From X Factor fame to Rocky Horror suspenders, Diana Vickers explains why!

Life has been a rollercoaster ride for Diana Vickers as she takes on the ultimate cult favourite!
From X Factor fame to Rocky Horror suspenders, Diana Vickers explains why! picture

Life has been a rollercoaster ride for Diana Vickers. She shot to fame on The X Factor when she was still a schoolgirl, released a number one album and then starred in The Rise and Fall of Little Voice in the West End.

Right now she's on a UK tour playing Janet in cult favourite The Rocky Horror Show. She took some time out between shows to tell us about being a shy 16 year old hobnobbing with Kate Moss, singing Time Warp to a crowd dressed in stockings and suspenders, and swapping her music career for acting.


How are you finding the Rocky Horror Show tour?

It's really good fun! I love the show, I don't think it's like any other musical out there. Obviously we're in a different venue every single week and it's pretty exhausting, because before you get settled somewhere you're off before you know it. But then it also makes things go really quickly and keeps it fresh.


What's been the toughest thing about it so far?

In rehearsals it was quite daunting for me at first. I'm with big musical theatre performers who can sing and dance and act, it's like a triple threat! The biggest challenge was having to keep up with everyone and having to be confident in myself. I guess the other challenge is the audience, because they participate and yell out, so that was terrifying, but I'm used to it now.


Do people sing along at your shows?

Gosh yes! When Time Warp starts people are on their feet in their suspenders and heels, shaking their thing, and they absolutely love it. They go mad for it, it's like a party in the room!


How does that affect you on stage?

I guess when it's a quiet audience you feel you need to give more, you need to make the energy. When they're singing and dancing you feel they're having such a good time it takes the pressure off you because you know they're enjoying themselves.


I've got to ask you about your time on The X Factor. You were only 16 when you took part, was it as nerve-wracking as it looks on TV?

Yeah! I'm quite an anxious person, I get stage fright and I don't like doing live TV, and even now I shy away from it. I was in the toilets being very anxious before each show, and it was only when I started singing that I could relax.


What was the most surprising thing about it for you?

I come from Blackburn, so I guess moving to London and working with all these big bosses and very successful businessmen. And being backstage with Kate Moss, who I idolised!


What's your life like now compared to before The X Factor?

Very different! I was 16 and still living at home with my parents in Blackburn and going to school, now I live in London and have my own house. I wake up and I'm either doing a show in the West End or I'll be filming a TV thing or going away to South Africa for a few weeks to do a film. I travel a lot, I meet interesting people, I go to awards ceremonies, it's totally different to how I was brought up.


Would you recommend the competition to other young hopefuls?

It worked well for me. I can only talk about my experience and the fact that it was a really great platform for me and I had great management. I had success with my albums and then I was able to transition into the other things I wanted to do.


What artists inspire your music?

I want to focus more on acting now as I'm not pursuing music anymore, but I guess at the time when I was writing my albums it was old school Madonna, very poppy Kylie, Gwen Stefani, and loads of 80s synth pop.


You've done music, TV, theatre, film and a fashion line, what's next?

I would say if I could have the dream life it would be every 18 months doing the West End, whether a musical, a comedy or a straight play. Then every year maybe do a British drama or TV comedy. I really want to get more into the TV comedy scene.


The Rocky Horror Show starring Diana Vickers, Ben Freeman (Emmerdale), Paul Cattermole (S Club 7), and Liam Tamne (The Voice) is on from February 29th to March 5th at New Wimbledon Theatre, and May 2nd to May 7th at Richmond Theatre.

Published Feb 24, 2016