Sharleen Spiteri has revealed she was told by music industry bosses to change the way she looks when she first got signed to a record label.
The singer, 56, who is best known as the frontwoman of band Texas, admitted she has ‘never had a great relationship with the music industry’.
Sharleen founded Texas while working as a hairdresser in Glasgow, with the band finding quick success with their debut single I Don’t Want A Lover.
But when she got her big break, Sharleen found herself being told by industry executives that she looked like a ‘boy’ and a ‘lesbian’.
Speaking on the I Never Thought It Would Happen podcast with Chris Difford, Sharleen said: ‘From the day I got signed, the MD in my record company at Mercury Records at that point, I remember he referred to be as the “dodgy boiler. What’s the dodgy boiler all about?”
Sharleen Spiteri has revealed she was told by music industry bosses to change the way she looks when she first got signed to a record label
The singer, 56, who is best known as the frontwoman of band Texas , admitted she has ‘never had a great relationship with the music industry’ (pictured with Texas in 1989)
‘I was 18 years old and I was like, “you motherf****r.” That was my entrance into the music industry. It actually worked really well for me because it gave me the balls and the guts to go, no. I like to think I’m quite fair.
‘I remember they were like, “you dress like a boy.” For years it was like, “she must be a lesbian.” Why? Because you wear short hair and big boots.’
Sharleen feels many of the attitudes that were around when she was in her late teens are still present but just more ‘hidden’ now.
She said: ‘They still do say that s**t but it’s just hidden really well. People say it’s better now, it’s not, it’s just not right in front of your face. It’s hidden so well.’
Texas, which was founded in 1986, is currently made up of Sharleen, Johnny McElhone, Ally McErlaine, Eddie Campbell, Tony McGovern and Cat Myers.
Sharleen said the band’s hedonistic days are gone and they now all keep a healthy lifestyly.
She said: ‘Everyone’s really healthy in the band. Everyone’s conscious of, there’s a job to do and we’re not as young as we used to be.
‘There are still nights where you’re in hotels and if there’s a piano in the lobby, there’s gonna be a problem. This is going to be a session.
Sharleen founded Texas while working as a hairdresser in Glasgow, with the band finding quick success with their debut single I Don’t Want A Lover
But when she got her big break, Sharleen found herself being told by industry executives that she looked like a ‘boy’ and a ‘lesbian’
Sharleen is well-known for her sense of humour and previously revealed the ‘worst thing’ she has ever done as she shared how she got her own back on a rude customer.
In August, she told how she got her revenge on a woman who was ‘horrible’ to staff and made an assistant ‘cry’ at a Glasgow salon, where she previously worked.
Speaking to Martin Compston and Gordon Smart on the Restless Natives podcast, Sharleen told how she served spat out food to the unpleasant customer.
She explained how the woman would always demand that a member of staff fetched her a tuna roll from a nearby sandwich shop, leading to Sharleen’s revenge plot.
Describing it as the worst thing she has ever done, Sharleen told how she once chewed the tuna and spat it back out into the roll before serving it to the woman.
She recalled: ‘I know the worst thing I have ever done. When I was a hairdresser there was this woman that used to come in on a Saturday morning as soon as the doors opened.
‘She must have been about late fifties or early sixties and she was a pain in the a**e. She was horrible to everybody.
‘This new junior had just started and she made her cry so I said ‘Listen, let me show a trick that will make you feel better.’
She said: ‘I remember they were like, “you dress like a boy.” For years it was like, “she must be a lesbian.” Why? Because you wear short hair and big boots’
‘The woman would always send somebody across the road to get her a tuna roll.
‘So when the girl brought the roll back I put a big bit of tuna in my mouth, chewed it and spat it right back into the roll.
‘I cut it for her, took it back up the stairs and watched her eat it. So never, ever be mean to anybody, she made this young girl cry.’
‘My name’s not Spiteri for nothing,’ she quipped.
Before soaring to fame in rock band Texas, Sharleen worked at the Irvine Rusk salon in Glasgow.
