Singer heads back on the road on her own terms

BEVERLEY Craven has always had a difficult relationship with fame.

Long before she released the song that was to catapult her to stardom – Promise Me – she was sent by her management to Los Angeles. The idea was that the young Beverley would 'learn the craft' and, naturally, produce a hit single.

But once there she became disillusioned with the trappings of her record label-prescribed lifestyle.

"I got sent to play around LA to get me some experience," says Beverley, pictured, who is now aged 46 and living in Buckinghamshire.

"The sound that they wanted for me was too big and American so I came back to England with my tail between my legs."

She left the States and made the very wise decision to write her own songs, exercising a creative input to which she clings on to this day.

With the help of producer Paul Samwell Smith, her resulting self-titled album went on to make a lasting impact on the charts in 1991, going on to sell three million albums worldwide.

"When I was in America I wasn't even allowed in the studio," she says. "I'd be banished to the coffee room to wait my turn, but when I came back and started working with Paul, it started with me sitting at the piano and writing my own songs. I found that the best way to make a record.

"When success came, my feet didn't touch the ground. I was on a flight every other day and travelling all the time."

Beverley discovered she was expecting her first child, Mollie when she was about to go on tour in America, in 1992. It was to prove a life-changing experience.

"When motherhood comes along, it really does alter things," says Beverley, who now has three daughters. "I tried to have a career and be a mum for three or four years, but by the time I had my second and third child, I realised that it would be difficult.

"I still feel that the most important job in the world is being a mum and every child has a right to a stable upbringing without his or her mother jetting off around the world.

"I'm not saying I think every woman should be like that, but certainly for me, the pull of motherhood was stronger than any ambition I had.

"To tell the truth I'd been working so hard that a lot of the shine had gone anyway."

Beverley turned her back on the showbiz world and instead devoted herself to her family.

It was only when they had grown older she decided to try her hand at a comeback. This attempt was cruelly shattered in 2005 when she was diagnosed with breast cancer although she has now made a full recovery.

"I'll be five years clear in March, which will quite a big milestone for me," she says. "Because I caught it early it wasn't aggressive. I had an operation to remove the tumour and a course of radiotherapy.

"I'm not quite as obsessive as I was when I was first diagnosed but I try and eat healthily. Slowly life returns to some kind of normality."

Beverley's latest offering, Close To Home, is a collection of personal songs recorded on her own label. She is currently winding up a nationwide tour and stops off at the Gatehouse Theatre, in Stafford, tonight.

"I'm loving the tour so much, I'm dreading it when it stops and I come crashing down to earth," she says. "Officially the last gig I'll do will be at my daughters' school in December. They're trying to raise some money for a new Sixth Form block.

"I write my songs from personal experience. It's my therapy if you like. It's nice to have the control back as well and I've really returned to songwriting.

"I wrote a song for my girls called Without Me, which was me reflecting on my diagnosis.

"I know my career will never be as it was before but that's not my plan. I want to go out there and perform and have a great show."

Beverley Craven will perform at the Gatehouse Theatre in Stafford tonight at 7.30pm. Telephone the box office on 01785 254653.