Tuning in…
Tuning in…
Castaway
1 appearance
West End leading man for over 20 years, stage musical star with 12 gold solo albums, overcame career-threatening stage fright.
On the island
Eight records
Symphony No. 3 in C minor, Op. 78 (Organ Symphony)
we're going to listen to the end movement, which is just so stirring and it's got a great big church organ and it just ... fills your heart with ... the belief that maybe there's something else out there, and it's an extraordinary piece of music.
Well this one is for Gran. She always used to tell me the greatest singer in her opinion was Mahalia Jackson. And I remember being finally convinced that she was the greatest ever female vocalist, watching a film called Imitation of Life ... to actually watch the woman singing and just this this inner belief and sincerity, a natural and an extraordinary instrument of her voice. It's ... hard to beat it.
I used to l hear this when I'd gone away back to school, and one of the songs that we'd always sit down and sing, and mum was really good at playing the piano, was September in the Rain. And I used to hear it and cry my eyes out. ... Why am I here? So I thought this would really cheer me up on the desert island.
All through this time while I was at college, while I was at drama school, one person who I listen to constantly, who I still listen to constantly, who I think is the greatest singer songwriter ever, is Joni Mitchell. This one, merely because I can kind of inv it it it pictures up me skipping along the beach.
Sailing ByFavourite
the reason it's there is wherever you are in the world, whatever whatever you've been doing, if you hear this music, ... everything seems all right, everything seems okay, and if I'm stuck on this desert island, then I know I'm going to be happy.
when we were in America our song became a Garth Brooks song, which is If Tanar Morrow Never Comes. But I didn't want to play that one. I didn't want to take that one with me. And this is The Dance by Garth Brooks ... I really like that sort of new country music sound. It's sort of closer you get to a theatricality. You know, they're always telling stories, they always wear their heart on their sleeves. And I won't get bored of that song.
I thought I've got to have something in there from the theatre and if I'm on my desert island and I'm going to have to have my fix then I need lots of it so it's an overture. It's the best overture to one of the best shows Gypsy and we'll only be able to hear a little bit of it but there are about 12 songs all of which are gangbusters and that you could scream your head off to and I will.
I really thought long and hard about all of these songs and I remembered this track. It's still one of my favorite tracks from a Super Tramp album. Now I'm not a massive Super Tramp fan, but this track, all the words ... just resonated with me, and they kind of summed it all up down to the very last line. Please don't let the curtain fall.
In conversation
Presenter asks
1:55How do you know when you're on stage doing the solo stuff that you've got [the audience]?
Literally a moment to you quite often don't know why. It's the stars aligning for some reason. The sound is absolutely right. The atmosphere is right. You don't have to worry about what sound is coming out. And you're part of the roller coaster as much as the audience then. You just ride it.
Presenter asks
4:56What was home life like [for the young Michael Ball]?
Life was uh was really nice. ... I was born in Bromsgrove, which is just outside Birmingham, but moved away when we were three and we moved to Dartmoor. And it was brilliant. What a great playground for a kid. Very close family.
Presenter asks
14:25What did your parents make of [your landing the lead role in The Pirates of Penzance]?
They were as proud as was humanly possible, I think. I think they were so relieved, first of all. ... Secretly, they thought I was going to be a bit of a worry. You know, I was never actually going to find my way through life.
The keepsakes
The book
Neil Gaiman
brilliantly illustrated, great stories, and I won't get bored of it
The luxury
Cloudy Bay or Saint Clair wine
it's going to be alcohol then. I'd like all of the output from either Cloudy Bay or Saint Clair in the Marlborough district of New Zealand
Presenter asks
18:10Can you try and just [describe what a panic attack feels like]?
Like, yeah, your heart starts racing, you get tunnel vision, there's pounding in your ears, you break out into a sweat and you just it's the the fight or flight feeling. It's like a surge of adrenaline and everything about it is awful. All of this happening in a couple of seconds.
Presenter asks
20:11Why would it be that you wouldn't seek professional help [during your breakdown]?
I I really can't answer that, Kirsty. I yeah, I can only assume it's because I just didn't want to appear like anything other than everything was all right. ... Ostensibly I seemed ... very open and positive, but the actual truth was, I found it very difficult to ... to really open up.
Presenter asks
22:07How did you begin to rebuild yourself [after your breakdown]?
It so happened that uh Miss England contest was being shown by Thames Television and wanted someone to do the cabaret while they were counting up the votes ... And I went on. I had pins and needles down'cause my o I'd I'd seized up, my whole body had seized up, pins and needles shooting down my hands. But I did it. And it wasn't a particularly good performance, but I watched it back and I went, No one would have known. ... No one would have known I can do this. I'll never allow myself to feel that bad.
“when you're being just yourself, absolutely, you just want a Niagara of unqualified praise and love.”
“you know that whatever you're doing, you can make an entire crowd of three, four thousand, say if in the theater, laugh and then turn it on a sixpence and absolutely make them still and cry. And it's intoxicating power.”
“I've never had singing lessons, so that's how I learnt to sing. ... I listened to music and I used to sing along to it and I used to listen to people like Mahaley Jackson and Frank Sinatra and Ella Fitzgerald and that's how I taught myself to sing.”
“Nothing will ever take me back back to that place, God willing. I'll know the warning side, and I would no longer be scared of asking for help. That's the most important lesson I've learnt in my life.”