Clare Grogan: I’d rather be a good mum than a pop megastar

SHE spent a decade striving to be a mum.

Altered Images star Clare Grogan and former band member husband Stephen Lironi suffered six miscarriages and went through four rounds of IVF.

Finally, after 10 tough years, they joyfully adopted daughter Elle, now 12, when she was an eight-month-old baby.

Now Clare, 55, has told The Sunday Post how she turned down a big money US tour to be with her daughter.

There has been an amazing resurgence of interest in 1980s music, with acts offered tours and lucrative one-off appearances.

But despite the temptations, Clare says that she has chosen home life and the everyday treasures of being a mum rather than jetting off thousands of miles away.

“I did a show in January in Los Angeles with Tony Hadley, Howard Jones and ABC at the arena where they hold the Grammys,” said Glasgow-born Clare.

“It went really well and on the back of it I was offered this tour of the States.

“I know what I can manage and what I can’t and I decided I just had to say no.

“I don’t want to be away from home that much.

“I waited a long time to become a mum and I want to be here as much as I can when Elle comes through the door from school.”

Clare’s love of Elle is all-encompassing.

“I can’t talk about her without crying,” she says, fighting back the tears.

“But I laugh and cry because she makes me so happy. She’s such a great girl.

“It’s a challenge being a parent, it really is.

“She makes us laugh and drives us mad, all that normal stuff.

“She’s very funny. She said to me recently, ‘Mum, when you die, where do you want your park bench?’

“When we go to the park she’d always read the memorial plaques on benches and she’d decided she wants to get me one.

“I told her that it was a really nice thought . . . but she was maybe rushing me just a bit.”

As she gets set to have a teenager in the house, Clare is frank about how her parents viewed her own teenage years.

“I have so much respect for my mum and dad because I was probably every parent’s worst nightmare,” she admits.

“Simply because I wanted to enter into a world they knew nothing about.

“And they had no control over me once I went into it.

“They’ve told me it absolutely terrified them.

“But they also said that they trusted me and they thought it’d be so much worse if they tried to stop me.

“I think that’s really good parenting.

“I made mistakes, lots of them. I will highlight them to Elle, but I’ll do that in the privacy of my own home.”

Clare, who now lives in London, had a series of big hits with Altered Images in the early 1980s, including Happy Birthday, See Those Eyes and I Could Be Happy.

But with an acting career that began with a bang with a lead role in Gregory’s Girl, the musical career hasn’t always been Clare’s top priority.

“I shied away from music for a very long time,” she admits.

“I don’t know why, you just go through phases in life and you do other things.

“But I really love singing and I had a real burst of enthusiasm for doing it again.”

Clare has been doing a small number of select gigs in recent times but she has just signed up to do a UK tour, which won’t take her away from home for too lengthy a time.

Clare will join Midge Ure and The Christians for the tour that begins at Glasgow Royal Concert Hall in October.

It also includes dates in Edinburgh and Dundee.

“I haven’t been on tour in 12 years,” reveals Clare.

“I’ve done a few dates in a year but I haven’t taken on consecutive dates like this.

“When the offer came I thought that if I didn’t do it now then I wasn’t sure I would ever do it again.

“Going out on the road with other acts like Midge sounded like a great package.”

Clare has continued to act, with her latest movie, Delirium, a drama also starring Timothy West, having its UK premiere in London yesterday.

And she says the heady days of a pop star life and being spotted by director Bill Forsyth while waitressing in a restaurant and cast in Gregory’s Girl, still have a lasting impact.

“I couldn’t see a barrier to doing both,” insists Clare, who is also working on the third of a trilogy of children’s books.

“I think that comes from the arrogance of youth.

“You just think, ‘Why not?’ So, I just went for it.

“And of course the opportunity came my way.

“I’ve never had a proper job and I suppose I’ve had a bit of an alternative lifestyle ever since I was very young.

“Looking back to then, it does feel like a different life.

“If someone had told my 18-year-old self that I’d still be doing this in my mid-50s I’d have thought that was weird.

“But now it doesn’t seem weird at all.

“There’s something very comfortable about it.

“What I did will follow me around for the rest of my life.

“And it gave me a great calling card.

“The platform of what I did then is why I’m still working now.”