Written byELLA WALKER
Pop star, singer, baker, TV talent show personality and mother; Cleo Higgins is quite a character. ELLA WALKER chats to the lead vocalist before Thriller Live tears up Cambridge Corn Exchange
Interviewing popstars from the 90s is just amazing.
Not only does it make you imagine for 15 minutes or so that you’re actually working at Top of the Pops Magazine or Smash Hits! (rest in peace, you crazy, sticker-covered glossies), but as a general rule, they’ve had absolutely no media training, or if they have, they couldn’t give a toss about using it.
This was the case with Cleo Higgins, one of the chattiest, bubbliest, frankest interviewees you could possibly hope to snag.
Not sure you know who Cleo Higgins is?
Oh, you do, you really do. Cleo Higgins is Cleo, lead singer of manufactured Comin’ Atcha! singing girl group Cleopatra, who, alongside her sisters Yonah and Zainam ruled the charts in the late nineties with seriously catchy pop, colourful outfits and ropes of impressive braids.
Now 31, Cleo’s Top of the Pops days are over, but recently she’s back performing having completed a stint on The Voice (Will.i.am got her to the semi-finals), and is currently coming to Cambridge as one of the vocal leads in Thriller Live, a show dedicated to all things Michael Jackson. It’s basically a two hour Michael Jackson concert, just without the man himself.
Which fits: Cleo is absolutely obsessed with Jackson.
“I am a ridiculous Michael Jackson fan, I was born into Michael Jackson music,” she buzzes giddily in the midst of rehearsals. “For me to be a part of his legacy – I listen to his music, I’ve imitated his music – to be able to release records and then live the same kind of lifestyle in the sense that we grew up from being children in the music industry, into adults, I always felt there was a closeness to myself and him.
“I literally learned everything that I do mainly from Michael.”
Even before Thriller Live came along, Jackson kept sneaking into Cleo’s repertoire, from covering I Want You Back in Cleopatra, to performing Leave Me Alone on The Voice: “I felt like yay! I’m a little bit in there again! For me it was a representation of who I really looked up to, and the fact that he’s not around to have seen that is quite sad.”
So how does a former popstar go from post-Cleopatra obscurity (the band disappeared after their second album, Steppin’ Out), to The Voice and a massive touring show, complete with an up and coming turn in the West End?
“I couldn’t believe it when I got the role as female lead singer, WOOOO!” she yells down the phone with a cackle. “My dreams of being a singer and a musician have never really stopped, so I’m always doing something, whether I’m writing songs for other people or writing for myself; it’s always been there in the background.”
But, she admits, she did take a rather surprising side-step in between having her two children and braving The Voice auditions. “I thought, do you know what? Just in case, I’m going to open my own shop.”
So she began studying and qualified as a pastry chef. Saladly, or not-so sadly depending on your perspective, The Voice scuppered those plans. “But I’ve got the quallies for it and I’ve got the skill, the know-how, so you never know, I might still have Mama Cleo’s Bakery or patisserie open. I wanted to have one called Love Muffins – trust me it will happen!”
:: Thriller Live, Cambridge Corn Exchange, Friday, November 29 – Saturday, November 30 at 7.30pm. Tickets £25.50 - £32.50 from (01223) 357851 / cornex.co.uk
Source: ELLA WALKER / cambridge-news / MJ-Upbeat.com
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