Sarah Whatmore on her new album and a missed chance with Kylie Minogue

You turned heads as a contestant on the first series of Pop Idol in 2001. Have you been tempted to try out any of the singing contests on air now?

I was asked to audition for The Voice and Britain’s Got Talent, but I don’t know. I went into Pop Idol very innocently. The producers asked me to go in the last ten and I turned them down because I’d got my record deal. Darius ended up going instead of me!

Is it true you had dibs on Britney banger Toxic?

My ex-manager Simon Fuller played Toxic and I was like, ‘Oh my God, this is a smash’. I had it on hold for a couple of weeks, but then Britney got it. The writer Cathy Dennis was like, ‘Britney is a worldwide-selling artist’, and she couldn’t NOT give it to her, which I understand.

And you were once asked to be Kylie’s back-up singer?

I was asked but, at the time, I was ready to release my second album. I probably would have been too tall for Kylie!

How gutted were you when your debut album Living Proof was shelved in 2003?

Funnily enough, just before Christmas, I had a chat with Simon — we’re still friends — and I asked if there was any way we could release the album for my fans. It could happen.

You’re releasing music for the first time in eight years. Where have you been?

I got married and had a couple of kids but I was always still writing and performing when I could.

Sarah’s EP Full Circle is out now

Author: Andrei Harmsworth