Episode: 95 Heidi Range

Heidi Range is best known as a former member of the girl groups Atomic Kitten and then Sugababes.

It feels like she was destined to become part of pop history from an early age. A good start was being born in the very musical city of Liverpool! She was part of a children's road show from the age of 12, with her and her friends performing songs such as Copacabana at all the social clubs in the area. She successfully auditioned to be part of Atomic Kitten aged 15, and later replaced Siobhan Donahy in Sugababes aged 18!

We both reminisced about appearing on live weekend show CDUK, agreed how exciting that was, and how lucky we were to have that live telly buzz as part of our early careers.

Heidi has two little girls, Aurelia and Athena, and has been happy to put her career on hold since becoming a mum, after years of living out of a suitcase as a pop singer. Heidi also talked very openly about having two miscarriages between her two daughters, the first being due to a 'blighted ovum', which she went through during the first lockdown. She is however massively grateful for having her two daughters and hopes they will have as close a bond as she has with her sister Hayley, who she describes as her best friend.

She feels she's now just emerging from what she describes as her 'Mummy bubble', and is getting to a new stage where she's ready to remember who she was a little bit more.

Heidi told me how she's just been a panel judge for Eurovision and revealed how secretive her involvement had to be, and how strict the judging conditions were on the night to make sure the judges' decisions were impartial. As she approaches her 40th birthday, she says she's ready for new projects. She's not 100% sure what they might be...though she did admit to more than a passing interest in Strictly. You heard it here first!

Spinning Plates is presented by Sophie Ellis-Bextor, produced by Claire Jones and post-production by Richard Jones

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