Tina’s ready to rock at Rogue Written by Garrett Bithell | 01 June 2010
Ahead of her headline performance at Rogue Prince 2, UK dance diva Tina Cousins talks to Garrett Bithell about her love of gay men, her days as a fashion model, and her ridiculous crush on Michael Bublé.
“I’m just so pleased you haven’t got a camera thingy on your phone because I am truly sitting here with messy hair in a dressing gown! I’m not a morning person.”
So says Tina Cousins down the phone line from her home in London. The feisty, down-to-earth dance ingénue, famous for hits such as ‘Pray’, ‘Killin’ Time’, ‘Forever’ and ‘Wonderful Life’, is coming to Melbourne on the Queen’s Birthday weekend to headline Rogue Prince 2 at the Prince of Wales with DJs Justin Ryan and Phil Hewson – and she couldn’t be more excited.
“Honestly, this is going to sound silly and like I’m sucking up,” the 36-year-old says, “but you have no idea how excited I am! I’ve already picked out the clothes and the shoes! I absolutely can’t wait – I’ve got a lot of friends there so it’s going to be manic.”
Her giddy affection for Australia is perhaps understandable. Ever since her breakthrough single ‘Mysterious Times’, with Sash!, was released in 1998, no other country in the world has lapped up her music quite like our big, brown land. “When I first came to Australia, I honestly wondered: ‘How the hell is anyone going to know who I am on the other side of the planet?’ And I couldn’t believe it – the first gig I did the crowd knew every word to every song. I remember once I forgot part of a lyric, and the guys in the front were cupping their hands mouthing the words to me.
“Because of my success there, everyone thinks I’m from Australia. And when I get back to London after being in Australia, I seriously have an Aussie accent! I start going up at the end of my sentences.”
At one point, Cousins was arguably as popular in Australia as Kylie Minogue, even performing to a sold-out Sleaze Ball crowd in Sydney in 2000. “I was a woman in her element,” she laughs. “I had 50 dancers on stage with me, wearing tiny little shorts and they were all hotter than hell. But not one of them was remotely interested in me! If one more man had come up to me and said ‘I’d turn just for one night’... Yeah right, you’re telling fibs!
“I had some drag queens on stage with me as well, and they looked better than I did – longer legs! It’s just not fair! But those moments make up for all the crap you have to endure with the record companies!”
Indeed, Cousins loves the gays – and it seems the feeling is mutual. The Rogue promoters hunted her down on Facebook. Such is the way of the modern world. “The wonder of Facebook,” she muses. “They didn’t believe it was the real Tina Cousins communicating with them! But I’m quite pedantic about fan sites and everything else. I’m always the one who answers – I don’t believe in having some little person on the sidelines replying, pretending to be you.”
At Rogue Prince 2, Cousins will be performing her old hits as well as new songs from her soon-to-be-released third album. She will also sing her recent cover of ‘Sex on Fire’ by Kings of Leon. “I’m going to be the same old jumping bunny that I’m always told I am on stage,” she says. “But I’ll be keen to see what everyone thinks of the new tracks, and the new remixes.
“To be completely honest, when I’m getting ready for a gig, if it’s a gay audience I don’t get nervous – just because I know that they’ll appreciate the fact that I’m there on stage doing my best, singing my heart out and singing live. I would never mime anything – it’s just not going to happen. I’m not being patronising, but gay audiences are just more responsive.”
One of the lesser-known facts about Cousins is that she used to be a fashion model. “I’ve always tried to keep it under wraps,” she tells. “Because people always think: ‘Oh God, model turned singer.’ When I started out I was gigging with bands, and modelling was what I did during the week. It was just to pay the bills really – it’s so false and I hated it. I’m only 5’6” so I was always the bridesmaid and never the bride.”
Unfortunately for Cousins, she never got the chance to work her ex-model wiles on Michael Bublé. “God I’ve got a soft spot for him,” she laughs. “Oh that sounds terrible – please don’t put that in! I was totally gutted because when I was last in Australia we went to the same studio but I missed him by 20 minutes. I had a go at my manager about it, too! I would have said hello. Or maybe more than hello!”
Tina Cousins headlines Rogue Prince 2 at the Prince of Wales, 29 Fitzroy Street, St Kilda, Sunday, June 13, 2010, 11am-8pm. Tickets $49 from
http://www.roguedance.com.auFull artical in MCV Magazinehttp://www.mcv.gaynewsnetwork.com.au/fe ... 07480.html
Great she's going to be performing new music.
