'The best day of my life': Sharleen Spiteri opens up about Glastonbury experience and what's next for Texas

Texas lead singer Sharleen Spiteri has opened up about how playing at Glastonbury 2023 was ‘the best day of my life’, and how their performance changed things for the band, as well as the ‘privilege’ of still being relevant - in a new podcast episode, released today.

Sharleen’s revelations came during a new episode in the fourth series of the podcast I Never Thought It Would Happen from the charity Help Musicians, hosted by Squeeze found member Chris Difford.

In the episode, Sharleen spoke about how she ‘absolutely loved’ Glastonbury, with the crowd singing along from the first minute of the set, exclaiming “I didn’t think they were going to act the way they did”. She also reveals how the Glastonbury set changed things for the band, with the likes of Fred Again playing their songs - leading to her daughter saying, for the first time, that she thought her mum was ‘actually quite cool’.

While reflecting on her career, Sharleen shares that she feels ‘privileged to still be relevant’ - particularly as a woman in music. She loves being on stage, but also reveals that touring can be difficult - particularly becoming ‘a schlep’ after Covid and Brexit, relating how ‘long and laborious’ the travelling has become.

She also comments on the difficulties she’s experienced in her time in the industry, revealing she’s ‘never had a great relationship with the music industry.’ She explains this started on the day Texas were first signed, and that she’d been told to change how she looks and what she wears. However, she says this has given her ‘the balls and the guts to say no’. While she believes that comments like this are still commonplace, she thinks they are delivered in a slightly different way and ‘completely camouflaged’ and ‘hidden really well’.

Discussing the band’s approach to wellbeing, Sharleen touches on their past experiences with drugs and alcohol, stating “members of the band have had their run-ins with drugs and alcohol…we’ve had moments where somebody has fallen off the stage”. However the band have now changed their mindset to be ‘conscious that there is a job to do’ and they need to be healthy to work the next day.

The revealing podcast series from Help Musicians is presented by one of the charity’s ambassadors, Chris Difford, and has previously featured many big names, from legendary artists like Andrew Lloyd Webber, Sting, and Robbie Williams through to contemporary superstars like Olivia Dean and Yungblud. Recent guests in the fourth series include James Blunt, Gabrielle, and Jack Cochrane of The Snuts, with upcoming guests including Wolfgang Van Halen.

Help Musicians is a charity that loves music so it supports musicians across the UK in times of crisis and opportunity - ensuring musicians across the UK can achieve their creative potential and sustain a career in music. Sister charity Music Minds Matter puts mental wellbeing centre stage in music by providing everybody who works in music with the early support, knowledge and tools they need, at exactly the time they need them. 

The full podcast episode is available to listen to at all the major podcast providers now, with further episodes being released weekly here.