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The Herald Scotland
19-07-2025
- Entertainment
- The Herald Scotland
Rianne Downey's journey from Bellshill to Glastonbury
'I want to do them justice, and be respectful of the crowd coming to watch, because these songs mean a lot to them.' They mean a lot of Rianne Downey now, too. It was a video posted to social media during the first year of the Covid lockdown which ultimately sprung the 'wee lassie from Bellshill' (words: artist's own) from her bedroom to the Pyramid stage at Glastonbury, performing to a worldwide audience of millions. Downey's is not the first story of a Bellshill girl who blew up in the music industry. Like Sheena Easton, she has also teamed up with a bona-fide pop legend. But where Easton traded girl-next-door Big Time wholesomeness to join Prince's Over 18s party, Downey has forged an alliance with a man who has written some of the biggest British hits of the last 40 years, and whose stage outfit is a cagoule. Paul Heaton has long had a female vocalist at his side as one of the most prolific and highly respected songwriters of his generation, with the likes of The Beautiful South and The Housemartins. When long term collaborator Jacquie Abbott withdrew from their future plans, opportunity knocked for a girl in Lanarkshire. 'I'd uploaded a cover of Rotterdam in October 2020 and Paul had commented on it. I remember at the time being absolutely buzzing, running downstairs to tell my mum and dad,' said Downey, of the moment that changed her life, and that of her joiner dad and cafe worker mum. 'Three years later I got a phone call when I was walking back from the pub one afternoon, asking me if I was available to come and join him.' Downey raced home to record some voice notes of the Beautiful South standards Perfect 10, Don't Marry Her and You Keep It All In. (Image: GT) 'They got back later that same day to say, 'Right let's have you on, and see how it goes from there'. But even before the first gig he asked me to stay on for the summer, then before the end of the summer he asked me to sing on his new album and whether I'd like to join him on the Pyramid Stage.' And so it was that Rianne Downey ascended the throne alongside the King of witty northern pop, following Brianna Corrigan, Alison Wheeler and Abbott, the latter having formed a chart-topping duo with her former Beautiful South bandmate until she withdrew (Heaton has since said Abbott took time out to care for her child who has autism). In a whirlwind few weeks in the summer of 2023, Downey's career experienced G-force. 'I'd been doing my solo stuff before then. I was dead chuffed with how it was going,' she said. 'I'd supported Gerry Cinnamon at the Barras, Paolo Nutini at the Cavern in Liverpool. The last gig I played before joining Paul was a solo headliner at King Tut's. It was a bit of a jump going from 300 at Tuts to 30,000 at Neighbourhood festival. 'I'll never forget the feeling before I stepped on stage at the first gig with Paul. I knew nothing was going to be the same again. My life has transformed since that gig. I'm in my happy place when I perform, and when I stepped out there with Paul it just felt like home.' How does it feel to follow in the footsteps of the other women? 'Paul's very pernickety, he liked to get things right, and does things at such a high standard that I know he wouldn't just pick anybody. So it's nice to know how much he would have believed in me to bring me on.' Downey freely admits she's had to study Heaton's back catalogue, and her co-singer's ways, which she calls 'Heatonisms - the way he pronounces things, the rhythm he sings in.' She said: 'It didn't feel like it took too much work in the rehearsal room, it all clicked. Paul was telling me to keep my eyes on him when singing, and that helps, you notice each other's mouths, each other's breathing. Each gig we have played, the chemistry has got better. You can rehearse and rehearse but the chemistry grows when you're doing gigs.' She's on tour around the UK with Heaton this summer and will headline Belladrum Tartan Heart Festival later in the summer, before launching her debut LP, The Consequence of Love, in October. The album showcases her country leanings, and a knack of getting to the heart of a song's emotional punch, much like Heaton has for 40 years. The title track is a reaction to the living grief of her grandmother's dementia. 'I went into the studio with a bottle of prosecco, a packet of fags and a fish supper,' she said. 'I don't even smoke. Then you step back and realise you've put your trauma into your guitar, onto a bit of paper and you feel better. 'I've always done my solo stuff, but my priority is Paul and that comes first.' she said. 'I'm so lucky that's what I get to call my job now. Everything else is a bonus. It's not even like I can say it's a dream come true. It's so far beyond my dreams.'
Glasgow Times
27-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Glasgow Times
Scots star who collaborated with Paul Heaton coming to Glasgow
Rianne Downey has been trending on Glasgow's music scene for the last few years after releasing tunes like Songbird and Home and Hard. READ NEXT: Manchester group who supported rock giants to perform in Glasgow Having performed with Heaton of The Beautiful South at TRNSMT in 2023, the singer has also opened up for The Courteeners and has sold out shows across the UK. On Saturday, December 6, the singer will be performing at the Old Fruitmarket in the city centre. The news comes after the release of Downey's new single, The Consequence Of Love, which came out this week. READ NEXT: American star to perform at iconic Barrowland Ballroom in Glasgow To purchase tickets for the Glasgow show, click HERE Tickets will go on sale at 10am on May 30.
Telegraph
24-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Telegraph
Chris Wilder interview: When Sheffield United get poked, we retaliate and push back
Regardless of the result at Wembley in the match worth more than £200 million, Chris Wilder will be back at Bramall Lane the next evening to see Paul Heaton perform at the stadium where they both watched Sheffield United from the terraces. At first glance, it seems an unlikely friendship. Wilder has rubbed shoulders with Pep Guardiola, Jürgen Klopp and José Mourinho as a manager, while Heaton is a musical anti-hero, who had No 1s with The Housemartins and The Beautiful South, but is far removed from Premier League glamour. Yet there are striking similarities, both are champions of the underdog as well as having Blades in the blood. When Wilder needed words of inspiration ahead of the Steel City derby earlier in the season, he commissioned motivational messages from Heaton, along with Joe Root and Matt Fitzpatrick, from the club's well-known supporters. 'Paul is a friend and a big Sheffield United fan as well,' Wilder says. 'I'll be there without a win, but it will seal a magical week if we get the result, which is the biggest thing to focus on. 'We've had to get the culture right, but it's what Sheffield United is about, what Matt Fitzpatrick is about, what Chris Wilder is about and maybe what Paul Heaton is: 'Let's go to work, let's stay real, let's get on with being good at jobs'.' Wilder is qualified to speak about what Sheffield is about. Aside from a few years as a child, when his family briefly moved to London, he has lived in the city for his entire life. When he moved back, aged 10, he started to go to Bramall Lane. If he was not the manager, he would have been travelling down with friends to Wembley for the Championship play-off final against Sunderland and watching from the stands. 'My pals are dotted all around the ground,' he says. 'We talk about when I finish. I'd love that opportunity of going to meet them for a pint at 12 o'clock and having a little walk, watching the game and having a moan-up like they do. I'll go with the family, grandkids and pals and see it from that side.' 'Lazy to say we tossed away automatic promotion' Now 57, Wilder has been at the heart of Sheffield United being one of the football underdog stories of the last nine years since he was appointed for the first time at his beloved club. From League One to the Premier League and now on the brink of returning to the top flight again. He rails against the suggestions of having an advantage with the parachute payments that come with relegation, and points out that it has been conveniently forgotten that the club were docked two points this season for defaulting on payments. The deduction is not shown on the tables of the BBC and Sky Sports websites. 'I spoke to Daniel Farke [the Leeds manager] and he said that really the two points would have made a difference to Leeds United. Especially the way they are as an emotional football club,' Wilder says. 'I do believe it has been overlooked, 92 points is an outstanding season. 'We weren't at the level of Burnley and Leeds at the start of the season in terms of what we had to deal with. In my opinion our challenges were far greater at the start and even through the season. We would have had to get 103 points to go up, so even if we won all three games that week we wouldn't have got that number. We just had a bad week. I don't think we tossed it away. It's pretty lazy to say that.' Wilder is referring to the week in April when his team lost to Oxford, Millwall and Plymouth in a week. The defeat at Home Park ended with Wilder in a bust-up with opposition players, and the club adding to their Football Association fines for the season. Another angle of Chris Wilder's clash with the Plymouth players after full-time 👀 — Sky Sports Football (@SkyFootball) April 12, 2025 The governing body has fined them a total of £445,500 and says it was an 'incredibly poor period of behaviour'. Wilder admits he is now at a period of his career where he is thinking less about what he ought to say. He took aim at fans earlier in the season for criticism aimed at his players. When last in the Premier League, he was fined for his rant at an assistant referee for eating during talks between officials and manager. 'I'm not doing it for effect. I do it out of what I genuinely feel,' Wilder says. 'We're a breed that when we get poked, we retaliate and push back. That is just the characteristics of people from this city. And I'm that. There have been certain things there and it is an emotional sport. I am an emotional guy in terms of how I go about managing and how I go about representing. Sometimes it is not for some people, sometimes it's OK, but I'm not here to win any credit or favour. 'I was talking about it to my pal the other day, I've got to that stage in my football career where you have to say the right things and do the right things … you come out of that and go into you own personality. And I've got to the stage now really where I'm not bothered about impressing anybody, I'm just going to say what I feel and what I think. 'I'm only human. I make mistakes. I say certain things that, maybe when I put my head on the pillow, I think 'should I have said that? Should I have been a bit more conservative?' It is what it is. I have to get on with it and move forward.' Wilder went viral earlier in the season after the derby in November. Heaton, Root and Fitzpatrick had helped players prepare for the match with their messages, then after the victory Wilder celebrated like most fans do: a pint and a sing-song in a pub on Ecclesall Road. It showed the rivalry between the two Sheffield clubs is as fierce as ever. Chris Wilder celebrating the Steel City Derby win tonight by changing Sheffield Wednesday's song "Danny, Danny Rohl" to "Sausage, Sausage Rohl's"😂😂😂 #twitterblades — The 44 ⚽️ (@The_Forty_Four) November 10, 2024 'Maybe it's gone to a different level now. Maybe not a level. Maybe two or three levels. I don't know whether that is social media bringing it in. Maybe the actions of the Sheffield United manager has not really helped my cause at times,' he says. Should they defeat Sunderland and return to the Premier League, there will be lessons learnt from the last time they went up. Under Paul Heckingbottom, they lost Iliman Ndiaye and Sander Berge – their two most impactful players – and had to call for Wilder to return mid-campaign. 'The team was undercooked. The club spent £15 million on the team that summer, which when you talk about Ipswich struggling and spending £150 million ...' Wilder adds. 'The club were not prepared, we lost our best two players through contractual issues and that was really disappointing for the club to be in that position and for the players here to gain promotion and lose their best two players. 'Paul had a difficult hand dealt from the off. I've picked those cards up and had to play them as well. Resetting and getting us back to what the club should look like and play like was the most important thing. When that door opens to the Premier League you have to be prepared to step through it.'
