Life is a Rollercoaster
Kym Marsh is back with a debut solo single called 'Cry', so we got her chatting about the
emotional rollercoaster that has been her life since she joined Hear'say.
Your debut solo single 'Cry' is a bit of emotional ballad - does it reflect your
feelings?
Not really. It had already been written by these Norwegian writers and producers who
didn't know anything about Hear'say or anything like that, they'd just written a nice song.
If you hadn't landed a solo deal, what do you think you would have done?
I don't know, it's hard to say. I didn't even know what I was going to do when I left Hear'say.
I just wanted to see more of my kids and stuff like that. I went for my solo deal all guns
blazing. But if there was really no chance of becoming a solo artist, then I would probably
have taken on some of the other things that people have thrown at me like, acting or
something like that.
Is acting something you'd like to get into?
Well, I loved drama at school, I used to get really high grades as well. I really liked it, so I
think I might have ventured into that. I still might, a few years down the line, you never
know.
Was it a big decision to go back into singing? Doesn't it mean leaving your kids
again?
It doesn't really. It's a lot different now because when I was part of Hear'say, the
schedules were a lot tougher. Being part of a band is really busy, but being part of that
band was crazily busy. My record company now are really cool because they realise I have
to fit everything in around the children, whereas before I just didn't have that control. I try
and do normal things, like this morning I went to my daughter's school assembly.
You must have had mixed emotions at the start of Hear'say?
It was hard being unable tell anybody we were in the band apart from our parents or
whoever we lived with, even though we were bursting with excitement. A lot of people
wondered where I'd gone, because I just disappeared. Then of course when the TV show
came on they put two and two together. But even after that it was pretty mad. And our
parents weren't allowed to know where we lived and couldn't have our phone number or
anything.
And that was before you'd even released a single…
Yeah, all the kiss-and-tells, everything. But that was the whole problem with us - we
reached our peak right at the beginning, which meant we were always in competition with
ourselves. I mean where do you go from selling 500,000 singles in the first week? The
only way is down. And when we became a normal-selling band, that was seen as a failure
because we weren't selling 500,000 singles a week.
What would you consider to be your greatest achievement so far?
Well the biggest thing a woman goes through is having her kids. To me it just makes you
feel like you're amazing. I know lots of other women have done it, but you're still pretty
amazing! It's definitely something to be really proud of. That's my greatest achievement.
And also getting married, because I never thought I would. I was engaged to the father of
my kids, and we'd book the church, then cancel it again. It was a mutual thing, we knew we
didn't gel very well. I'm also really proud of getting a solo deal, because obviously I wasn't
guaranteed one - I'd only been on the scene 10 minutes, so I'm really chuffed with that.
So professionally this is your high point rather, than when you were accepted for
Hear'say, or when you got your first No.1?
Well, yeah, there have been so many. Obviously being part of Hear'say was great, fighting
off 3000 other contestants and getting a place, then getting a No.1 then a second No.
1, then doing a 36-date arena tour, all of that is magnificent, but in the present day,
getting this deal was a big thing for me.
What have been the low points professionally and in your personal life since you've
been in the spotlight?
In my personal life I'd say the amount of time I spent away from my children. I really believed
I could cope with it when I went into Hear'say, but I was completely ignorant of the amount
of work that was going to be involved. Nothing could have prepared me for that. After a
few months I became quite depressed and withdrawn, which showed in interviews
because I would just sit there and people would ask 'What’s the matter with Kym?'.
Professionally the hardest bit for me was hearing stories after I'd left, especially the ones
from Hear'say themselves...
What did they say?
Myleene said basically that I was marrying Jack because I'm an insecure control freak.
She made a comment like 'I don't need to marry a celebrity to make my life complete' I
thought 'What?'. It was a bolt out of the blue. Then they said I hadn't told them I was
leaving, which was quite bizarre because we'd had a conversation just before 'Everybody'
came out, which was in November, the year before I left, and we'd agreed that I'd leave at
the beginning of the next year. I think in their hearts they didn't believe I was going to do it.
It was like everyone was in denial. It was really odd.
How did you feel when you saw them holding auditions for your replacement?
I was a bit shocked that they decided to take someone else. I thought they'd go it alone
as a four-piece, because I know from being part of that band they were very cliquey. Then I
thought 'OK, they've brought Johnny in - good-looking guy, something different, not
another girl. It could work'. Then there was all that stuff about whether it was fixed or not.
I wouldn't think the management company would do that. I'm still managed by them, and if
I thought they were that sneaky, I wouldn't be! But I know, certainly it didn't look very good.
And how did you feel when you heard Hear'say had split?
I was really shocked, because knowing them as four individuals, they were very strong-
willed, very determined, and I thought they would have kept battling and battling. Their
first single with the new line-up got to No.5 or something, and that's nothing to be sniffed
at. If I got a No.5 I'd be really chuffed. I was a little bit upset when they split up too. Even
though I walked away, I felt like I was partly responsible for the making of the band. I was
there for 'Pure and Simple' and I felt it was something I'd helped to create, then it was
gone.
Do you think Hear'say would have split if you hadn’t left?
I think they would have split anyway. Because if what they say happened to them - all the
abuse and being spat at etc - is the truth, then that would have happened whether I was
there or not. It wasn't happening when I was still in the band, but our popularity was on
the wane.
Did you watch Pop Idol?
Yes. I voted for Darius to win. I think he's done an amazing job turning himself around and
proving to people how massive the power of TV editing is. He was never the bad guy, it
was just clever editing. I haven't seen him since the Popstars thing, but he was quite a
nice guy. I watched Popstars: The Rivals because I wanted to see what it was like being
on the other side.
How do you feel when you read comments about yourself in the press?
When they make comments about my dress and my hairstyle or say that I have a fat
bottom, that's really irrelevant, and I think if that's all they can think of to criticise, then
that's cool. They're not saying I can't sing! But I lost a week of my honeymoon after my
picture was printed in the papers, and that was a different matter, I was disgusted.
Could you tell us a bit about your album?
It's called 'Standing Tall', it's going to be released this summer and it's got 15 tracks on it,
which is quite a lot. It took about 6 months to complete and we worked really hard on it.
I've got three co-writes on the album and I've co-written a lot of b-sides, but to be quite
honest I'm not all that bothered about writing stuff because I'm not a fantastic writer at
the minute - I think that'll come with experience and time. At the moment I think it's more
important that I get the best sound, otherwise no one's going to be bothered whether
I've written it or not!