S6, Ep5 How to Fail: Shirlie Kemp

How To Fail With Elizabeth Day

Sony Music

Society & Culture

4.7 • 9.6K Ratings

🗓️ 23 October 2019

⏱️ 57 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Today, I welcome Shirlie Kemp to the podcast. She was an 80s icon: a backing dancer for Wham! who ACTUALLY APPEARED IN THE MUSIC VIDEO FOR 'LAST CHRISTMAS', as well as being a best friend to George Michael until his untimely death in 2016 at the age of 53. She was also one-half of the pop duo Pepsi & Shirlie and the wife of Martin Kemp, of Spandau Ballet fame (fun fact: their son, Roman, is the Capital Radio DJ).Shirlie joins me to talk about what went on behind the scenes of fame and her memories of George, including the last conversation they ever had. She talks about her challenging council estate upbringing, feeling a failure at school and developing an eating disorder in her teens. We also discuss her long journey to self-confidence as a woman and how she and Martin coped with his brain tumour diagnosis in 1995, and what got them through those tough times as a couple. And we touch on the mean photography teacher whose criticism she will NEVER FORGET (but more fool him, because now she's an amazing photographer so there).Thank you for coming on How To Fail, Shirlie: you are truly the loveliest woman. *The How To Fail Live tour has now started! I will be at various venues around the UK and Ireland over the next two months, sharing my failure manifesto with the help of some very special guests. Limited tickets left! These events are not recorded as podcasts so the only way to be there is to book tickets via www.faneproductions.com/howtofail* The Sunday Times Top 5 bestselling book of the podcast, How To Fail: Everything I've Ever Learned From Things Going Wrong by Elizabeth Day, is out now and is available here.*Shirlie and Martin Kemp are releasing a joint album, In The Swing of It, next month. You can pre-order it here.* This season of How To Fail With Elizabeth Day is hosted by Elizabeth Day, produced by Naomi Mantin and Chris Sharp and sponsored by Sweaty Betty. Sweaty Betty are offering listeners 20% off full-price items with the code HOWTOFAILTo contact us, email howtofailpod@gmail.com* Social Media:Elizabeth Day @elizabdayShirlie Kemp @shirliekempSweaty Betty @sweatybetty Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Channel 4 is the home of your next TV obsession.
0:04.6	As the UK's biggest free streaming service, they have it all, they really do, you know,
0:09.8	from classic comedy box sets to shocking reality, gripping drama and mind-bending documentaries.
0:17.1	They make content that's different from the rest, and which represents a broad cross-section
0:21.9	of society.
0:23.3	Channel 4 is the home of unfiltered entertainment.
0:26.7	It's all together different, telly, made for you.
0:30.6	And happily, for me, there's so much I always want to watch on Channel 4, whether it be
0:36.4	a bit of Made in Chelsea or the entire box set of Derry Girls, which is one of my favourite
0:41.2	programmes of all time.
0:43.1	Regular listeners will know that I grew up in Derry, and it totally reflects my experience
0:47.4	all be it through an utterly hilarious lens.
0:50.2	And there's also a three-part series that I can't wait to feast my eyes on, called
0:54.6	Dep versus Herde.
0:56.7	It unpicks the court case that so many of us watched online and saw being absolutely
1:03.6	everywhere in various comment sections, the trial between Johnny Depp and Amber Herde.
1:09.0	So this is the first place that collates all of that material in one simple format.
1:14.8	It allows you to see the story from all sides, a three-part series, Dep versus Herde, can't
1:19.6	wait to watch it.
1:21.0	And I highly recommend that you do too.
1:24.4	See you now on Channel 4.
1:31.0	This season of How to Fail with Elizabeth Day is sponsored by Sweaty Betty.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Sony Music, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Sony Music and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.