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29 October 2014
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Name: Zoe Ball
Distinguishing Features:
Manic behaviour, dad called Johnny, husband called Norman, son called Woody

OK Zoe, any memories of TOTP?

Zoe: I remember singing along to the Bay City Rollers , is that horribly uncool of me? In their marvellous outfits, waving their arms around, just general cheese I guess. I used to get them confused slightly with The Osmonds because they were quite alike. Beyond that I guess my strongest memory is watching TOTP with my Dad when Spandau Ballet were No.1 with 'True'. My Dad was just sitting there going, "not this again" and it had been No.1 for weeks and weeks and I was like, "it's Martin Kemp, shut up Dad ". He would be really annoying because it would be someone like Paul Young, 'Wherever I Lay My Hat' and my Dad would sing all the wrong lyrics and be really hideously annoying, so I used to just go and watch it upstairs.

Where did your pop loyalties lie?

Zoe: I was a very unhip kid. I liked Spandau Ballet and Haircut 100. I didn’t mind Duran Duran but I wasn’t a Durannie. I quite liked Wham!, I think I was still a bit stuck on Barbra Streisand and Abba at that point. My husband’s horrified! I went to see Genesis, U2, Tina Turner and Level 42! I was really cool. Howard Jones too. I loved Howard Jones. I remember him on TOTP with the bloke in the chains. Yeah, and (sings) "We are detective", what were they called? Thompson Twins!. I remember them on TOTP as well. Class performances..

Do you remember the dancing that Pan’s People and Legs and Co used to do?
Zoe: I can’t remember, I can’t work out whether I remember the dancing people just from watching endless documentaries about TOTP or whether it’s actually remembering them being on the show. I used to do gymnastics and dancing and we used to do routines like it, wearing really bad leotards, to music and I think maybe I’ve actually confused myself with Pan’s People! I’ve got a TOTP annual which has got some really dodgy bands in it and lots of pictures of Legs and Co so I think I was just starting to watch it as they were being phased out.

Do you remember their sexy dancing?

Zoe: Yeah, my (gestures) heart bleeds. And their terrible, terrible monster outfits and things like that. Mind you, not much better than Kate Bush I have to say, and her outfits

Simply Red
"That's a bit supermarket, isn't it. I'm not making that many bottles. "
Robin Gibb
"There's been great moments both as a songwriter and as a performer."
Paul Roberts - The Stranglers
"We certainly weren't going to call ourselves The Bay City Rollers."
Lisa Stansfield
"I just thought, how many times do I have to sing this song?"
Soft Cell
"I think it's the only time that a banjo's been played in the Ministry of Sound."
Erasure
"Agnetha said she liked it. If I met them I would curtsey."
INXS
"We really surprised lots of people by simply hanging in there."
Kim Wilde
"I used to be really jealous of Claire Grogan...I thought she was gorgeous."
Dollar
"Failure was not an option, we were materialistic and greed was good."
Human League
"We did a US tour with Culture Club and Howard Jones...solely for the cash."
Altered Images
"Women were treated as a bit of a novelty in the music business in 1981."
Belle Stars
"The pop music lark just seems like a lifetime away now."
Steve Strange
"Look, you’re playing me like a bitchy queen and I’m not like that."
Five Star
"We all grew up wanting to be famous and we lived our dream..."
Phillip from Ruby Flipper
"At my age, I'd find it difficult to get my legs where they used to go..."
Glen Campbell
"I got to work with literally everyone in the business; Nat King Cole, Sinatra..."
David Gray
"Lots of tension in the camp. We're battling Gareth Gates for the No.1 spot"
Robert Palmer
"There's this homegenised force feeding of what is hip."
Marilyn
"I think George manipulated our relationship for publicity"
Tom Jones
"I'm pulling all my old jewellery out now and comparing my rings with Wyclef"
Ruth From Pan's People
"I could show you dozens of times I forgot the moves..."
Badly Drawn Boy
"Everybody has to do what everybody else does in order to have a hit single"
John Otway
"I think the music business is probably not happy with what we've done..."
Jimmy Cliff
"I look at someone like Ms Dynamite, I come away with a positive feeling."
Human League
"We wouldn't trust anyone that didn't wear eyeliner."
Status Quo
"I probably went about four or five years with a pair of stage jeans"
Gary Numan
"There are so many things in my past that you could make fun of."
McAlmont and Butler
"We were big enough to get over any-thing that may have been exchanged."
Primal Scream
"The producer at the time told us we'd never work again."
Oasis
"I prefer miming, I prefer if we weren’t playing live."


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