What is your earliest memory of performing?
It was at the age of seven, in the Nativity play at school. It was so exciting - everyone was going to be an angel! I practiced flying with my imaginary wings, only to be given a blue dress and told that I was going to be the
Narrator. I also remember being a tree and having to shake my branches.
Did your parents encourage you to go into the arts?
Not really. My sister, brother and I always sang songs and my father was into Al Johnson. We all performed. My mum was a tea lady and dad a painter and decorator and part time coalman. They didn’t know much about the arts. It wasn’t that they did not encourage us, more that they didn’t know much about the arts.
They did teach us not to be too full of ourselves and to keep an even head and work hard. I had a Saturday job in a hairdresser at the age of 12 and did a paper round.
You are an original Blitz kid - how did you discover the club?
I saw an ad in The Stage looking for people who could either perform as Vera Lynne or George Formby. I thought to myself ‘I could be George Formby!’
The club was called Canteen at the time but soon changed its name to the Blitz. It was magical. I met Biddie there and we quickly became Biddie and Eve and we had a three-year residency at the club.
Are you still in contact with the original members?
I saw Mike Brown, who created the club, in 2011, when we had a reunion, along with some of Spandau Ballet. I stayed great friends with Steve Strange
and his mum up to when he died. His mum and my parents came down the Blitz. Steve was a very kind person and I miss him. I also see Princess Julie and Marilyn. I was never great pals with Boy George but he always says hello when I see him.
You mentioned recently that The Blitz was never created to make a profit. Why was that and do you think it could have been a profitable venture?
Mike Brown was a gorgeous man and former model. He loved nostalgia and bought a four-storey house in Great Queen Street, where he opened a wine bar.
He ran his main business nearby and I think he enjoyed the Canteen that became the Blitz as a sideline. It is still talked about today and mimicked. Maybe if it had been run as a huge profitable venture the kids from St Martins and the like would not have been able to afford to come and so wouldn’t have been so unique.
If you had any advice to the younger you, what would it be?
Don’t be so sensitive. Life is too short. It’s about laughs and love.