Coleen Nolan is bringing her very personal show This is Me to London. Described as a celebration of life, love, and laughter, it is Coleen’s story told with her unmistakable style and wit.
Coleen is coming to London following her tour earlier in the year.
Coleen found fame with the family group The Nolans, which also included her sisters Linda, Maureen, Bernie, Denise and Anne.
In the late 70s/ early 80s the Nolans quickly became a household name, touring social clubs before going on to share the stage with Frank Sinatra and other iconic performers.
The Nolans (or The Nolan Sisters as they were originally called) are remembered for hits such as Gotta Pull Myself Together, Attention To Me, Who’s Gonna Rock You and the one that is synonymous with them, I’m in the Mood for Dancing.
After her time in the band, Coleen would go on to become a panellist on Loose Women which she has been part of for 26 years now.
Described as an evening of music, stories, heartfelt moments and plenty of laughs, the show is packed with stories of Coleen’s life and the music that she is so well known for.
Hosted by a son Shane and boasting an anything-goes audience, This Is Me provides a chance to get to know Coleen better.
Coleen Nolan took time to chat to the Irish World ahead of the show.
What inspired you to do this show?
“I just thought it would be so much fun to go out and actually meet the fans, the viewers of Loose Women and everything else I’ve done.
“It feels just more like a connection to them.
“And there’s no one editing it.
“It’s all very open and honest.
“And I get to do it with my son who’s brilliant.
“We’ve had such a fun time doing it.
“I like to meet people before and after the show for autographs and pictures.
“I just love meeting them and I’m so grateful for people that come and see it.
“It would have been very easy for me to just sit on a stool for an hour and a half and whitter on about my life but I wanted to make it more.
“That’s why I wanted the screens with the pictures and videos, and Shane hosting it.
“I wanted to make it a night for them.
“I hope by the end they’re up dancing.”
It’s called This is Me so it’s obviously very personal…
“Yeah, it’s very personal.
“It’s a look back on my life from childhood to present day, discussing the TV shows I’ve done: Loose Women, all of those things with a couple of songs thrown in as well.
“It’s like a very personal spoken in-person autobiography really, but lots of laughs, also lots of questions from the audience.
“I love getting questions from the audience.
“Some of them I can’t repeat on here, but it’s really good fun.”
What has it been like to look back on such an incredible life and career?
“It’s amazing really.
“I feel very privileged that now I’ve got time to look back and really appreciate career-wise everything that’s happened but also the wonderful personal moments, also the sad moments that I’ve gone through as well with divorces and then obviously my kids and how they came into my life.
“It’s actually really cathartic.
“It’s a bit like doing therapy every night.
“But also Shane’s very funny and we end up having such a laugh.
“But it’s really interesting discussing-no disrespect-how different the media is today compared to back in the day.
“It’s very open about social media.
“In the beginning when social media first came out, or even up to a couple of years ago, I really struggled with that, with trolls.
“I guess why I decided to call it This Is Me is because I can’t be anything else.
“If you don’t like it, that’s fine but this is me.”
Are trolls something you have to deal with?
“Yeah, absolutely but everyone’s dealing with them.
“I’ve got my head around that and it doesn’t bother me now.
“I’m really happy where I am right now.
“I’ve got my lovely little farm, I’ve got my kids, I’ve got my grandkids so a troll telling me I’m an ugly, fat, wrinkly whatever- I just laugh now. It doesn’t bother me.”
Take us back to the beginning of your story. Obviously you grew up in such a famous musical family. I can imagine it being very extraordinary but then if it’s all you know, I’m sure it felt very ordinary..
“Yeah, it’s funny actually because people ask me that question: What was it like?
“And I say, ‘I didn’t know any different’.
“I was singing with my family from the age of two so I didn’t really know any different, but what was great was that I was always with my family.
“I had my sisters around me all the time and I think that saved me from a lot of what younger stars at the time went through.
“It didn’t matter what happened to us and we did go through some quite hard times but we were always together.
“And I guess being the baby, I was always kind of protected.
“They still do that now and I’m 61.
“It was an amazing time.
“Was it hard? Do I feel that I missed bits of childhood?
“Yeah, because I couldn’t do things that my friends were doing.
“I’d be working so I missed a lot of normal childhood and I definitely missed a lot of school, which you wouldn’t get away with nowadays.
“It was incredible.”
You grew up with it but did there come a time when you had to decide if it was what you wanted?
“I went through a stage in my teenage years where I wasn’t sure I wanted to continue doing that because I very much craved a normal life.
“I remember my dad saying, ‘You don’t have to do this’.
“Because Dad always said, ‘I can just see you on a farm with animals’, because I was obsessed with them.
“Then I thought I might become a vet.
“I fancied doing anything with animals.
“I was like, ‘I know, I’ll become a vet’.
“And then someone said, ‘You know that’s nine years of university and you have to get all A stars?’
“And I thought, ‘Okay, maybe I won’t become a vet since I hardly went to school’.
“So I went through that period of not sure but then when I hit 15 and I had to make the decision, then it was the only decision I could make really because I’d never known anything different.
“I didn’t want to say no and then regret it for the rest of my life.
“And it was a great.
“It was tough but it was a great life and now to look back on it, I appreciate it more now than I did then.
“Now I look back and go, ‘Wow!’.”
You mentioned being 15, wasn’t that also the time of I’m in the Mood for Dancing? It must have been a whirlwind with Top of the Pops etc..
“It was Top of the Pops and then that’s when we broke Japan.
“We went over to Japan and it was crazy in Japan.
“I mean we were number one in all the charts in Japan, domestic chart and international chart all at the same time so when we got there, we had no idea how big it was and the army used to have to actually walk us around.
“We couldn’t walk anywhere because there was just thousands and we were doing 12,000 seater arenas.
“At 15, that’s kind of mind blowing.”
The show includes some songs including the famous I’m in the Mood for Dancing, I imagine even after all these years people talk about that song and even sing it to you..
“They do.
“God, it’s amazing to have a record that lasts that long.
“It’s been absolutely incredible.
“When I was a teenager and it was on Top of the Pops and that and then I would go out with my friends, I used to be mortified when they played it in the club.
“I would literally run off the dance floor because it was just too cringe.
“But now I’m so proud of it and all the other songs that we did but that one especially.
“It’s nice to be able to embrace it without feeling big headed about it.
“It’s just, ‘Wow, that’s amazing’.
“There’s not many songs that do that forever.
“We still get asked to do it.
“When we’re together, we’ll still get up at weddings and parties because you can’t get away with it.”
What is it like to be back onstage singing for this show?
“There’s no adrenaline like that.
“There’s no adrenaline like live performance and an audience in front of you.
“There’s nothing I’ve done that gives me that adrenaline rush where you come off and you couldn’t possibly go straight to bed straight away because you’re on a high.
“And I think I’ll always crave that a little bit because that’s what I’ve grown up with.
“It’s amazing.”
You mentioned Loose Women which you have been part of many years now. How important has it been for you?
“Oh, Loose Women has become like my second family basically.
“All the girls on it are just like another group of sisters that I’ve met.
“It’s been 26 years for me this year and I’ve literally lived my life through it.
“I’ve been through divorces, children, everything.
“I’ve lived through Loose Women so I’ll always be grateful for that and I still love it to this day.
“I just enjoy it so much.
“But it’s led to so many amazing things that I never set out to be.
“I never once thought, ‘I know, I’ll stop singing and be a TV presenter’.
“I’m just one of these that say, ‘What will be will be’.
“I didn’t know what was going to happen when the records stopped.
“And it was just luck really that I was invited on as a guest and I got on really well with everyone, instantly bonded and then they were like, ‘Would you like to be a guest presenter?’
“So I came on as a guest presenter just as a trial thing really and then it just took off from there.
“It’s amazing.”
Do you feel it’s the kind of thing that really wasn’t around in your earlier days. There just wasn’t that platform for women, was there?
“No.
“Even when it started, there was no- and there still isn’t really- all women shows and certainly not opinion-based shows.
“So back in the day, it was massively a first of its kind and still kind of is.
“That’s why I always think, ‘Oh God, don’t end it’.
“Because there’s no show like it really on telly that incorporates every single age range and generation from women in their 20s to Gloria Hunniford who’s in her 80s.
“Right across the board I think it appeals to everyone.
“I think that’s what’s given it its longevity.
“But it’s very different (now).
“I mean back in the day, you could say anything and you might get the odd headline if it was a bit controversial but nowadays obviously we have to be very careful what we say because you can be cancelled in two seconds.”
Obviously you are the only sister born in England but you feel very Irish, don’t you?
“I’ve definitely got an affinity with Ireland because my whole family is from there so when I go home, I definitely feel something.
“I was born in England.
“I was the only one with a British passport so when we used to travel, I had to go through one thing and they had to go through another.
“It was quite funny really.
“And I always used to wind my brothers up when I was really little: I always stood for the (English) national anthem because I knew it wound them up.
“They’d go, ‘Sit down, you’re Irish’.
“And I’d be going, ‘Nope, I’ve got a British passport’.
“But obviously I live in the north of England so I’ve got a northern accent but loads of people go, ‘Do you speak Irish? Because when I say my Rs, people go, ‘Oh, that’s really Irish’.”
It’s funny because although you were the only one born in England, they gave you the most Irish name of all of them. I wonder if that was the thinking..
“It was.
“It was behind the thinking, ‘She was born in England so we’ll give her the most Irish girl’s name ever’.
“When I was really young, I used to hate my name because it was so unheard of.
“They could never say it properly, they never spelt it properly and it used to really embarrass me.
“You know when you’re a teenager and you just want to fit in?
“I used to be really embarrassed and now, well for years now, I absolutely love it.
“I think it’s a lovely Irish name.”
The show includes sad moments. I’m sure there is a moment of think of your sister Linda who sadly passed last year and Bernie who passed in 2013…
“Obviously I mention them in the show and we’ve got screens that we show lots of pictures and videos of times gone by.
“We had just done a massive tour the year before Bernie got sick and then when she passed away, they wanted us to tour again but I couldn’t do that.
“I just feel it wouldn’t be us without her because she was the lead singer on all the hit records.
“But again, very lucky that I have all these videos and stuff to look back on.
“I miss them every day so it was important for me to make sure they’re a big part of this show and they get a big mention.”
It was in 2020, and before Linda’s diagnosis, that you did that show Nolans Go Cruising so you got to spend that special time with your sisters..
“It was fantastic.
“Again so grateful I got to be with my sisters on a beautiful cruise.
“We laughed so much.
“We just had the best time.
“It’s like when we lost Bernie, I was just so grateful that we got to do that massive reunion tour in 2009 because we hadn’t done anything together for 25 years so I’m not only glad we got to do it but we got to do it with her.
“And the cruising show again when Linda passed away, I thought how amazing that we got to have that quality time together, just us as sisters.
“It was brilliant.”
Of course you’re doing it all your life but does that mean you are undaunted by taking on a show like this, that rests so much on you?
“Oh no, it still scares me to death.
“When I was asked to do it they were saying, ‘Well, we could get someone to interview you in each place we go to’.
“And I said, ‘No, it won’t work because I just won’t be relaxed’.
“Whereas Shane’s got my sense of humour.
“He knows most of the answers anyway.
“We’re just very relaxed together and I feel very comfortable.
“I think if you’re going to open yourself up like this, you have to be comfortable doing it so it was very important for me to have Shane with me.
“And this tour, my other son Jake directed it and put it all together so it’s very much been a family affair.
“I think with me, it will always be family.
“It’s really important.”
Of course your son Jake Roche had success with his band Rixton. It seems the music has passed onto the next generation just like it was passed on to you..
“Yeah, he was very successful with Me and My Broken Heart and now he’s producing, writing, directing, still singing.
“He’s got some exciting stuff coming up actually.
“Ciara’s the only one actually that has stepped back from it.
“I think she felt too much pressure, and she’s got a great voice.
“Honestly every time I hear her singing, I think she is such a waste.
“She’d be so good in musical theatre but I think she just feels the pressure.
“It’s like when I was asked to do Blood Brothers after four of my sisters had done it and I turned it down because you just feel you’re going to be compared to your family.
“I thought, ‘No, I can’t. I’ll be the rubbish one so I’m not doing it’.”
What’s next? Would you like to do more with this show?
“Yeah, we are talking about taking it again next year and going everywhere.
“I’d love to come to Ireland with it.
“Who knows? I never knew I’d be doing this so who knows what’s next?
“I never know from day to day.
“I don’t want to stop, put it that way so if we can expand it and continue it, then that would be great.”
This Is Me comes to Bush Hall on Sunday 2 August.
