TEN QUESTIONS IN TEN MINUTES: A Natter With The Nolans
For three decades they were always In The Mood For Dancing. Now, Anne, Denise and Maureen Nolan are reuniting to star in their first summer season, in Blackpool, since the 1980s. They tell Steve Cain more.
Tell us about your forthcoming summer season?
MAUREEN: I think we need to stress that this is not the all-singing, all-dancing kind of summer season we used to do. This show is as much about us getting to know the audience as it is about them getting to know us.
ANNE: The reaction has been amazing – it feels surreal. The fans and the general public alike have been absolutely fantastic. Ticket sales are doing really well.
DENISE: When we announced the summer season, we received so many lovely messages from fans, saying they couldn’t wait to see the three of us back together again. Our fans are so loyal.
Tell us why you have such an affinity with Blackpool?
MAUREEN: It has so much going for it. As well as being a fun place with the beach, the promenade and the Tower, we have a beautiful Grade II-listed award-winning park. We’re all great advocates of Blackpool, it has a special place in our hearts.
DENISE: You can go to prettier seaside resorts and they’re lovely during the day but there’s absolutely nothing to do at night. With Blackpool, you’ve got the best of both worlds. I love living here, it’s got my heart.
ANNE: Even though I’ve performed in many amazing venues – in the UK and around the world – including the Royal Albert Hall and the London Palladium, I still
love performing in my home town. I just love Blackpool and have performed in summer season and also our own Nolans show at the Opera House. And, I’ve appeared in pantomime at the Grand Theatre. They’re both amazing, beautiful venues.
What was it like being in a group with your sisters?
DENISE: When you’re part of a family group, alongside your sisters, it’s impossible to become a diva. There’s always someone behind you, ready to say, “Just who do you think you are?”
MAUREEN: I’ve been singing, with my sisters and individually, since I was nine – that’s 60-plus years now. I’m very close to all my sisters and, with what we’ve all been through, you come to realise that life is short and that family is the most important thing.
ANNE: Both amazing and frustrating. Amazing because I was living and working with my sisters, doing something I loved. Frustrating because you’re never recognised as an individual.
I’m In The Mood For Dancing will always be your signature song. Tell us about that iconic hit?
MAUREEN: I’m really proud of it, it always goes down well and is spoken of in the same breath as I Will Survive and I Am What I Am. I think any song that still stands up after almost 50 years, and fills a dance floor, deserves to be considered a pop classic.
ANNE: That song has kept our names going. It’s been fantastic for all of us right through our careers. Whenever and wherever we sing it, people sing along or get up and dance – you can tell they really love it.
DENISE: We did a charity show in Sheffield, last October, and when we sang I’m In The Mood For Dancing, the audience went absolutely crazy. That was when we realised that we still have something to give. It was instrumental in us reuniting to do summer season.
Share with us one of your highlights from your time in The Nolans?
DENISE: Nothing can ever beat working with Frank Sinatra. I can’t ever top that. We were his support act on his 1975 European Tour and every day was full of ‘pinch-me’ moments.
MAUREEN: We enjoyed huge success in Japan and actually sold more records there than The Beatles, Michael Jackson, Adele and Ed Sheeran combined. In 1981, we won the Tokyo Music Festival and were the first ever European act to do so.
ANNE: We had a wonderful night when we were working at The Blue Note Jazz Club in Tokyo. Stevie Wonder had his last night party of his tour there and we were invited, so met Stevie. He sat at the piano and sang all of his hits for us.
In addition to huge success as part of The Nolans, you’ve each had solo careers. Give us a highlight from your solo career?
DENISE: Performing at Ronnie Scott’s [Jazz Club] with Buddy Greco, singing medleys of Duke Ellington and Ella Fitzgerald numbers – backed by an 18-piece orchestra.
MAUREEN: Starring as Mrs Johnstone in Blood Brothers. I’ve played her on-and-off for over 20 years and I think, for a woman, it’s the best role in musical theatre.
ANNE: I loved performing at Manchester Pride [in 2009]. Beforehand, I was really excited and so looking forward to it but I was also wracked with nerves. I sang I Am What I Am, Don’t Rain On My Parade and I’m In The Mood For Dancing. They seemed to love me and gave me a great reception.
Tell us an achievement you’re particularly proud of?
DENISE: I recorded an album of Frank Sinatra songs, which made it to the top of the jazz charts before entering the regular album charts. It did well and I became the second-oldest female to be in the Top 20 after Dame Vera Lynn!
ANNE: I did an outdoor pop concert, for the first time, when I was 72! It was in Ireland and I shared the bill with Billy Ocean, Tony Hadley and Peter Cox. That was a massive deal for me and I loved it.
MAUREEN: Along with Bernie, Linda and Denise, I hold a Guinness World Record for the most siblings to play the same leading lady role in the same West End show at different times. I had big shoes to fill when I stepped into the role of Mrs Johnstone in Blood Brothers.
Tell us something interesting about yourself?
DENISE: I think I must have been born in the wrong era because I just loved performing harmonies with my sisters. We did an Andrews Sisters medley including Back In Nagasaki, Chattanooga Choo Choo and Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy of Company B. I also love performing the songs made famous by Doris Day and Judy Garland.
MAUREEN: I learned to pole-dance in my mid-50s. I was appearing in a touring production of a play called The Naked Truth. I had bruises on my thighs for the entire tour.
ANNE: I only have three regrets in life. I never learned to swim; I never learned a foreign language fluently, and I never learned to play an instrument properly.
In June, you were presented with a Lifetime Achievement Award at The Pride of Éireann Awards. How did that feel?
MAUREEN: We were thrilled when we were told we were getting this award. To be recognised for all your hard work and six decades in show-business is such an honour.
DENISE: To receive recognition for something we thoroughly enjoy doing makes us proud. But that pride is tripled when the honour comes from the country of our birth.
ANNE: This award means so much to us, especially to remember the legacies of Linda and Bernie. They both would have been thrilled to know that Ireland is celebrating what we achieved together as a family.
Which item on your ‘rider’ is most essential?
MAUREEN: Tea. I love a nice pot of tea!
DENISE: Foldback with reverb. The sound is my big hang-up.
ANNE: Somewhere nice to dress, relax, and apply my make-up. And a bottle of water!
An Afternoon with The Nolans runs every Saturday (from 25 July) until 3 October. For more information and to book tickets, visit www.houseofsecretsmagicbar.com