World would be better place if I ran it, says Carol Decker

CAROL Decker loves to perform at the Rewind South festival as it’s on her home turf.

Although the lead singer of Eighties pop group T’Pau hails from Liverpool, she has lived in Henley for 20 years with her chef husband, Richard Coates, and children, Scarlett, 26, and Dylan, 22.

Rewind will be taking place at Temple Island Meadows over the weekend of August 16 and 17 for the 14th year.

Carol, now 67, says: “I’m booked for the Sunday and, of course, I love it –— it’s my home town, so it’s fantastic.

“We moved here from London when the kids were little so they’ve grown up here. My husband ran the Cherry Tree in Stoke Row and another gastropub in the Chilterns.

“We’re very happy and content here. Most people know me in Henley. I’m usually in Tesco four times a week. Occasionally I go to Waitrose but then I suck air in through my teeth at the price of everything!”

Carol has been involved with the retro festival from the start.

“The promoter David Heartfield is a good friend of mine,” she says. “We worked together many years ago. David was already an incredibly successful promoter and I had started doing some Eighties shows.

“I said, ‘You should look into this because I think it’s a thing’ and so he did. I was his earworm about it but I would never want to take full credit. He’s very good at what he does.”

Best known for hits like China in Your Hand, Heart and Soul and Valentine, from their 1987 chart-topping album Bridge of Spies, T’Pau also comprised Ronnie Rogers on guitar, Michael Chetwood on keyboards, Paul Jackson on bass and Tim Burgess on drums.

Dean Howard joined as lead guitarist and founders Carol and Ronnie were the songwriters as well as being partners for several years.

In 1996, Carol got together with Richard and they were married a decade later, having made their home in Henley.

“We’re all good friends,” says Carol. “I was at Ronnie’s at the weekend as we’re in the middle of a fantastic new song.

“Funnily enough, Richard and I met 28 years ago — I can’t believe it was so long ago.

“He was in hospitality, which is very much like the music business as you really have to have a vision and some faith in yourself because it can be quite brutal.

“I picked him up in a pub like a normal person should pick up a man at a pub in north London –— none of these apps and dating sites.

“You go into a pub and you say ‘Get your coat, you’ve pulled’ and he hasn’t managed to get away yet!”

Carol appeared as Tattoo on The Masked Singer, in NOW That’s What I Call a Musical! and in Dancing on Ice as well as on Comic Relief.

She also featured on BBC Radio 2’s Piano Room.

“I’m really chuffed about that, it’s quite prestigious,” she says. “You do it with the BBC Concert Orchestra and it’s quite a little feather in your cap.”

T’Pau are continuing to produce new songs and keep gigging. Carol says: “We work constantly and we’ve put out quite a few download singles over the last couple of years. We’re also working on a new album.

“We just came back from something called the Eighties Cruise, which went from Miami round the Caribbean and back.”

Carol has experienced both good times and not so good ones at Rewind events.

“I did Rewind Scotland with a broken ankle,” she recalls. “I didn’t go on about it as much as Tony Hadley did when he was here but you know what men are like – man flu and all that.

“What I would say is the first Rewind we ever did, my kids were at Valley Road School and it was very local, the festival.

“Lots of local people came and most of their classmates were in the audience.

“They came on stage with me and took a bow, which was really lovely.

“A little part of me misses it being that local now as it’s a big successful monster now, so…”

Carol says Scarlett and Dylan inherited their parents’ work ethic. “We had connections in hospitality through Richard having the Cherry Tree so when they were 16 we both made them work as pot washers at various pubs, the Maltsters, the Argyll, the Three Tuns and the Angel on the Bridge.

“We’d say to a mate, ‘Can you make Dylan wash pots on Saturday?’

“They have carried on as Dylan works at Coppa Henley and Scarlett is at Coppa Sonning.”

Carol describes herself as “a pub girl”.

“I love Coppa,” she says. “And I like the Argyll. I love the Angel on the Bridge for a sunny drink by the river and I also like the Flower Pot at Aston.

“We love a good Sunday lunch, so we often go to the Relais, where the food is excellent. Richard and I like to prop up a bar and put the world to rights –— if only I ran the world, it would be such a better place!”

l Carol Decker and T’Pau play Rewind South at Temple Island Meadows on Sunday, August 17. For more
information, visit south.
rewindfestival.com