"...STUNNING Sharleen Spiteri was crowned queen of Balado yesterday as she joined 80,000 fans at T in the Park.
The Texas star went solo for her storming set at the 15th T as the rain held off.
To view an image gallery from this year's T in the Park, click here.
Wearing a 60s-style red dress, the London-based singer told the crowd it was good to be home. Backstage she revealed how she's dreading the day her daughter goes to her first T in the Park as a teenager - after five-year-old Misty Kyd loved her first Balado experience.
Sharleen said: "She's having a ball. I know when she's a teenager she's going to say, 'Mum, can you get me free tickets for T in the Park?
But kid on you don't know me if I meet you there.' "She'll be ashamed to have some old fogey like me as her mum.
Sharleen also revealed she felt nervous to be playing her first T as a solo artist...even though her Texas band mates watched her perform from the Main Stage wings..."

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"...Taking the stage at 3.25pm (BST), Spiteri, wearing a bright red dress and tights, played a three-song acoustic set backed by two guitarists and a drummer.
"We thought we'd come along and play a true festival acoustic show," Spiteri said during her set.
She shunned her Texas back catalogue, instead playing two songs from her debut solo album, 'Melody', out Monday (July 14), plus the aforementioned cover.
After performing 'It Was You' and 'All The Times I Cried' Spiteri introduced her version of the The Killers' hit as "a special singalong".
The crowd duly sang along to the "I've got soul but I'm not a soldier" refrain before Spiteri thanked them and left the stage..."

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"...Sharleen Spiteri is set to release her first solo single and album, without the rest of her band Texas. Read our exclusive interview with her

How does it feel to be going solo?

It doesn't feel that different - it's not a split from Texas. It felt like a really natural decision for me to take. I've been asked so many times to do a solo record and when I was writing this one it was glaringly obvious it was not a Texas record..."

"...After 15 platinum discs and 13 top ten hits as Texas frontwoman, Sharleen Spiteri is going it alone. Charlotte Dingle catches up with the gorgeous Glaswegian prior to the release of her debut solo album Melody on 14 July.

Texas first hit the UK charts with jangly rock anthem I Don’t Want A Lover. Now, almost 20 years later, and with a trail of subsequent hits in the band’s wake, lead singer Sharleen Spiteri has decided to go solo. “I’d been asked to do solo stuff several times before by my record company,” she says, “but in the end I decided to do it off my own back, when the time was absolutely right for me.”..."

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"...SHARLEEN SPITERI's father, Eddie, was a captain in the Merchant Navy, working away from home for months at a time.
He would arrive back in Glasgow in the middle of the night, and the little girl always knew her dad was home because she would be woken up by his LPs blasting out. It might be Fleetwood Mac's Rumours or something by his beloved Bob Dylan. Whatever the song, for his daughter music signified family, togetherness, the return of a man she loved.
Then, when she was around nine years old, her parents gave her a great gift – their old record player and a bunch of 45s. Among these was Nancy Sinatra's 'These Boots Are Made for Walkin' '. She put the needle on that record and suddenly music meant something else – sex, aggression, female strength in the face of male infidelity. Not that she understood any of that at the time, at least not on any conscious or articulate level..."

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"...Stepping aside from her work with Texas for a moment, the poster-girl for low-key sex appeal and headstrong individualism, Sharleen Spiteri, talks to Bent about her forthcoming album, 'Melody'.

So why did you decide to release a solo album?
It's something I really needed to do. Lots has changed for me, personally, and I was asking a lot of questions about myself. This was a chance to explore that and get out this sound I had in my head. It was a challenge, and that's what I liked. I had a very strong impetus to do what I wanted to do..."

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"...TEXAS beauty Sharleen Spiteri is planning to take her daughter Misty Kyd to next weekend's T in the Park after being added to the bill.
Sharleen, who is set to release her debut solo album Melody on July 14 and the single All The Times I've Cried on Monday, will take to the main stage next Saturday..."

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"...I'm feeling a little bit nervous, actually,' Sharleen Spiteri says, gesturing towards Nick Cave just opposite her in the television studio and the Raconteurs right beside her. 'These guys are really great live.' She is wearing a prim but pretty red dress with a collar, red tights and patent T-bar heels with her naturally raven-black hair swept up into a chignon. The look is retro, yet utterly now. A bit like the songs she is about to sing live on Later… with Jools Holland, which echo the Motown and Nancy Sinatra records her parents handed down to her and now form the bedrock of her first solo album, Melody..."

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"...The music began with Lulu performing Shout, accompanied by Jools Holland on piano and Gwyneth, Sharleen Spiteri, Donna Air and Sam Taylor-Wood as impromptu back-up singers.
Jarvis Cocker belted his way through My Sharona, Sharleen sang Baby Love and Nick Cave performed He's The Greatest Dancer, with the two audience members who bid for the song as backing dancers. Bryan Ferry reprised his classic Let's Stick Together with Lily Cole and Bruce Forsyth sang The Lady Is A Tramp.
Lou Reed performed Dirty Boulevard and all the performers joined in the finale of Hi Ho Silver Lining, led by Jeff Beck and Nigel Kennedy on violin."

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"THE RESULTS might have led to a few curses but that couldn't stop the smiles at Hamilton Park last night. The first Radio Clyde Cash for Kids Silver Bell Night was held at the Lanarkshire track and 7000 people turned up for the showcase event on its racing calendar.
And despite the late withdrawal of favourites, and some top tips refusing to come out of the stalls, the atmosphere was a winner. Punters were encouraged to get dressed up to the nines for the event, which replaced Hamilton's famous Saints and Sinners evening, and they didn't disappoint.
Designer dresses, hats worth more than some of the cars, and suits that wouldn't look out of place in a Premiership footballer's wardrobe kept the style factor high.
And like the Cash for Kids charity - which received more than £150,000 from the night - Hamilton Park's champagne marquee wasn't short of change as customers lined up to buy bottles of bubbly.
The Evening Times was supporter of the event, and our photographers were kept busy as the stars turned up en masse.
Amongst the capacity crowd, Sir Tom Hunter and Lady Marion Hunter, Sharleen Spiteri, David Jordan, John Brown - brother of PM Gordon - snooker star Stephen Maguire, former Celtic player Stephen Pearson, TV pundit Jim Delahunt, champion jockey Kevin Darley and Clyde DJ Suzie Maguire all had a flutter..."

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"Scots singer Sharleen Spiteri met youngsters undergoing cancer treatment today as a leading charity celebrated a special anniversary.
The performer visited a home run by CLIC Sargent for parents who have to travel to Edinburgh for specialist treatment for their child.
The CLIC Villa in the city's Hatton Street is celebrating its 10th year
Texas frontwoman Spiteri, who is a patron of the charity, described it as "a real lifeline" for families hit by cancer.
The singer, whose debut solo album is released in July, said: "I cannot imagine how devastating it must be to be told your child has cancer, but at least you know with CLIC Sargent you will be supported every step of the way, from diagnosis through to treatment and beyond..."

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