Disco diva and mum-of-five Sophie Ellis-Bextor talks to Jane McGowan about music and motherhood...
You could say that Sophie Ellis-Bextor has got rather a lot on her plate. Not only is she preparing for the launch of her new album, and a tour, but she has just had her fifth baby – Mickey, a bouncing baby boy who came into the world on January 7.
Sophie who lives in Chiswick with her musician husband of 13 years Richard Jones – guitarist with The Feeling – is already mum to four boys Sonny, Kit, Ray and Jesse who range in age from 13 to just three months. So how is life with a teenager and a newborn in the house?
“Lovely and a bit crazy,” says the 39-year-old. “I adore having a new baby but I’m so proud of my oldest boy Sonny and there’s something very exciting as a parent when your small baby has grown into a six-foot teenager!
“Objectively my favourite age is three, as they are still a bit baby but also old enough to be interesting and funny and uninhibited so you really get an idea of who they are. That being said, every age has a good side and a not so good side - which doesn’t stop even when you’re 39 like me.”
Sophie, who has been described as one of the industry’s hardest workers, shot to fame in 2000 as a guest vocalist on dance music maestro Spiller’s worldwide hit, Groovejet (If This ’Aint Love). The song was released at the same time as the much heralded solo debut from Posh Spice. Much to the tabloid’s glee Sophie won the day, famously wearing a t-shirt bearing the word Peckham blazoned across the front to reference her more famous rival. The song went on to sell 750,000 copies worldwide, propelling Sophie into the pop stratosphere.
Almost 20 years and six albums later, she is still making music – her last album Familia was released to critical acclaim in 2016, while her forthcoming offering is a disco reworking of her back catalogue complete with fully orchestrated arrangements. The new-style versions are already getting a lot of airplay and Sophie is rightly proud of the fresh sound.
“I’ve made a greatest hits, re-recording singles with an orchestra, and it felt decadent and exciting as each new arrangement brought something new out of the songs. I have loved it.”
Hot on the album’s release, Sophie will be heading out for a whistle-stop tour of the UK and Ireland, taking in venues from Cambridge to Dublin. And bearing in mind the life of a new mum, never mind mother of five, Sophie is determined to make the most of life on the road – even if it is only for 11 days.
“The tour bus will be for the band and me, and the orchestra will meet us at each venue,” she explains. “I can’t wait. It’s not too full on but it is exciting.”
And as if all that wasn’t enough, Sophie is capping off a busy few months as the ‘special guest’ of pop diva supreme, Kylie Minogue at her Blenheim Palace gig on June 23. While she is very excited about appearing on the same bill as the award-winning Antipodean, she is not quite as excited as some of her friends: “I’ve had so many people asking for tickets - I hope they’ve given me a generous guest list.”
But with five young boys at home, the singer is always ready to head back home. A big supporter of the Bedford Park Green Days Festival (she played at the 50th-anniversary event and often pops by), Sophie is very proud of her corner of west London: “It’s nice to support community and Chiswick has a good sense of community. I love the fact it is central enough to be Zone 2 but cosy enough to have a villagey feel.
“I adore walking along the river or around Chiswick House grounds and we love Makoto the Japanese on Turnham Green. My friend’s exercise night Regroovinate – where you dance for an hour in the dark – is a great thing to do on a Wednesday night in W4.”
Born in 1979 in Hounslow, Sophie is the daughter of broadcaster and former Blue Peter presenter Janet Ellis, who made sure her daughter had a very normal upbringing despite her appearances on the country’s biggest kids’ TV show twice a week. It has served her well with the former Godolphin and Latymer pupil remaining refreshingly grounded, despite her success. It has been important for Sophie to be a working mum and she has often commented on how her job allows her to juggle more easily than most. But with a life lived partially in the public eye, does the singer/songwriter feel under pressure to be the perfect parent? “I want to raise kind, nice kids whether I’m in the public eye or not,” she says. “When we’re out they are just typical kids so sometimes great and sometimes too noisy. If I feel any pressure it’s probably more because we are a big family, not because people might recognise me.”
And while Sophie went on record in September last year telling ITV’s Lorraine Kelly that after the birth of baby number five that she would “probably call it a day. I think five is quite a lot”, it seems Mickey may just have changed her mind: “I can always find room for another baby”. Watch this space…
