Britain's representative in the Eurovision Song Contest

~ May 1992~

'I'm in a very secure relationship'

Michael Ball, star of the West End, Broadway and the pop charts, has recently bought a house with his 'close friend' Cathy McGowan. "I'm in a very secure relationship and I'm really happy," he says.

"It's just a step we've taken now and it's lovely," he adds, but the step Michael is most concerned about right now is One Step Out Of Time, the song he is singing for Britain in the Eurovision Song Contest in Malmo, Sweden, on May 9.

With the reputation of the competition ahving plumeted in recent years, it would appear to be a very risky career move for the 25-year-old lead singer of the musicals Les Misérables, Phantom Of The Opera, and Aspects Of Love which provided him with a No 2 hit single in 1989 with Love Changes Everything. But Michael is insistent that, win or lose, Eurovision won't change anything, at least not for the worse ....

"No, it's not going to destroy my career. There are a lot of things other than Eurovision that do, but not this. No, if I come last I'd blame the great British public for picking the wrong song! And if I come first it's totally down to me!" he jokes.

Shortly after Eurovision, Michale will embark on a massive UK concert tour, including a date at the London Palladium on June 7, and will also be promoting a new album, simply entitled Michael Ball.

All of which will take him away from his new home a great deal, but the now experienced trooper has no worries about that.

"You have to have security in your private life and I get that with my family and with Cathy, which means I have the freedom to go out and explore," he explains.

Michael won't be drawn of the subject of marriage, but he does make some comment on the prospects of fatherhood one day: "I don't know if I'd make a very good father, I'm often away a lot, but in the future, who knows?"

In the work field, he says: "It would be nice to be in a position where I could take three months to concentrate on one particular project. I'm not under pressure to pay the mortgage, although it does bring out the best in people, when they're up against it," he continues, noteruling out a future abroad after his success in the States with Aspects.

"I'd like to work there, of course . I had a terrific time there. But then there's Europe, there's Australia, there's the Far East, there's the big world!"