Craig Revel Horwood: I'll spill Strictly gossip and sing for crowds in Stirling, Dundee and Dunfermline

The Courier

2 days ago

Known for his choreography skills, it's perhaps predictable that Craig Revel Horwood jokes he's looking forward to 'a Highland fling' in Scotland later this month.
But it's not just his dancing that the Strictly Come Dancing judge is showing off on his latest UK tour – it's also his less heralded talent for singing.
Revel Horwood is due to round off a 43-date road trip with four Scottish shows on The Courier's doorstep.
It all follows the release of his debut album Revelations – Songs Boys Don't Sing, which reached the Top 20 in the UK charts last October.
The very fact that he's made an LP at all has raised more than a few eyebrows, but Craig actually started singing as a boy in his native Australia in the 1970s.
He initially made his name in the early 2000s as a West End director and choreographer, before going on to mastermind the opening to Manchester's 2002 Commonwealth Games.
Since settling into the judge's seat he still occupies when ballroom-based BBC hit Strictly was launched in 2004, he has gone on to make his mark on stage over the past decade in roles such as alcoholic orphanage caretaker Miss Hannigan in a touring version of Annie and as The Wizard Of Oz's iconic Wicked Witch of the West.
But it was the approach of one of life's milestones that spurred him into the recording studio.
'My mum wanted me to make an album, and I thought I'd better do one before I'm 60, which I am now, and I'll take it out on the road,' says Craig.
'It's a compilation of a lot of women's songs that I've played before, so all of the material is very character-driven. It's a delve into my life as a musician really, because that's how I started contemplating even dancing.'
The former Melbourne drag queen, who moved to London in 1989, plays both the trumpet and the French horn, but reveals it was an instrument forever associated with primary school that set him on his musical journey.
'It started with the recorder, which is how a lot of people start,' he explains.
'Everyone laughs at that, but we had a proper consort of recorders. It was a seven-piece and I played at Sydney Opera House, and we actually found a tape recording of us playing in 1978 so I play that to the audience during my show.
'If that's not worth 36 quid I don't know what is.'
Putting on his serious face for a moment, Revel Horwood declares his upcoming Scottish sojourn will provide an intimate insight into what makes him tick, as well as the ups and downs he's experienced since becoming a household name.
'The show is about my love for the music and how it's affected my life,' he adds.
'It's about relationships, too, because we all go through the same emotions, so I'll be talking about that, and heartbreak, and where it can lead.
'Adele has proved how much emotion heartbreak can evoke, not just for singers, but for the audience too.
'I'm also going to be telling a lot of showbiz stories, a lot of Strictly backstage goss. What is Shirley Ballas really like? I'll be delving into that, and why Bruno (Tonioli) left.
'I will answer any question I'm asked, whether it's on Strictly, my personal life, anything – I don't care.'
Craig, who's joined on stage by his piano-playing Celebrity Gogglebox sidekick Ben Goddard, outlines what to expect in between the revelatory chat.
'The tour is full of weird and wonderful things, like great songs obviously, with a little bit of dancing, some Shirley Bassey I've got up my sleeve, a little bit of Ursula from The Little Mermaid and the mad characters I've played over the years,' he says.
'I wanted to put something together that was really personal and for people to feel like they're just coming to have a cocktail party with me at my house – I even have a cooking segment.
'I won't have my judging panels and I won't have my judge's hat on. I'm going to be just me.'