordered your new album.’
“Honestly, nothing has made me more happy!”
Ricky’s not suggesting his traditionally “left-leaning” Deacon Blue have taken a sudden lurch to the right.
It’s just he’s not one to ram his views down his audience’s throat, particularly given the way politics has been lately.
Deacon Blue will embark on a big UK tour later this year (Image: PA)
“We’ve gone through a time of people tearing each other apart,” he sighs.
“It’s important to have your own values but I like to think our shows attract people with massively different political opinions, that we have that openness.”
Deacon Blue’s heyday brought them huge success.
After 1987’s classic Rain-town they had three top five albums and hit songs including Real Gone Kid, before splitting in 1994. Ricky, who turned 62 at Christmas, only wishes he’d fully appreciated it at the time.
“Looking back, I didn’t allow myself to enjoy it,” he says. “Whereas now we’re at a point in our lives where we really do. An audience comes to see us and we think, wow, fantastic.”
Ricky, who turned 62 at Christmas, only wishes he’d fully appreciated Deacon Blue’s heyday (Image: Daily Record)
Of calling it a day back then, Ricky admits: “It was all getting too much. I couldn’t see a way out of it.”
On reflection, he wonders if he acted a little hastily.
“My older, wiser head would’ve said: ‘Just take a year off’,” he says.
“On the other hand, I kind of like the fact we did break up. Lorraine and I were able to start having children, and to bring them up quietly. So a lot of nice things came out of it.
Ricky feels today’s musical climate is tough for bands just setting out (Image: West Lothian Courier)
“Also, when you’re 100% in a band, your head’s in a bit of a bubble. This way I got to meet and work with lots of other people. New things opened up for me. I started doing radio, which I love. Lorraine started acting, doing television.”
But did he lose a little self-belief?
“Totally, yes. I had to be reminded I should write from the heart, the way I did at the very beginning, rather than necessarily try to write a Deacon Blue song.” Reforming in 1999 proved a sound move.
But it’s since 2012 that things have really picked up again.
Since 2012 things have really picked up again for Deacon Blue (Image: Daily Record)
And it hasn’t just been about churning out the old stuff. They’ve had three further top 20 albums.
But Ricky feels today’s musical climate is tough for bands just setting out.
“It’s so much harder for them,” he says. “Big deals aren’t being done the way they used to be.
“People are having to juggle different things, maybe take a bar job, stay living at home for longer.
“I wouldn’t know where to start.”
● City Of Love is out today. For tour details go to deaconblue
Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
