Articles and Interviews

2010 ~ General

• TheSun.co.uk - 12/02/2010
  Ball, whose partner is former Ready, Steady, Go! presenter Cathy McGowan, is being lined up as one of ITV's big new faces.
  

2010 ~ Hairspray Tour

• BroadwayWorld.com - 08/02/2010
  This will involve developing new work and roles both onstage and in a production capacity for Michael in the future. Plans include a major musical revival in 2011.
• Playbill.com - 08/02/2010
  According to the producers, the tour also marks the first stage of a closer working relationship between the star and producers, Stage Entertainment.
• Wales Online - 04/02/2010
  “The Wales Millennium Centre is stunning. People are talking about Cardiff all over Britain.”

2009 ~ General

• Irish World - 02/12/2009
  “You have to construct a show that's exactly that; a piece of theatre that flows, keeps the right energy throughout. If you get it right, it's a two-way thing, a bit like sex!”
• Saga.co.uk - 02/12/2009
  "I'll be doing Edna for the rest of my life in one way or the other, I'm sure."
• Daily Mail - 06/11/2009
  Sweeney Todd won't be officially announced till late next year, but the two leads had to be approached well in advance in order to be certain of their services.
• Shine Magazine - 30/10/2009
  It's about something else that is far more important and you want to get it right. I can guarantee that we'll be working so hard for this. Also I'm going to get such a bash round the ear from "her indoors" if I get it wrong

2009 ~ UK Tour

• Chichester Observer - 01/10/2009
  "If I tell you, I will have to kill you," he laughs. And he laughs a lot.
• Wales Online ~ 07/10/2009
  “What really keeps me going?” he says. “The mortgage. That's always a good motivator and inspiration."
• Evening Star ~ 06/10/2009
  Donning a flat cap and a fashionable scarf, Michael officially opened the school by cutting a ribbon and unveiling a plaque in front of a packed audience at the Kesgrave Community Centre.
• The Citizen - 30/09/09
  “The whole evening was just brilliant, I couldn't have asked for anymore.”
• Tiscali TV Guide - 15/09/2009
  However, as you might imagine, it won't be as big as some of the gigs he's playing this autumn.
• Birmingham Post - 21/09/2009
  There will be a song by Kiss and people will go ‘What?!' and they probably think they won't want to hear it but I think they'll be surprised when they do hear it.''

2009 ~ General

• The Portsmouth News: 10/09/2009
  "'I learned a lot from Edna and I also learned about what women have to put up with, such as make-up, tights and high heels. It's so complicated!'
• The Guardian ~ 08(09/2009
  The last thing my dresser has to say to me is: "Are we smelling nice for the ladies and gentlemen?"
• Best Magazine ~ 01/09/2009
  "I'm a good communicator. That's why I like my Radio 2 show. (...) I don't sweat over what line of questioning to take, I just sit and chat.
• Michael: Voice of the People:
  On starting his career: it felt electric, it felt right, he could feel the audience locking on to him. It was then that it hit him: this singing lark is a powerful force.
• Music Week ~ 25/08/2009
  " I am an eternal pessimist – I think every gig is going to be the last, I think I'm always about to get found out. But I haven't been.”
• Daily Record - 03/09/2009
  He says: "You have to have a sense of humour, to think this isn't real, this isn't serious, this isn't my job. These are the fun things. These things are the privilege stuff."
• California Chronicle - 29/08/2009
  “ I don't have any need to be a celebrity. I'm not interested. I'm interested in being proud of the work I do, and I am. "
• Basindstoke Gazette - 21/08/2009
  “He then went on to tell us that one of his earliest jobs was with Basingstoke's Horseshoe Theatre and he has fond memories of that time and of Basingstoke."

2009 ~ Hairspray Tour 2010

• Southern Daily Echo - 10/08/2009
  “I knew when I originally took on the part of Edna that she was going to be a big part of my life, in every way, but I never realised just how big.
• Wales Online - 10/08/2009
  “I didn't tell the show's other producers they had to open it there but I did suggest they think about it.”
• The Stage - 10/08/2009
  The tour also marks the first stage of a “closer working relationship” between Ball and producer Stage Entertainment.
• Broawayworld.com - 10/08/2009
  Michael Ball is set to appear in Glasgow, Southampton and Manchester as well as Cardiff.
• Whatsonstage.com - 10/08/2010
  Ball has been appointed as associate producer and will work with Stage in developing new work and roles, including ones specifically tailored to the actor.
• Playbill.com - 10/08/2010
  We are over the moon that Michael has agreed to launch the Hairspray tour for us.

2009 ~ UK Tour

• Liverpool Echo: 31/07/2009
  “You get to a crossroads and decide to go left or right. It's chance meetings, accidents that happen.”

2009 ~ West Wycombe

• Daily Express ~ 19/06/2009 ~ Best Books
  Michael lists his favourite books and explains why they are his faves

2009 ~ Past and Present

• The Lady - 31/03/2009
  “We couldn't stop talking and laughing,” he recalls. “We did the interview and she contrived to do another three! Since then, we've probably spoken every day of our lives.”
• The Telegraph - 20/03/2009
  About Love: "The willingness to put someone or something else ahead of your own interests. Kindness, caring and compromise are a very big part of that. "
• Hello Magazine Online - 13/03/2009
  "You're at home during the day and you come home after the show at night and there's always someone there, so I spend most of the time at home. And it's lovely. "
• The Sun ~ 10/03/2009
  “I was in a bad place when I met Cathy,” he reveals. “I was kind of self-destructive, unfocused and she made my life better. "

2008 ~ Hairspray

• Sunday Telegraph ~ 02/11/2008
  "She's [Edna] the character I play in Hairspray and I love everything about her. "
• Playbill.com ~ 04/09/2008
  "Hairspray has without doubt been one of the happiest and most fulfilling experiences of my professional life"
• Broadwayworld ~ 04/09/2008
  "I am so happy that the divine Mrs Edna Turnblad is going to continue to be a big part of my world for another six months"

2008 ~ General

• Radio Times ~ 13/08/2008 (Michael about Terry Wogan)
  "Also his debentures for the rugby at Twickenham are directly behind my dad's, we'd meet there regularly"
• Chris High (External Link)
  Short, but interesting interview about Michael's career.
• Mark Shenton for The Stage ~ 19/06/208
  I only covered the first decade to reach 1995 and his starring role in Sondheim's Passion in the first 45 minutes before I realised I would need to throw it open to the audience for them to ask their questions
• Crawley Observer ~ 04/02/2008
  "TV personality and musical star Michael Ball enthusiastically cut the first turf on Monday"
• What's On Stage ~ 27/05/2008
  Michael Ball is, without doubt, one of the UK's finest, most versatile and hardest working stage and singing stars. His CV boasts some of the biggest musical stage shows in history and his albums have topped the charts and won awards the world over.
• The Scotsman ~ 02/08/2008
  "I don't think it's been announced yet, but I'm staying until next April. They've made me an offer I can't refuse. I've got an album to make that I'll release next March and I can do that as well because I'm superhuman."

2007 ~ General

• The Times Online ~ 23/12/2007
  "...had a terrible one (holiday) in Barbados six years ago. If someone had dropped a bomb on the place, the British light-entertainment industry would have been wiped out."

2007 ~ DVD Release

• Bromsgrove Standard ~ 15/11/2007
  About the Tour: The group of people I was touring with were like a family – I had the best time of my life

2007 ~ Hairspray

• The Telegraph - Michael Ball's Heaven and Hell Holidays - 03/11/2007
  "I hate the travel to and from my destination. Everything is such a hassle - the crowds, the queues and the security checks. I'd like to just press a button and arrive at the end of my journey."
• Ben James-Ellis Interview for London Theatre Guide - 02/11/2007
  "I've got all his albums and he was one of my big idols – well, he still is–"
• Hellomagazine Online ~ 31/10/2007
  "It was arguably the British theatre event of the year as Broadway's all-singing, all-dancing hit Hairspray opened in London to rapturous applause and a standing ovation"
• Daily Mail ~ Spot the Ball - 31/10/2007
  See how Michael turns into Edna
• Telegraph - Michael Ball's 'Hairspray lady' fools fans - 30/10/2007
  Fans have been going up to him saying they were looking out for him in the show and thought he must have been indisposed.
• Playbill - You can't stop the beat - 30/10/2007
  the cross-dressing role which Ball takes on in the London stage version and which bagged Harvey Fierstein a Tony Award for his performance in the Broadway production.
• The Guardian - Keep your Wig on ~ 25/10/2007
  Ball is developing back problems, unaccustomed as he is to dancing in heels and "this fucking huge off-kilter Mae West thing" Edna sports at the end.
• The Times on Sunday - The Wonderful Aspects of Life in Barnes ~ 21/10/2007
  "I was in West Hampstead and Cathy was in Barnes with her daugher Emma when we decided to cohabit. I'd lived in Cricklewood, Kilburn and Finsbury Park so was against South London. But I gave up my flat and moved into her house. Then we bought a place together in 1992 and I fell in love with the area"
• The Times ~ 20/10/2007
  “Without being preachy,” says Ball, the show “looks at really big issues. Racism in the 1960s; size-ism, and it looks at family, and how what on the surface is the most dysfunctional of families is actually the greatest of families.”
• IC Wales ~ 12/10/2007
  “Cath (his long-term partner Cathy McGowan) will be going to a wedding or opening night and saying, ‘What the hell am I going to wear to this?' But I won't be shouting, ‘Hurry up honey' any more.”
• The Big Interview with Mel Smith ~ 24/10/2007
  When you're like Michael and you're in his league as it were, he takes on – unasked almost – the role of the senior citizen of the whole company, and it's something he does terribly well, and with a great deal of affection and humour.
• One Week in September with Mel Smith ~ 20/10/2007
  Now, this is unbelievable. Last night Michael said that I wasn't using the mirror correctly! (I nearly laid him out - I THINK I know how to look in a bloody mirror.) Thing is, it's true, I look at my own reflection while rehearsing, when I should be focusing on all the other people alongside me.
• Daily Mail - Baz Bamingboye - 12/10/2007
  "I've had posters of Michael Ball on my wall since I was a little girl," she told me. Now she's hoofing it up on stage playing his/her daughter.
• Playbill Online - 26/10/2007
  I thought it would be great to do a whole album of his music and to record with a full orchestra and big band which is something I hadn't done before.
• Financial Times ~ 24/08/2007
  Cathy convinced me that a hit record meant people outside the world of musicals were aware of me. So I got a record deal, did some concerts and some one-man shows. I made a name for myself and developed my own following
• Evening Standard ~ 22/08/2007
  "It was like being in a cross between Springtime for Hitler and Carry on Camel."
• Telegraph, Andrew Lloyd Webber Interview - 22/02/07:
  But Lloyd Webber, 59 today, said that he could name only two British-born actors, Michael Ball and John Barrowman, who were capable of stepping into lead roles
• Portsmouth - The News - 16/03/2007
  The good-looking singer with the impossibly white teeth, sparkling blue eyes, thick glossy hair - and those dimples - is charm personified.
• Manchester Evening News - 27/02/07
  "I wanted to record songs I liked but also to surprise a few people,"

2006

• Hello Magazine - 02/01/07
  " Their smiles and laughter, and their singing around the campfire, are memories I'll always carry with me. I wouldn't have missed their company for the world"
• Chichester Observer ~ 09/11/06
  "I have a house in West Wittering and my mother lives in Singleton, so it's our local hospital."
• My Weekly - 16/12/2006
  " The best present I ever received was from my partner Cathy. I 'd never kept anything like a scrapbook and on one Christmas morning I came down and found three enormous folders."

2005

• The Orchestra Pit is a World of its own (02/12/05)
  
• Playbill (17/11/2005)
  
• Broadwayworld (15/11/05)
  
• Star Ledger (14/11/2005)
  
• Newsday (13/11/2005)
  
• North Jersey. com (30/10/2005)
  "a boyishly handsome face - he even has dimples, for heaven's sake - warm smile and easygoing manner, the 43-year-old actor lacks nothing in the appeal department."
• Playbill article about his new CD "Music"
  " I think most people who care about music and who are passionate about music believe it has an extraordinary power over people."
• Playbill, USA
  " Throughout my career, I've usually been the romantic hero, the juvenile lead, the guy who gets the girl. So now, to do in quick succession these two challenging and funny character roles--maybe it will mark a sea-change in what I do on stage.""
• Daily News New York
  " When they offered him the Bunthorne part, Ball, 43, says he was "really scared." He suggested to them, instead, that he come to New York to audition for it, as he had never before done opera."
• Theatregoer Magazine (March/April 2005)
  "I have never used this part of my voice before, though I did sing Papageno with Lesley Garrett on television."
• Songs of Praise Magazine (March 2005)
  "When I was 15 there were some boys who used to shoplift – I never did that – but they used to bring the stuff back and I'd sell it! I have them a cut and did quite well out of it.”

2004

• Women's Weekly (23/11/04)
  What makes Cathy special? Oh God, so much. But the bottom line is she really loves me.
• Sunday Express (21/11/2004)
  When he returned after a year in New York, they moved in together and have shared a home in Barnes, south-west London, ever since. “It's the best thing that could have happened to me – it's kept me safe,” he says.
• Daily Express (20/11/2004)
  One of the best nights of my life was performing at the Sydney Opera House in March.
• Herald Express (13/11/2004)
  I have always tried not to be pigeon-holed and take the time to do projects that really interest me
• Scottish Daily Record (13/11/2004)
  It's why so many artists get into trouble with drugs, because they try to recreate that buzz. You don't know what to with yourself after a high like that and that's what can get you into trouble.
• Express and Star (13/11/2004)
  I think I must have been approached by every reality tv show going.My agent doesn't even bother telling me about them anymore
• Weekly News (November 2004)
  "It's gone pretty well" he admitted to the "Weekly News". "To be honest I don't think there's anything I would change." (Talking about his career)
• My Weekly (October 2001)
  Cathy came to interview me for the BBC. We became friends ... then better friends... and we've been together ever since.
• The Stage Interview (14/10/04)
  “I was learning that I could make a noise that people would listen to,”
• Last Minute.com Interview
  "..there's just you, your voice and a piano, so you have to be completely honest ..."
• Sunday Times by Matt Wolf (26/09/04)
  (...)a light entertainer gone uncharacteristically and thrillingly dark.
• BBC.co.uk (10/07/2004)
  "It is incredibly flattering, but is a huge amount of pressure - I hope to do half as well as Shirley Bassey did."
• Daily Post Wales (21/05/2004)
  "I never allow my family to sit near the front in case I see them. It's an 'orrible feelin' seein' them it really is,"
• Good Things Utah - Michael Biography (13/05/2004)
  Biography
• Desert Morning News (09/05/2004)
  "I'm a little nervous to be singing with such a great choir."
• Sydney Morning Herald ~ Australian Tour Promotion
  "None of them follow me home. Nobody's trying to jump me in hotels or anything. It's just a really healthy outlet."
• He'll be having a Ball ~ Australian Tour Promotion
  "You try to give an audience what they want and surprise them as well."
• Mercury ~ Australian Tour Promotion
  "I lost by one point, which is a good think I think. If I hadn't I'd have been saddled with ‘Michael Ball – Eurovision winner' forever”.
• Sunday Brisbane Newspaper ~ Australian Tour Promotion
  "I approach a concert as you would construct a musical,"
• City News ~ Australian Tour Promotion
  "We'd never heard of him but we just loved his voice."

2003

• The Belfast News Letter (31/10/2003) ~ "I got to New York on a Friday and, bang, the lights went out. Our studio wasn't working, but we managed to find one that had all the computers up and running and we recorded the song."
• Kelly Show interview (17/10/2003)
  " The only thing that is different is the audience. Some times audiences are better than others and you can be having a run where you are thinking: No, the same old show"
• Teletext Interview (14/05/2003)
  "I am knackered. It is not hugely demanding on my voice, but the physical energy levels required for the part are enormous."

2002

• Evening Standard (17/04/02)
  " Another challenge is that I have to dance - I've never danced on stage before.' And how's it been? 'I've never known pain like it,' he sighs. "
• Michael Parkinson Interview (14/04/2002)
  " a mild dose of glendular fever went back into the show and started having a panic attack, anxiety attacks on stage"
• Daily Mail - The best day in my life (13/04/2002)
  " She grabbed me and we got out. She then went back and got the dog. Real hero stuff." (about the fire in his house and Cathy McGoiwan rescuing him)
• The Times Profile (April 2002)
  " Somehow, though, Ball has crossed over, ensuring that his name is known even by those who would rather drink hemlock than sit through one bar of Aspects of Love "

2001

• TheTimes (01/12/2001)
  And while I'll tend towards melancholy in my off-stage life, it's not in my nature to be miserable on stage.
• Radio Gloucestershire (27/10/2001)
  " And I thought if I can do this and get through this I don't think anything else will become anything like as scary." (on "Alone Together")
• Open House with Gloria Hunniford (24/10/2001) ~ Part II
  " Our house caught fire. It was actually really, really quite serious. But we got out of the house, when the fire brigade are  arriving and were in such a state, you know. I was out there, in my pants and a jacket that Cath had thrown around me, literally watching our house go up in flames."
• HMV Choice (September 2001)
  " But in general I go for projects wthat will challenge and stimulate. That's how you stay fresh. And I love the business I'm in. It's my joy - and my passion!"
• Sunday Telegraph (13/09/2001)
  "I love my big halls and my concert shows with the orchestra, I love it, but you don't want to keep doing it.   I wanted to see if I could do a show without any safety net at all."
• The Independent (September 2001)
  " The voice could rock and croon and smooch to order. It was – and still is – a virile voice, but the breathiness in the sound was smooth and sexy, too"
• Sheridan Morley Radio Interview (31/08/2001)
  "I was there 10 years ago doing Aspects and it was a dodgy place, New York itself and going to the theatre wasn't that pleasant an experience. "
• Evening Standard (08/06/2001)
  THE Donmar Warehouse in Covent Garden is suddenly acquiring scores of new Friends from a most unlikely source - the Michael Ball fan club.
• Daily Telegraph Australia (10/03/2001)
   "I was sitting in the bath terribly hungover, when I got a call asking me to be at Her Majesty's Theatre in one hour to sing for Lloyd Webber" he says. "I panicked, I raced down there and got the part".

2000

• Birmingham Post (October)
  Sour note as final Mini rolls off line
• Birmingham Post (September)
  'My dad launched the first Mini and my first ever car was a red Mini called Poppy.
• News of the World (October)
  "In 1997 at The Point he sold out in less than an hour and to this day he cannot come up with a reason. "
• Open House TV Transcript (October)
  "...and this song "If tomorrow never comes" came on the radio and I listened to it and I burst into tears and phoned home and (...) phoned everybody. (...) I phoned home to tell everyone I loved them.
• OK Magazine - My Week (November)
  "We're home birds really, but we do love the movies and try to see everything that comes out. If a friend's in a show we'll go to see it, but we're pretty low key and not premiere types."

1999

• My weekly (27/11/1999)
  "I'm gregarious within my circle of friends, but I'm not glitzy premiere or showbiz party material."
• Evening Mail (26/11/1999)
  "But what affects your life is bigger than the four walls you live in."
• The Daily Mirror (31/10/1999)
  "All I ever thought was, 'Will I ever be normal?'
• News of the world (19/09/1999)
  "I don't know how you lot keep up all that partying. It's barking mad."
• OK Interview (18/06/1999)
  "...a vision of gorgeousness in this fabulous Armani outfit, put on the Marigolds and start cleaning the sink. I think that's when I fell in love with her."

1998

• Musicals (October 1998) ~ German Musicals magazine
  "I simply didn´t want to get in a position from where you change from Alex to Chris, from Raoul to Joe a.s.o. And than the participation at the Song Contest helped me a lot, even though the song that I had to sing has not been my favourite."
• Rosemary Conley Magazine
  “I suspect I hated sports so much because I wasn't the best at it – I don't like doing anything I'm not the best at. I was always the fat boy in class, and that's how I still see myself.”
• Open House TV Transcript (April)
  "I was sharing with Donny and Antonio, who is, I've got to say, one of the nicest guys I've ever met and Melanie Griffith was there as well with him and she came, so sweet. "

1997

• The Mirror: Michael aims at having a ball
  The genial singer revealed: "I've been to Ireland many times and have lots of friends here, but for some strange reason I've never performed here.
• The Sun: Many aspects of Michael and all of them lovely
  "And Michael immediately ordered a pint of Ireland's favourite black brew for himself and a pint of beer for me."
• Gloria Hunniford TV Interview (at the Palace Theatre)
  " it was if someone had said: Look, this is reality."

1995

• Gloria Hunniford Interview
  "It's what I always wanted to do is get the songs that are more associated with me rather than with other artists I am covering."

1994

• Women's Weekly (December)
  “My dad wanted to be an actor, but his parents wouldn't let him – he had to get at trade. So when I told my parents I wanted to go to drama school and be an actor, they were thrilled."
• TV Quick
  'Cath is so rock solid in my life, there's just no way I could carry on without her. No matter how big a star you become, you have to have an anchor, and my Cath is mine.'
• Great Ball of Fire (31/07/1994)
  "I've had girls hiding in my hotel bedroom, and following me around in cars. The usual stuff. Most of my fans are very respectful, kind and know what the limit is."

1993

• Ok! Interview
  "Have you seen her?" He chuckles contendedly. "She looks younger than I do. She's absolutely amazing."
• Michael's gone all wobbly
  "'I'm not sleeping at night and everyone in the house is thrilled with me when I get up at four in the morning, make the tea and turn on TV. Even the dog's having a nervous breakdown, thinking: "Oh no, Dad's up again."
• ROC Interview (July 1993)
  "Cathy and I owe our relationship to Angela,' he says. 'What happened to Angela ripped the soul out of the family to which I have become very close "

1992

• Aspects of Michael (July)
  "I don't think that feeling of dissatisfaction ever leaves you. Even now, when I look in the mirror I see a fat person staring back."
• Britain's representative in the Eurovision Song Contest (May)
  " 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!" (Joking about the Eurovision Song Contest)

1990

• Terry Wogan Interview after Press Night of "Aspects of Love" on Broadway
  " You bet your life. I danced with Liza Minelli, can you believe that? "

1989

• Cathy McGowan's "Aspects of Love" Press Night report
  " He's never been shy - a touch of precociousness when he was tiny. I always knew he was going to go on stage." (Michael's Mum)
• Newsroom South-East (How Cathy and MIchael met)
  " He´s one of the finest voices that´s come on the scene in the last 20 years." (Don Black)