Arguably one of the most incongruous artists to sign to Berry Gordy’s Motown label, Kiki Dee, aka the Bradford born Pauline Matthews was the first British female singer to join his stable in 1969. Sadly Dee never actually got to meet Gordy but she does remember bumping into Stevie Wonder and Marvin Gaye in the studio during the 10 weeks she hung out at Detroit’s Hitsville USA. “It was a whirlwind experience, exciting for so many reasons. It was the first time I’d been on a long haul flight, it was my first visit to America and the chance to record for a label as phenomenal as Motown, I couldn’t really get my head around that. At first I thought it was a joke when my manager told me I’d got the call up.”

Thankfully it wasn’t and the results, two singles, 1970’s The Day Will Come (Between Sunday And Monday) and 1971’s Love Makes The World Go Round (on the subsidiary Rare Earth) plus the LP, *Great Expectations revealed a singer with a sugary soul voice, one that was as delicate and honey-coated as Diana Ross’ when reworking the Motown songbook.

Here Kiki takes time out from the studio to discuss with Lois Wilson a career that’s spanned over 40 years and seen six top 20 hits including her Number 1hit, Don’t Go Breaking My Heart with friend and mentor Elton John.
“It’s either feast or famine,” she laughs. “These past few months have seen the reissue of my Motown LP (on the Spectrum compilation, *Love Makes The World Go Round) and my new long player, *Walk Of Faith, a collaboration with my musical partner of the last ten years Carmelo Luggeri. It’s funny how it often happens that way.”