She’s the First Lady of the West End (just no one tell Elaine Paige!), she has a brand new album out with Brian May of queen and this weekend she’s playing the biggest, funnest crowd in all of that West End, G-A-Y! We had a catch up with the lovely Ms Ellis to find out more.
Hey Kerry, are you looking forward to your G-A-Y stint?
I am! It’s always good fun and I always have a good laugh and everyone’s always really kind and they all sing along, which is fun. I just hope people enjoy it.
Do they need to be kind?
Well, no, but you know what it’s like. It’s late for me, I have to sing at half past one in the morning and I’m like half asleep so it’s a good job that they’re all lively and screaming to keep me awake.
That’s where alcoholic beverages come in, silly!
I know, I know, but I’m a mum now. I can’t have a headache and then get woken up at six in the morning by my boys jumping on my head. It’s just not a good look.
You need staff.
I do. I really do. I need a new au pair actually.
All applications for the role of Nanny for Kerry Ellis to Boyz. So, how many times have you done G-A-Y?
I don’t know. Maybe four or five. So I know my way around that dressing room. This time I’ll probably take some people down with me. I’ve still got a few days to sort it out but it’s more fun if you bring people with you.
Jeremy Joseph loves Defying Gravity from Wicked, doesn’t he, so you have do that…
Yes, he does bug me to do that song, even though I haven’t been in the show for a long time and I’m not releasing it on my new album, but he does badger me to do it.
What else should we expect?
A couple of tracks from my new album: a cover that everyone will know and a new track that me and Brian May did on our last tour, so people may have heard that.
What can you tell us about the new album Golden Days?
It’s mine and Brian’s second studio album. Our last one was a live album and before that was Anthems, which I also did at G-A-Y. This time it’s got five brand new songs and a couple of covers. I’ve done a version of I Who Have Nothing with an Italian singer, so I might do a bit of that and there’s a mix to it, so it should be fun. And we’ve got our version of Born Free, which we did with a live orchestra, Can’t Help Falling in Love, the Elvis song, which I love…
And there’s a song from Carousel, so how come that bitch Katherine Jenkins got the gig with Alfie Boe at the Royal Opera House?
[Laughs] You know what I mean? And I love Alfie as well, I know him, we’ve done duets in the past. But I think people will like to see her in that environment, she’s not done that sort of thing. And to be honest, Carousel is a bit soprano-y for me. It’s not very rock chick, is it?
We saw you in Murder Ballad, which was amazing!
You did. I loved it. It was great to do something so new and different.
You were writhing around in bra and panties with a hot guy!
Yeah, it was very sassy. It’s funny how my life changes from day to day. The show I’m in at the moment is a version of Alice in Wonderland, completely the other end of the spectrum to Murder Ballad, then I’ll be in G-A-Y, then I’ll be in a studio with Brian and Michael Ball. I like that it changes and you can do different things.
You have two little boys: how would you feel in later life if they came to you and said, ‘Mummy, I think I might be gay…’?
You know, I don’t think it would worry me. It’s never been an issue in my life. The industry I’m in, the people I’m surrounded by… as long as my kids are happy and find joy in their life, however that is, I’ll be happy.
And what if one of them said, ‘Mummy, I think I’m a girl…’?
Again, I think you love your children unconditionally. A parent’s love for their child is a strange thing and I just think you love them for who they are, it doesn’t matter what. You just love them and you would support them whatever they want to do or want to be.
Kerry’s album Golden Days with Brian May is out now.
Kerry Ellis is at G-A-Y this Saturday 15 April, 10.30pm – 5am. Entry is £3 with a wristband from G-A-Y Bar.
G-A-Y at Heaven, Under the Arches, off Villiers Street, London, WC2N 6NG.
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