KT: No shame to be yourself
HAVING spent the summer supporting The Pretenders and Simple Minds on their joint tour KT Tunstall has revealed the biggest lesson she has learned from her idol Chrissie Hynde: to have absolutely no shame whatsoever.
“Chrissie [of The Pretenders] taught me the basic fundamentals of being absolutely unashamedly individual and of being yourself,” the 43-year-old tells Day & Night.
“You have to trust that the reason you’re there is because there are people who want to hear you – so just to have no shame.”
And having never supported someone else before, the Scottish hitmaker – best known for her 2005 song Suddenly I See – wishes that she had agreed to join Chrissie sooner on tour in her career.
“I’d always been against it thinking you would just be the soundtrack to people buying beer. But it’s been like going back to school – such a laugh. I’ve had the best time.”
And that’s not least because of how KT appreciated Chrissie’s work ethic with the latter having enjoyed more than four decades at the top of her game.
“She has retained this youthful vitality that not many artists have. Grace Jones is another who has it. It’s like she’s 25 years old – just being interested in learning. It sets these artists apart.”
The joint tour, which still has eight dates left, finishes off in Dundee on September 9.