"I'M
SHAKESPEAR'S SISTER!!" "YEAH, AND I'M DICKEN'S GREAT AUNTIE"
Once upon a time Siobhan Fahey was one of the 'Nanaa. The
she had a fairy tale romance with Dave Stewart from Eurythmics,
waved goodbye to the firls, married Dave, had a son and is now
reincarnated as Shakespear's Sister who've got a bit of a delectable
hit called 'You're History'. And she's talking to Edwin J Bernard!
When did you first think about leaving Bananarama?
"About two years before I left. I started feeling like I didn't
fit in with the direction they were going in. In the early days
we were anarchic and almost a parody of what a pop group should
be and it changed very gradually into very much a polished pop
group. In never wanted us to be like that and I wasn't comfortable.
We always had that rough and raucous and defiant side which
probably never found its way onto record, and as time when on
I knew I'd never be able to make the kind of records that I
wanted, or say the kind of things I wanted to say on record.
But leaving was like getting divorced from somebody you onced
loved - it's a long, painful process."
How did you meet your hubby, Dave Stewart?
"We met years ago and both of us really attracted to each other.
But both of us were going out with other people and we'd see
each other maybe once a year and bump into each other in some
weird place, but it wasn't until about three years ago that
we bumped into each other at the Sunset Marquee in LA. I was
breaking up with someone - and Dave wasn't going out with anyone
- well, he was but it wasn;t particularly heavy! And the time
was right, it was an instant realisation. It's funny but a psychic
told me about five years ago in Japan that I'd marry someone
who I already knew and I'd been thinking who on Earth...?"
Did you like anything you did in those last two years?
"I really loved 'Venus' and 'I Heard A Rumour', cos there is
a side of me that really loves great pop songs. 'I Heard A Rumour'
is a classic of which I'm very proud. My memories of 'Venus'
are found too - it's out of tune and raucous as hell! But that's
not enough. If you listen to (her forthcoming LP) 'Sacred Heart'
it's so different to Bananarama - and that's me. Life isn't
just a kolly wheeze. Lyrics are really important to me and in
'Sacred Heart' I try and talk about things as I see them. At
times it's bitchy and camp and very angry and that's part of
life. And at times it's really sensitive."
Is it true you had terrible arguments with Pete Waterman?
"Yeah, working with him was hell sometimes. I didn't realise
that when we agreed to do our album with him. 'Venus' was such
a painless exercise and I though these people who were going
to listen to us. It turned into a bit of a sausage factory,
like you'd hear your ideas on other people's records. And Pete's
a very difficult man. I think his problem is that he doesn't
understand women - he's a real Sun reading lad - and those men
are usually frightened of women anyway, and they don't understand
them. I can deal with that, and that's not what bothered me.
But when Dave (Stewart, her hubby) won 'Producer of the Year'
for the third year running at the BPI Awards, Pete had been
really confident that S/A/W were going to win it. And he took
all his rage on me and I was totally shocked. I was so upset
that I couldn't go in and make a record with him after that.
He would make sure he was away during most of 'Wow'. But I have
to say that Mike (Stock) and Matt (Aitken) are really sweet
actually"
What do you think of your replacement Jacquie O'Sullivan?
"I think I've know Jacquie even longer than Sarah or Keren because
she's an old drinking pal. I'm sure she fits in really well
because she's a real rabble-rouser - she's a wild girl and they've
probably had good times together. I think she was a good person
to get in. Can I hear a difference? Listen to "Help" and "Love
Truth And Honesty" and you can hear the difference."
What do you think of Bananarama becoming the 'Most Successful
Girl Group' ever?
"I was still in the group when we received that accolade and
kinda didnt mean anything to me, because I didn't feel that
I had anything to do with what we were doing anymore. I felt
confused by it and it didn't help to be in the Guess Book Of
Records. What do I think of them remixing Cruel Summer? I haven't
heard it, actually, but it's very nice that it went Top 20."
Did you enoy having a baby?
"It was beautiful, but Dave was pretty traumatised by it because
they made him cut the cord! He actually had to go to hospital
the next day. He thought he was having a heart attack, so he
had every test known to man. I checked myself out of hosptal
the very next day. And by that afternoon I was visiting him
in hospital with a new-born baby in his arms and I was sitting
perched on the edge of the bed and the doctor thre back the
curtain and got really confused!"
What did you call him?
"I couldn't think of the right name all through the pregnancy.
We ended up choosing SAMUEL JOSEPH HURRICANE STEWART - Dave
thought of the Hurricane bit. It was a nod to the lifestyle
he was born into, inspired by the Bob Dylan song 'Hurricane'."
Where do you, Dave and Sam live now?
"We kind of live between England and the South of France and
LA and we move around a hell of a lot. We're never in one place
for long, which is very disorientating. England is still my
home, but Dave doesn't need a home, he's been moving around
since he was 14. We got the house in the South of France on
our honeymoon. Dave's always in the studio and when you let
him out for a day he likes to spend, spend, spend!"
Do you have famous neighbours in LA?
"Everybody's famous in LA so it doesn't mean a thing. In our
street we've got Robert Wagner (crumbly TV actor), Marlon Jackson
(Michael's older bro'), a really famous baseball player, (hoary
rockers) REO Speedwagon on the corner, Tom Pretty round the
corner - and they're just the ones I know."
How often are you seperated from Dave and Sam?
"We're not seperated very often, but it is going to get complicated
now my record's released. dave and Annie are about to release
their album and then they're going on a world tour in September
which is going to be tricky. I wouldn't want to be the support,
though. For a start I'm not ready to play stadiums and I'm at
a totally different area and stage of my career to him and I'm
just starting off. I want to play small sweaty clubs with a
party atmosphere. Sam's over here with me at the mo, but we're
going to have to do what's best for him when the time comes."
How do you get on with Annie Lennox?
"I don't see her all that often, just when they're working.
I wasn't particularly aware or worried about the fact that they
used to go out. I mean, Dave was married before and I'm good
friends with his ex-wife, so it doesn't bother me at all. That
was then." Everyone expected you and dave to work together.
Why didn't you? "I shy away from doing the obvious. I'd been
working with producers who were really known before - I wanted
to work with a partner so that it would be my vision. If I'd
worked with Dave, he's have guided it, it would have been his
thing. I'm not very bossy and if somebody's really forceful
they'd be the one to dominate the sound. We didn't even discuss
it, anyway. It's not that I don't want to work with him, those
are the reasons why I didn't. Dave's a complete genius - I've
seen him working - it's flabbergasting!"
Who is Shakespear's Sister exactly?
"Shakespear's Sister is essentially me. It's the banner under
which I choose to make records. I want it to be really flexible.
I really like working with people - bouncing ideas around is
more enjoyable than sitting in a room with a guitar. In this
instance it's Richard Feldman (an up-and-coming producer) and
Marcella Detroit (a US songstress friend of Feldman's). Marcella
is an artist in her own right and a fabulous singer and I think
she's gonna be hugely famous and I hope that through Shakespears
Sister she'll get her just recognition. I've never heard a white
girl sing that way before. She got into it so much she followed
me over to England. So I said 'Why don't we make it like Prince
and the Revolution, where they're all seperate artists, but
all work together?' But who knows, my next album might be a
Welsh Male Voice choir and me!"
Where did you get the name from?
"I got the idea from a Smiths song of the same name. I loved
the idea that it was very female and it wasn't coy or sexy.
It suggested a female spirit. I thought it would aggravate certain
people if I aligned myself with Shakespeare and The Smiths having
come from Bananarama - that old defiance y'know. It's also my
initials, sounds great, looks good and means loads of things
to me." Are you happy to start all over again having been so
successful once before? "It's really refreshing because there
are no rules to adhere to anymore. I can do what I want and
not what's expected. That's what I've done musically. I'm just
gonna keep it loose and keep it honest."
Last Updated: 30th October, 2001
