Just What I Always Wanted had already been in our live set, but with different verses. When we’d gone on David Essex’s Showcase earlier in 1982, in the middle eight I sang “A wink from Wilbur, a kiss from Kurt, don’t tell Hank, he might get hurt” – all names of my backing band the Wilsations. But when it came to recording, I said to Tot Taylor, who wrote most of my early singles, including Love Man and Baby It’s True, “We can’t sing that because no one will know who they are.
What about, ‘A mink from Paris, a ring from Rome, a whole new wardrobe in my home?’” Tot, such a brilliant writer, took it from there. We’d brought in Tony Mansfield, whose futuristic New Musik had enjoyed hit singles with Living by Numbers and This World of Water, to produce the song and my debut album Showpeople. He brought a modern feel but captured our warmth and sense of fun.
The trumpet solo was actually a synth, as was the timpani, but Paul Bultitude recorded his very loud snare drum fills in a studio corridor. I’m at the top of my range at the end of the middle eight – something a lot of Motown artists did to make the voice sound more plaintive. My older sister had a beehive which I’d loved.
When I first got mine in 1980, I remember walking through Brent Cross shopping mall and everyone staring. It wasn’t long after punk and no one wanted that look. However, the more famous I became, the bigger it got!
It took more than 45 minutes to style, the hair backcombed to buggery – it was like architecture really. I was trying to bring back some glamour. I’d just come from an interview when I laid down the vocal part in Pete Townshend’s Eel Pie Studios, so I was already in character.
I was wearing a crimplene dress and because of my beehive, the headphones had to go under my chin. The artwork for the single and album covers was inspired by classic Julie London and Peggy Lee LPs of the 1950s. I never wanted to be just an 80s pop singer and later I shifted to jazz.
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