When Jaxon was 9 week sold,I was breastfeeding him while dressed as a panto genie.. he’s been from pillar to post but I’m a single mum with bills to pay, so you just get on with it
Ex-soap star Sweeney is loving life as she gears up for the Fringe.. but she admits having a young son will make it a different proposition this year
CLAIRE Sweeney has been belting out ballads for a living since she was 14.
So it makes perfect sense that her Edinburgh festival show should be a personal juke box musical.
Called Don’t Tell Me Not To Fly, it’s a kind of CV with songs, a Q&A show where she gives the audience a glimpse into the dressing room and the wings, then sings the songs that underline her answers.
Claire admits that some of her responses might surprise the audience. She said: “They ask me what leading male role I would you like to take. People expect me to say Hamlet or Jean Valjean.”
“That is several centuries and a few thousand miles off.
“I’m obsessed with the Jersey Boys. I’ve always wanted to be a Jersey Boy.”
So one of her favourite parts of the show is a Four Seasons medley.
And while Claire has been practising this at home, her son Jaxon has given up on The Wheels On The Bus and developed a taste for 60s classics.
She said: “My little boy is obsessed with the song Can’t Take My Eyes Off You. I’ve been dancing round the house learning this and he’s been loving every minute of it.”
Claire first came to attention as Lindsey Corkhill in Brookside in 1989 but it was appearing in the first Celebrity Big Brother in 2002 that turned her life around.
It was the early days of reality TV and the first time that famous folk had entered the house. Her down-to-earth charm and Scouse accent had the nation hooked.
Claire said: “If it wasn’t for that, I wouldn’t be doing most of the stuff I’m doing now. I came out, I got Chicago, I got my own Saturday night show, my own album, it changed my career overnight.
“It was a different animal then. Uncharted territory. Nobody knew how it could help or hinder your career.”
She knows how lucky her timing was, adding: “Now it wouldn’t have the same effect.” There are so many reality shows around that she does not even attempt to watch them all.
Claire said: “I was obsessed with A Very British Scandal with Hugh Grant. I was desperate to talk to people about it but all they want to talk about is Love Island.”
These days she mixes it up. There are big touring shows such as Hairspray, Legally Blonde and Guys and Dolls.
Then she might switch to more intimate cabaret, or television roles such as snotty tour rep Maxine in Benidorm.
Before Edinburgh, she has a few days on a cruise. This sounds like a jammy number – one performance a night, in an exclusive lounge, with the rest of the time to relax on board.
Claire said: “People pay £25 to come to the Limelight Lounge, have supper and watch my show. I stay in the same cabin every time. I take my pianist. I’m away four or five days.”
When you’re a single parent to a three-year-old, this is a peach of a job.
She said: “Being a mummy is hard work all the time. So it’s nice to sit on a cruise ship
on a quiet deck with your feet up and read a book. Just to recharge.” Life on a cruise ship has its challenges, though, such as the non-stop temptation of the buffet table. Claire recently lost four stones, is now a size 10 and wants to keep it that way. She said: “My problem is that I’m really good at dieting till 7pm. After then it literally goes pear shaped. “I come off stage, I’m full of adrenaline, there’s a midnight buffet, I have to stop myself doing a detour on the way back to my cabin. It’s a nightmare, it’s really difficult, I have to stop myself.” When she gets back, it’s straight up to Edinburgh for Don’t Tell Me Not To Fly. The show has a switching cast, with four separate divas (Janie Dee, Danielle Hope and Ria Jones as well as Claire) answering the same questions but singing different songs. She has appeared at the festival before, in Educating Rita with Matthew Kelly, but that was before Jaxon.
So instead of cabaret adventures and late nights at Edinburgh’s VIP bars, Claire will be up early to join the queues for kids’ shows.
Claire said: “It will be different this time, coming up as a mummy, bringing my son with me.
“Everyone keeps talking about the Bubble Man, Mr Bubbles, something like that. I need to see whatever that is.
“When Jaxon was nine weeks old, I was breastfeeding him dressed as a genie in panto. I’m a single mum, I’ve got to pay the bills, you just get on with it and do what you’ve got to do.”
Claire Sweeney performs in Don’t Tell Me Not To Fly at Underbelly McEwan Hall from August 7-13.
If it wasn’t for Big Brother I wouldn’t be doing what I am now CLAIRE SWEENEY ON REALITY TV SHOW