Beverley's back after 18 years.

Byline: JADE WRIGHT

I T'S been 18 years since Beverley Craven made her name with Promise Me.

In the years that followed, she's sold more than three million albums worldwide, before turning her back on the showbiz parties and globe-trotting to raise her three daughters (Mollie, now 17, Brenna, 14, and Connie, 12) with her songwriter/musician husband Colin Campsie.

"I was disillusioned by the music industry," she explains.

"I'd been on the road for years and family was more important."

In 2004, Beverley embarked on a comeback, making a handful of live appearances, but soon received devastating news when she was diagnosed with breast cancer. Following treatment she was finally given the all-clear, and is now once again returning to the stage with a live tour and her new album, Close To Home.

"The difficulty is balancing the two - it's the same for all working mums, I think," says Beverley.

"I go from being onstage to making the packed lunches and mopping the floor. I don't feel much like a star when I'm pushing the trolley round back in Waitrose.

"Although maybe it's a bit more glamorous than Lidl or Aldi. I keep getting tempted to go in. Everyone loves a bargain, don't they?" Now she's preparing to bring her live show to Liverpool.

"It's pretty intimate, I sing about pretty personal stuff," she explains.

"I have a great relationship with the band - I suppose you have to when you're on tour because you live in each others' pockets. They are hot, hot, hot. I really rate them all as musicians, between them they've worked with Duran Duran, Girls Aloud, everyone really.

"I've not played Liverpool, so it's something I'm looking forward to.

"I love The Beatles - although they used up all the best ideas before anyone else could get round to writing those songs.

"So many people copy them, but I always think you have to plough your own furrow.

"I suppose it's easier for me - there's only one of me, not four, and I've always been piano rather than guitar-based.

"I actually don't listen to much music. I wouldn't say I'm a music fan at all, really.

"I liked that band The Script a few months ago and I try to keep up with the charts, but it's not for me. It's youth culture and I'm too old for all that now.

"My kids don't want to see me dancing to the same music as them.

"In fact, my kids won't let me dance at all. I'm one of those 'try harder' dancers. I throw myself on the floor and try to move every bit of myself at once.

"You know that phrase 'dance like there's nobody watching'? Well, I think they wrote that for me."

After her Liverpool gig, Beverley plans to continue her national tour, and her busy run of charity gigs.

"I did a breast cancer fundraiser a few weeks ago," she explains. "And it was a really emotional night. Obviously it's a cause that's very close to me, and I'll do anything I can to help.

"I'm also doing the Born Free fundraiser at the Royal Albert Hall and a benefit for my children's school. Hopefully we'll get the kids involved and raise lots of money. I'm just going to keep plodding on, I think. But I'm really looking forward to Liverpool." Me, too, Beverley, if only to see those legendary dance moves ... * BEVERLEY CRAVEN plays Baby Blue on October 21.

CAPTION(S):

Beverley Craven - back on tour