Texas frontwoman Sharleen Spiteri on losing her parents, sexism in music and the art of songwriting
Texas have sold over 40 million records, but lead singer Sharleen Spiteri doesn’t take the band’s continued success for granted. Here she talks about grief, songwriting, and why you should never give her a ‘woman of the year’ award.
In her spacious sitting room, sitting under a large painting, Sharleen Spiteri is drinking coffee and finishing what’s left of a pastry. Dressed in a loose hoodie top and leisurewear bottoms, she doesn’t sweat the small stuff. She authentically engages with conversation, has no time for PR puffery (“I never ask to see an interviewer’s questions”) and swears like a proverbial docker (examples to follow).
To say Spiteri, 55, is something of a survivor is an understatement. While other lead singers (whatever gender) of well-known pop/rock bands have either departed, disappeared or drifted off into musical theatre, she has spent the past 35 years fronting Texas, a band as consistent as it is successful. She says it was unexpected when the group’s most recent album, 2021’s Hi, became their highest charting in the UK since 1999. Go figure, she implies, brushing a few crumbs off her knee.
