Former child star Debra Byrne performed I Am Woman at puberty.
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The Young Talent Time performer first sang Helen Reddy’s anthem at 15, and had done a rendition of Carole King’s Too Late two years before that.
Byrne pushed to sing King, James Taylor and loved Dusty Springfield’s I Just Don’t Know What to Do Myself.
She will perform King’s Tapestry and tracks from her favourite album, Rhymes and Reasons, with Vika Bull at Her Majesty's Theatre on August 5.
“There’s a line in that song, I am just an embryo, I had no idea what an embryo was at 15, and 15 in the late seventies, it’s not a word you heard a lot.”
Young Talent Times’ producers sometimes altered song lyrics to befit Byrne’s years.
Roberta Flack’s The First Time I Ever Saw Your Face was changed from ‘the first time ever I lay with you’ to ‘the first time I ever came to you’.
“In I Don’t Know How To Love Him I wasn’t able to say ‘I’ve had so many men before’ so they changed it to ‘I’ve had so many friends before’ and I was really uncomfortable because I knew the story behind it so I felt really daggy,” she said.
“If you ever see it, you can see I’ve got a tell, I just put my head to the side a bit.
“I didn’t like the lie in that song particularly because it was really a song about Mary Magdalene, it wasn’t about me - it wasn’t a song that was personalised.”
The exposure of Young Talent Time was “undeniably extreme” but was a start for which Byrne is still grateful.
“You know you’re not as aware of it as people think. You’re still a young girl, you’re still dealing with what every young girl is dealing with - schools, friends, puberty.”
At Her Majesty’s Byrne will be performing music she has loved since she was 13-years-old.
“There’s nothing about her music that I find uncomfortable.
“This is a bit of a dream come true to be able to present this with such a good band and such a good partnership.
“I don’t go to work to do this show, you go to have a beautiful night out. That’s how I see my work - it’s a good night out.”