Welcome to my world of superstars, supercars... and secret self-doubt
THE days when she sat in her bedroom strumming her dad’s guitar, recording demo tapes and dreaming of her first big break are long gone.
Three platinum-selling albums have brought worldwide fame, superstar fans and millions in the bank.
So it might come as a surprise that Amy Macdonald – for all her appearance of self-confidence, her bold rockstar tattoos and a petrolhead’s love of noisy, high-performance supercars – struggles with ‘crippling self-doubt’.
This year looks set to be the most important for her since those early demo tapes won her a record deal: she has just launched a new album, her first since 2012; she is about to hit her landmark 30th birthday; and her wedding plans are under way.
Now, Amy discusses her insecurities about her new music, the difficulties of life in the public eye – and the surprising financial upside that has come from splurging on fast cars.
The singer-sonwriter, from Bishopbriggs, East Dunbartonshire, reveals why she is planning a Las Vegas wedding with her footballer boyfriend rather than a traditional celebration.
She also explains she wants to follow in the footsteps of Adele, Lulu and Shirley Bassey with a Bond theme.
Seated in the bar of the Malmaison Hotel in Glasgow, she admits she is taking nothing for granted as her album, Under Stars, is released.
She says: ‘It is really nerve-wracking because nobody has heard anything yet. I have continued making the music I hope people like to hear – but I have crippling self-doubt. Everything I do, I worry if it will be good enough.’
Macdonald, who turns 30 in August, says the only downside to her fame is abuse from trolls. She says: ‘Sometimes the attacks are personal and there is not any place for that.
‘People hide behind a screen and say whatever they want. It’s horrible. I get it all the time. It hurts when people comment how I look.
‘Men post, “You’re a cow” and their profiles reveal they’re grown men with kids. I have had whole families of trolls target me.’
Born in Bishopbriggs, Amy was 12 when she saw a concert by her favourite band, Travis. She ran home, borrowed her father’s guitar and taught herself to play and write songs.
She was a teenager when she landed a record deal and 21 when her 2007 debut album, This Is The Life, reached No.1. A second album, A Curious Thing, made No. 4 in 2010, and a third, 2012’s Life In a Beautiful Light, peaked at No. 2. All three topped the charts in countries around Europe.
Despite the fame, Amy has remained grounded, enjoying nights out with pals she made at school and nights in ‘snuggling’ on the couch with her fiancé and their miniature schnauzer dog. To the despair of her mother – an accountant – her one extravagance is high-performance cars, all eye-wateringly expensive, including a £76,000 Audi R8 and a Bentley Continental.
Now Ferraris are her passion. She splashed £250,000 on a Ferrari 458 Speciale three years ago and bought a £170,000 Ferrari 488 GTB. She also has her eye on a £2 million Bugatti Chiron. She can afford it. Last year, she earned £5.6 million despite having a year off. Her mum, Jo, has even stopped complaining the supercars will lead her to bankruptcy. That’s because, while most people see their car depreciate in value the moment it leaves the forecourt, the Ferrari 458 Speciale has risen in value hundreds of thousands of pounds. Macdonald says: ‘I had ordered a Ferrari 488 and I was going to sell my 458 Speciale, but a mate who works for Ferrari magazine told me not to sell it because it is the last naturally aspirated engine Ferrari will make. ‘Ferrari have moved on to using turbos, so it has become a collector’s item. It’s worth six figures more than I paid for it in the space of three years. It’s funny because my mum used to give me grief all the time. She was always saying, “Don’t buy cars. They’re just a waste of money”. What is so funny will be if the thing that sets me up for life is a car.’ Her other obsession is tattoos. ‘I didn’t have any tattoos because I had a bit of a needle phobia, then my friends and I went on a great
holiday in 2014,’ she recalls. ‘In Las Vegas, my friends said we all had to get tattoos to remember the trip by. I told them I didn’t want a tattoo because I hate needles, but they forced me into it. We got these awful little love hearts. Me and my two friends have the same one.’
She later went under the needle for a sleeve tattoo of skulls and flowers which covers her left arm.
The 29-year-old is also planning her wedding. Despite announcing her engagement to footballer Richard Foster – who played for Rangers, Aberdeen and Ross County before signing with St Johnstone – in January last year, she wants to wait until next year to marry, possibly in an Elvis chapel in Las Vegas.
She says: ‘We are talking about doing a Las Vegas wedding. I’ve spoken to all my friends and we’re all agreed it would be a good laugh for me to be dressed up as Elvis.’
Another reason they might head to Vegas is Amy does not want to have to work a room full of acquaintances and distant relatives. She says: ‘My friend got married and her family spent an absolute fortune and she had to spend her day chatting to people she didn’t want to chat to.
‘I remember it cost her about £50 a head for meals. I asked her, “Would you take these people out and buy them a 50 quid dinner each?” She was like, nope, so I asked why she was inviting them to her wedding and spending £50-a-head on them. I just want close friends and family.’
Describing herself as ‘not really a romantic person at all’, she says she likes to spend her down time with Foster in the ‘snuggle’ position at home, or going for long walks with Arnie, the dog that keeps Foster company during her spells touring places like Switzerland, where her debut album remains one of the ten best-selling of all time.
It’s usually while on her tours that she meets stars she would not have dreamed of a decade ago, including U2 and Bruce Springsteen. She says: ‘When I met Bruce Springsteen we were both playing at a festival so I wasn’t just me being there as a fan. I was able to chat to him about his life because we do similar things.
‘When I met U2 they were asking about my music. It means you have something to say to these superstars rather than being a starstruck mess, but I still couldn’t believe they had seen my videos.’
Looking beyond the release of her new album, her ambitions include being asked to record a Bond theme, after being inspired by Adele’s award-winning theme to Skyfall.
Macdonald explains: ‘I would be in my element doing that. I would need to be told the premise and what happens in the next film. I’m thinking of something like Adele’s Skyfall where she honed in on the whole Skyfall thing, so I might need more detail, although I’m sure there would be competition because lots of people would like to do a Bond song.’
Whatever the future holds, she insists her fans will always see the real Amy Macdonald.
‘I always want to make sure I write something that is meaningful and moving and that the fans will like,’ she says. ‘I hope people like what I have done and they are glad they have stuck by me all this time.’