Bex In The City

WHAT do you think was the most played song on radio over the past 10 years? Go on have a guess. I bet you don’t know. Give up? Well I’ll tell you – though I warn you, you won’t be able to shift it from your head for hours!

It was, of course, the irrepressibly bouncy Groovejet (If This Ain’t Love) by a previously little known DJ called Spiller and a singer with a face like a china doll – Sophie Ellis-Bextor.

Since that dance anthem was released, a full 10 years ago, Sophie has become a household name, a sex symbol, and chart-topping pop icon responsible for a string of hits and high-profile collaborations. And, while she has had her mind on other things – like raising two children – she is as busy as ever, releasing her fourth album, and this week setting out on a national tour, which on Sunday celebrates its finale in Oxford.

“I’m nervous but I am looking forward to it,” says Sophie, 31, the daughter of Blue Peter presenter Janet Ellis – with whom she appeared on the show several times (“I still have my Blue Peter badge!” she says proudly).

“It’s great to be going on tour again. It’s quite special, and I’ll be doing it on my own.”

What she means is, it makes a change from supporting the likes of George Michael and Take That – both of whom she has been on the road with.

So will she be doing all the old favourites live? “Of course!” she says. “If I was a punter coming along, I’d be very cross if I didn’t hear all the hits. And I’ve been releasing albums for a decade now, so I don’t only have a few songs I have to play at the end.”

She’s not kidding. Her first album, Read My Lips (which peaked at number two) contained such nuggets as Murder on the Dancefloor (Europe’s most played song of 2002), Take Me Home, Get Over You, Move This Mountain, Music Gets the Best Of Me, and the aforementioned Groovejet. Add to that follow-ups Shoot from the Hip and Trip the Light Fantastic (spawning hits Mixed Up World, I Won’t Change You, Catch You, and Me and My Imagination) and you’ve got a formidable bag of tunes – and that’s just for starters.

So how has she changed over the past decade? “Well, a lot of me is exactly the same,” she says. “I still enjoy doing this as much as I did in the beginning, but I am more relaxed and know what I’m doing.”

She remains endearingly self-effacing, with a grain of self-doubt which is rare among artists of her calibre – even when it comes to those striking good looks – which saw her become the face of Rimmel.

“I have never felt I had good looks,” she protests, after a pause.

“I’ve always felt an outsider, which is what inspired me to get up and sing. I never felt I was that popular. As a teenager I was always the one left on the side of the dancefloor.”

Since making her first steps into the music industry as lead singer of indie-rockers The Audience she has played and worked with a Who’s Who of stars. Her new record Straight to The Heart, is typically collaborative, featuring input from Freemasons, Greg Kurstin, Calvin Harris, Cathy Dennis, Metronomy, Richard X (of Starlight fame) Sneaker Pimps and Armin Van Buuren. The result is an adrenaline-fuelled pop rocket ride, which befits the voice of Groovejet.

“I have collaborated with musicians I really love,” she says. “I’ve had such a good time, and I would never really call it ‘work’.”

And who has she enjoyed working with the most? “Alex James, from Blur,” she says, recounting her friendship with the bass player turned celebrity cheesemaker.

“We always have a laugh. I have even been over at his place for New Year’s Eve.”

That must have been lively? I suggest. “Not for me,” she giggles. “I was pregnant, so I celebrated the New Year with a Pot Noodle at midnight! He’s got tons of them. He loves them!”

She is, of course, wedded to the rock world; quite literally. Her husband is bass player Richard Jones from The Feeling – with whom she runs the club night Modern Love. Life must be a rock & roll roller coaster ride, I say.

“Not at all,” she replies. “All that rock ’n’ roll stuff is a load of nonsense. But Richard and I do think we are fortunate, and love what we do. We have an amazing time at festivals and go to some pretty glamourous do’s. I enjoy the strangeness of it all...

“As I said, it’s not a proper job.

“But I am having an amazing time right now. It really is the best it’s ever been.”

* Sophie Ellis-Bextor plays the Oxford O2 academy on Sunday. Tickets are £17.50 from ticketweb.co.uk Doors open at 7pm.