Strictly dance champion Kevin Clifton tells SUE CRAWFORD why he’s given up alcohol and how he sees a future in the West End if the Beeb ever drops him
AFTER winning his first ever Strictly Come Dancing final, no one would have denied professional dancer Kevin Clifton the chance to put his feet up with a celebratory glass of champagne and take a well-earned break.
Instead, no sooner had he put down the iconic winners’ Glitterball, than the self-confessed workaholic launched himself into a gruelling 19-week nationwide tour of the musical Rock Of Ages, in which he not only dances, but acts and sings too.
And as for that glass of fizz, Kevin actually gave up alcohol nine months ago, just before he began the last series of Strictly, and has no plans to return to it in the foreseeable future.
“Last year I actually made a big change in how I live,” he explains. “I gave up drinking, so I haven’t had any alcohol in several months now. I just decided that it would be a healthy choice to make.
“I was also aware that I was going into Rock of Ages. I was asking for advice from singers and they said, ‘If you want to look after your voice, don’t drink.’ I was just about to begin Strictly, so I thought I might as well start that process straightaway, to make sure I was putting myself in the best possible position to do as good a job as I could.
“And I must say it’s been working out really well for me. I’m actually really enjoying not drinking. I feel a lot healthier, I’ve got a lot more energy and I just feel in better shape. I prefer it actually.”
Kevin’s new teetotal lifestyle certainly paid dividends as he and partner Stacey Dooley walked away with this year’s coveted trophy.
Just how much the victory meant to him was clear when the results were announced – openmouthed in disbelief at winning for the first time, Kevin dropped to his knees. If 2018 was Kevin’s year, so too it seems is 2019, after he landed the lead role in the nationwide tour of the popular 1980s rock musical Rock Of Ages. And having made his name as the cheerful, clean-cut, boy-nextdoor, the part is a huge departure: Kevin takes to the stage as arrogant rock star Stacee Jaxx, complete with leather trousers, long hair, cowboy boots and a bandana.
The role sees him singing on stage for the first time too, belting out classic rock tunes including Foreigner’s I Want to Know What Love Is, Slade’s Come On Feel The Noise and Bon Jovi’s Dead Or Alive. Tickets are selling well and the tour is winning rave reviews, but Kevin acknowledges there is a pressure to prove himself to audiences who only know him as a professional dancer.
“As much as I think everybody is going to be coming to the show to have an amazing night, I assume there’ll probably be some interest in whether I can pull it off or not, as a singer and an actor,” he concedes. “I’ve always loved singing, but Rock Of Ages is the first time I’ve had the opportunity to have a proper part in a musical with my own solos.
“Most of the work has been about learning to sustain my voice. Dancers and singers breathe differently and use their muscles differently. I know how to look after my body as a dancer, but looking after your voice as a singer is completely different.”
KEVIN and his third wife Karen, a Venezuelan professional Latin dance star announced they had separated in March 2018, but continued to dance together on Strictly and later during their joint tour. They remain supportive of each other’s careers.
“We’re really good friends,” Kevin says firmly. “I’ve been saying for a while that I wanted to do a musical and when the opportunity for Rock Of Ages came about, I wanted to grab it with both hands and Karen said, ‘Yes, you have to. This is perfect for you. It’s what you want to do.’”
Kevin is in the show from now until April and then, after a short break to go back to live dance show Burn The Floor, he returns to the part from June until the end of July. By then it will be time to start thinking about the next series of Strictly. “I suppose I’m a bit of a workaholic. I like keeping myself busy,” he says.
So does that mean he’s a dead cert to be twirling another partner around the dance floor come the autumn? “I’d love to come back to Strictly, but you never know what they are thinking,” he says candidly. “They usually call you around March and discuss what you’re both thinking and then offer you a contract or not, later in the year. Until now I’ve had the same executive producer that hired me. The next series of Strictly has a new one, so they might want to make some changes. They might not want me back. But if they want me to return, I’ll be more than happy.”
At 36, however, he is already one of Strictly’s older dancers and while many keep going for many years longer – fellow Strictly professional Anton du Beke is 52 after all – Kevin admits he has started contemplating that there will eventually be a life beyond Strictly and reveals that he potentially sees his future in the West End.
“It’s something I’ve always been fascinated by – I’ve always been a big musical theatre fan and I’ve always had this little dream in my head that maybe I’d be able to do it one day, so Rock Of Ages is a big step for me,” he smiles. “I’d love to think that it could be a career for me.”
● Kevin Clifton is starring in Rock Of Ages on UK tour. To book tickets visit rockofagesmusical.co.uk RECALLING late manager Sir Bobby Robson’s team talk before England’s 1990 World Cup semi-final against West Germany, former player and Match Of The Day host Gary Lineker, 58, reveals: “He had a flip chart there, but it was blank. Before he came in, I pulled up one of the sheets and put on it, ‘Even money, he mentions the war’, then pulled it back down.”
Recalling Sir Bobby arriving five minutes later, Lineker, pictured, adds: “He said, ‘Right, we beat them in the war!’… the whole room went, ‘Yesss!’ Bobby goes, ‘What? What?’ ”
On finally spotting what his striker had cheekily written, red-faced Robson exclaimed: “You b ***** d, Lineker!”
THESE days a prominent figure on US television, Birmingham-born comedian and political satirist John Oliver, 41, recalls his 1980s acting debut in a TV adaptation of Charles Dickens’ Bleak House.
“I was in this very, very lavish Dickensian drama for the BBC with Dame Diana Rigg,” explains Oliver, who was just six years old. He claims his overriding memory is Dame Diana feeding him “disgusting” aniseed balls.
BUBBLY blonde broadcaster Anneka Rice, 60, also a keen painter, alarmingly tweets: “S***! I’m meant to be in London at BBC Radio 3. I’m in my studio in the Isle of Wight! I’m mortified.”