Heidi Range in Happy Days
As The Fonz roars into town with the Happy Days musical, ELLA WALKER finds out how life is treating the former Sugababe
She’s ever so sweet, Heidi Range. But then she always was, wasn’t she?
The happy-go-lucky bubble-gum that mushed together Keisha Buchanan and Mutya Buena after Siobhán Donaghy dropped out of the original Sugababes line-up, amid gleeful speculation that cattiness, bullying and a “secret language” had forced her out.
Heidi appeared, smoothed everything over and helped ramp up the band’s chart success almost instantly (it must be noted, suddenly every lad’s mag became very interested in them too).
Sure, it didn’t last forever – and at this point you should definitely look up the Sugababes-as-Ship-of-Theseus theory for some bizarre cultural context – but while it did, the girls nabbed six number one singles, six BRIT Award nominations and saw two of their five albums go in at number one.
It’s quite an achievement and, for a girl band, they were actually pretty cool, arguably making the ‘Girls Aloud’ grade: a very technical term for the fact that listening back, they’re still pretty awesome. From the danciness of Push the Button to the grimy R&B base of Freak Like Me and the empowering pop tunes Ugly and Stronger, seriously, their back catalogue is ideal for listening to before a night out.
Also, they always had fantastic clothes, especially compared to their contemporaries; none of that weird Destiny’s Child matchy-matchiness or cargo pants and fleeces a la All Saints.
They had style, they had taste: Heidi must have spent her days smugly ecstatic that she defected from Atomic Kitten in time (it’s where she started, but come on, even if she’d stuck around she’d never have ended up on the Iceland adverts, the girl has class).
The final line-up – Heidi, Amelle Berrabah and Jade Ewen – split/went on an indefinite hiatus (none seem sure which), in 2011, with the original imprint going on to form the snappily titled Mutya Keisha Siobhan (MKS).
Does she miss life in the band? “Not really no, I was with the band for 11 years so I feel like it ran its course. I’m so glad I done it and we had some amazing times but it’s nice to be doing something different.”
I told you she was sweet, I didn’t say she was particularly chatty…
The “something different” the Liverpudlian lass is talking about is playing Pinky Tuscadero in the Happy Days musical at Cambridge Corn Exchange.
Starring Bucks Fizz’s Cheryl Baker as Mrs Cunningham and Emmerdale’s Ben Freeman as motorbike riding, leather jacket clad Fonzie, it’s a brand new musical created by Gary Marshall who wrote the TV show, and Henry Winkler who played the original Arthur “heartthrob” Fonzarelli.
And yes, don’t fret, it does of course feature the proper theme tune for you to sing-a-long to (altogether now: “Sunday, Monday Happy Days…”).
The plot – light, frilly and fun – follows the Cunninghams and the gang (remember Potsie, Ralph Malph, Joanie and Chachi?), as they try to save their favourite haunt, Arnold’s diner, from being razed.
The singer, who turns 31 this month, is taking on the role of punchy, fiery Pinky. “I guess she’s a female version of the Fonz in a way,” explains Heidi, who grew up, like most of us, watching re-runs of the show on telly. “She’s older than the other girls in the town and they all look up to her, she’s a bit more feisty and she puts Fonz in his place.”
“She’s brilliant to play,” she buzzes. “I have a really good time because you can go really over the top with the feistiness of her.”
It turns out the scouser, who’s had to learn how to do an American accent for the show (“We had a dialect coach that came in and he tweaked a few things with us all, but no I enjoy doing the accent actually, it’s fun”), sometimes goes a bit too over the top…
“I almost broke my nose in one of the dance routines,” she yelps down the phone. “There’s a part where the boys are pretending to be motorbikes and the girls are sat on them, and I just got carried away.
“I dipped my head down, and the guy I was doing it with (Eddie Myles aka Chachi), he brings his head up and I just went down too low and like, just whacked him right on the back of the head with my nose!”
She laughs, adding: “I spent the rest of the routine and the next scene tears just coming down my face. I could see everyone thinking what’s happened? But you can’t drop the character or say anything. But I won’t make that mistake again.”
Almost-broken noses aside, the show is going well so far, says Heidi but, despite more than a decade in the music business and constantly touring with the Sugababes, she still gets struck with nerves. “Yeah, I get nervous every show, yeah I do. Once I’ve got me first scene out of the way, I usually settle into it. But I am loving it.”
Then there’s the odd bit of homesickness too, but she has an antidote for that. “I’ve got my little dog Bettie with me!” she says, audibly smiling (dog fans: Bettie’s a stocky, velvety black pug puppy, who has been attending press calls and photo shoots with the cast, and is used to being cooed over constantly). “So that’s nice, that’s my little piece of home.”
It helps that the cast mimic their characters in terms of feel-good factor; how could Cambridge’s Christmas light switcher-on-er Cheryl Baker not be as warm and mumsy as Marion Cunningham? “She’s brilliant, I just love Cheryl,” says Heidi. “She’s like a mother figure but you can have a proper laugh [pronounced laff] with her as well, I’m so glad she’s part of the show.”
Happy Days sounds more like a colourful romp than hard graft. And then there’s the clothes: swishy, full skirted dresses, halter tops and hot pink pedal pushers. It was all part of the charm for Heidi: “I love the costumes, they’re so flattering you know? The classic fifties style I think was always great for women’s figures, and I’ve got a lovely wig I wear in the show, I love putting that on.
“When I’ve got the wig on I feel like I’m Pinky then!”
With the show on tour for the next few months, Heidi’s plans for what comes after involves far less travelling. “I’d love to do a West End show, that’s like my next goal, but I guess it’s waiting for the right part to come around again.”
And if it doesn’t, you never know, there might be a full on Sugababes reunion with ALL the members. Now that would make excellent viewing.
First published by Cambridge Newspapers.
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