Icon to Ikon: Carol Decker talks to Johnny Ikon about life after T'Pau

Twenty one years ago in November 1987, flame-haired beauty Carol Decker and her band T'Pau stormed to the top of both the singles and album chart, with "China in Your Hand" and "Bridge of Spies" respectively. One of only 72 acts to achieve this in over fifty years of UK chart history, it cemented Carol and her bandmate's place in history. Following the success up was difficult, particularly after the collapse of her marriage to bandmate Ronnie Rogers, but Carol kept going and has been seen in recent years on BBC reality series "Hit Me Baby One More Time" and on the 1980s nostalgia tour "Here and Now". Johnny Ikon met up with her for a chat about how she felt back then about her "overnight" success and what she's got coming up next. This is the first in a series of "Icon to Ikon" interviews, where I catch up with legends from decades gone past. Look out for more in this series....

The first thing I wanted to know on meeting Carol is how she looks back on those times. I hate celebrities whose stars have faded who complain about being defined by one song, or previous work, and want to bleat on and on about what they feel is their better work. So I put it to her directly - are you proud of your past? She's remarkably candid and good-humoured, saying that for a long time she thought "I'm a loser who let it slip through my fingers" until an old friend who works on the Official Chart pointed out the incredible achievements she made in a short space of time, most notably being the chart double and that she now looks back with "incredible pride". I'm curious to know when you're in the middle of such a fame whirlwind if you get chance to notice these achievements, and what the standout moments were for her, and she shows her passion for musicianship and talent by saying "For me, the highlights were always meeting people like Eric Clapton, Debbie Harry, Elton John and getting to shake their hand. Just to actually touch them, wow! They were telling me well done, and all I could think was 'Wow, Elton's talking to me'." She continues to say other moments that she'll never forget were "performing on my first Top of the Pops, which youngsters sadly don't get to experience these days, selling out Wembley, and finding out we'd gone to Number 1 while on tour with Bryan Adams in Munich." She pauses for a second, then adds with a throaty laugh, "And stopping George Harrison from getting a Number 1 too!"

We turn next to the subject of fame, and how hers came and went remarkably quickly yet she's always managed to keep working. She laughs at the idea that her fame came quickly, saying "Oh yeah, I was the original six-year overnight success, plugging away for so long and then everyone assumes it's fallen in your lap with no work! I was 31 by the time I got to Number 1!" Over the years, it has seemed like Carol is desperate to reclaim her fame (the BBC reality series in America, "Hit Me Baby One More Time" being the obvious example, but she doesn't talk about fame as a goal. Instead, she's keen to talk about the creative process and how much she enjoys it. She loves songwriting, and has recently reunited with ex-hubby and ex-T'Pau member Ronnie Rogers to start writing music together again. She says of the reunion: "I tried for years to fight against it, to work with other writers, any other writer, but I just can't get that professional rapport with anyone else. We bounce off each other creatively instead of physically these days though!" She laughs a little about their 'process', saying she travels up to Rockfield Studios where they used to write decades ago, and sometimes at Ronnie's South Wales home. She laughs at Ronnie's domestic set-up, saying "It's a bit of a farm, a bit of a studio and a bit of a home. You can be recording vocals with chickens shitting at your feet!"

When she's not in the studio (which she says gives her "cabin fever" after two weeks), Carol is constantly on the road. Joining other bands from the Eighties who have reunited to cash in on nostalgia, Carol reformed T'Pau as the only original member some years ago and went on the road, for festivals and events. She's enjoying performing, saying she's getting to see the world, particularly the UK, where she's seen "every stately home, every castle and every race meet over the years!" Throughout the summer months, Carol tours tirelessly with the 'new' musicians she's teamed up with, though she dismissed the idea that it's difficult to work with a different team. "They've been with me for ten years now, which was longer than the old guys were", and that when the original line-up broke up in 1991 she didn't like working alone. The "Here and Now" Eighties tour jets into Ireland in November and December, where Carol is looking forward to performing in Dublin and Killarney, then it'll be Switzerland and Germany later in the year. She certainly doesn't rest on her laurels!

The highlight of this rejuvenated interest in her music was getting the chance to perform in her hometown of Shrewsbury to an audience of 9,000 people for the first time in three decades, which she says was "such a very, very special moment". She describes the atmosphere in the venue as "electric", and the evening as "magical, just beautiful", describing how she looked behind her and could see the flat where she had first lived with ex-hubby Ronnie, the home they'd written their hits in. As she faced the audience, she could see the swimming baths and leisure centre she'd worked away in, dreaming of fame, all those decades before. She said it took "a few hard swallows and some courage" to get through the evening without tears!

For the future, Carol wants to continue working on music with Ronnie, and touring for as long as she can. She likes the balance, saying "by October each year, touring slows down and I just don't ever want to sing again, then two weeks in the studio and cabin fever sets in and I'm dying to perform the new stuff!" Her enthusiasm and passion for the industry that all but forgot her is intoxicating, and she says she can't wait to complete the EP she and Ronnie and working on, and when I ask what will follow that, her reply is instant: "An album of course!" You can download Carol and Ronnie's tracks, "Just Dreams" and "Don't Stop Believing" from iTunes, and find out all the latest news on either www.tpau.co.uk or www.myspace.com/tpaucaroldecker

Johnny Ikon