STILL A JOY

I'd have been mortified if you'd told me I'd still be singing Happy Birthday in my 60s. But it's...

- BY SUE CRAWFORD

COOL and catchy, Clare Grogan's distinctive vocals became one of the sounds of the 1980s as lead singer of Altered Images the band renowned for their No 2 hit Happy Birthday.

Regularly appearing on Top of the Pops, with her punky style and gamine beauty, her face graced the covers of countless magazines.

But she never expected that 45 years after their most famous record flew up the charts she'd be singing it again - in her 60s. Now, Clare is taking on the Altered Images mantle once more for the Happy Birthday Tour to mark the hit's anniversary.

Still instantly recognisable, she laughs as she reflects on what her teenage self would have thought, saying: "I'd have been mortified if you'd told me I'd still be singing Happy Birthday in my 60s! "After Altered Images ended, I had a big pause and when I first got asked back to do an arena tour, I remember thinking 'I can't be singing Happy Birthday when I'm in my 40s.

"Here I am at 63 singing it! But I really enjoy it. I love looking out into the audience and thinking 'we've all been through some sh* in life, but we're still able to come together to have this really joyous moment'." The band, who met as schoolmates in Glasgow, will be performing the entire Happy Birthday album on their tour of England and Scotland, together with a selection of other hits.