The first song I remember hearing
Rodgers & Hammerstein – ‘The Sound Of Music’
“My mum would play this over and over. I knew every lyric of the entire movie [when I was young] – and I would go out on the swing set and sing it from start to finish… driving the neighbours completely crazy. In Los Angeles, they do an annual sing-a-long at the Hollywood Bowl and people dress up. I’ve been as Fraulein Maria. I use the ukelele as a purse.”
The first album I ever owned
Madonna – ‘Like A Virgin’
“I had it on tape when I was around 10… Years later, I went to Madonna’s 40th birthday party at her house in Los Angeles. I was dating an actor who had just done a play with her in London. Guy Ritchie gave the toast and Demi Moore was there too. She had a dancefloor out in the backyard that they had filled with goldfish. It was like you were dancing on an aquarium. But I think something happened and a lot of the fish were dying. They had to drain it and get them out.
“I remember it was an Eastern-influenced party and her brother was wearing this kimono and he caught on fire. Someone had to rip off his kimono and stamp on it. And then when you got your car from the valet at the end of the night, they had left a red rose inside.”
The first gig I went to
Erasure at American University in Washington D.C., 1992
“I’d recently moved from Idaho, to Virginia, right outside Washington D.C. Where I lived in Idaho, it was too small of a town for bands to tour through. That I could go to a place and watch a band perform live in front of me was like a fantasy… Erasure was just this dance party. I thought all concerts were as theatrical and dance-y because it was my first experience. Nothing was quite like that afterwards…”
The song that reminds me of home
Neil Diamond – ‘Soolaimon’
“I chose Idaho because that’s where I consider my hometown to be. My parents didn’t have a lot of options and they would play the same things over and over. When my mother would put this on, she was usually in a really good mood – singing and dancing in the house. I just felt very safe and happy.”
The song I wish I’d written
The Cure – ‘Fascination Street’
“I decided to go with a song that, every single time I listen to it, I think: ‘That is a perfect song.’It’s the orchestration of it; how it builds and builds with this sort of magical wall of sound – and then that haunting voice comes in. I could cry thinking about it.”
The song I can’t get out of my head
Any version of ‘Blue Moon’
“There’s something about this song that always just pops back [into my head]. It’s got this perfect melody… very soothing. It’s something you would sing as you cleaned up your house.”
The band I had to stop listening to
The Beatles
“I had to stop with The Beatles at one point. I went through my Beatles phase and it was crazy and all-consuming and then I was just like, ‘enough’. And then I went back to them a few years later with new appreciation. My favourite Beatle? It’s between George and Paul.”
The song that makes me want to dance
AC/DC – ‘You Shook Me All Night Long’
“It’s kind of trashy and raunchy and it gets me on my feet. It’s strange because I have no desire to see them live and it’s probably the only AC/DC song I like.”
The song that makes me cry
Kate Bush – ‘This Woman’s Work’
“It’s a little on the nose as far as the theme of it and everything. But it’s not the subject matter for me, it’s that it was the first Kate Bush song I ever heard. I had gone over to a friend’s house in high school and she put it on. I remember everything stopping and I thought: ‘This is what angels must sound like.’”
The song I do at karaoke
The Dead Milkmen – ‘Punk Rock Girl’
“I can kind of sing, shout it. It’s supposed to sound that way. I’m supposed to suck, you know? Generally when I do karaoke, it’s with my family. My brother and his fiancé have an at-home karaoke machine. We’ll all be sitting on a couch singing together. It’s very wholesome and sweet.”
The song I want played at my funeral
Simon & Garfunkel – ‘For Emily, Whenever I May Find Her’
“This is one of my favourite songs in the entire world. It’s poetically, perfectly beautiful – the most sincere expression of love and appreciation… How they sing so earnestly about holding hands, you know, how that simple act is so important and so beautiful. It makes you feel good about life.”
‘Small Town, Big Story’ is out now on Sky Atlantic and streaming service NOW