ORIGINAL ARTICLE: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/celebritynews/my-perfect-weekend/8566627/My-perfect-weekend-Sophie-Ellis-Bextor.html
On Friday evenings I love to go dancing with my husband [Richard Jones, bassist with band the Feeling] and a group of our friends. We run an occasional club night at the Café de Paris in Soho called Love to Love and I usually get on the decks at some stage. It all started because I couldn’t find the perfect club night in London – one that played all the tunes I wanted to dance to – so I thought we’d better start one ourselves. It’s revived my love of dance and disco music; they sound so phenomenal belting out through big speakers. And dancing to your favourite tracks is a great way to shake off the stresses of the week.
Richard will dance with me at the beginning of the evening, when he’s in the mood, and then when he gets bored of dancing (which is always long before I do) I’ll prance around with my girlfriends. We’ll do silly, pretend-sexy moves to songs by Rihanna.
We usually get back to our home in Hammersmith quite late and if we’re very lucky our lovely nanny Claire will let us have a bit of a lie in on Saturday morning. It’s always a treat when she stays over and makes breakfast for our boys, Sonny, seven, and Kit, two – who wakes up at 6am on a good day and likes to be busy.
I recently bought him a little broom and mop so he can make himself useful. Unfortunately he took the broom and hit a cupboard door which had a glass window in it. Sadly it doesn’t have a glass window in it any more. I think he was a bit shocked.
I really love being in London at weekends – there’s always so much to do. If it’s lovely weather we’ll go for a walk down along the river with my mother (the former Blue Peter presenter Janet Ellis) who lives nearby, or meet friends at a pub for a shandy and some lunch.
We’re spoilt for choice in terms of good pubs near us: I’d recommend the Raven, the Black Lion and the Dove. Then in the afternoon I’ll wander around Portobello Market with Richard and the boys, and will invariably end up buying something tacky that nobody else wants.
Our house is so filled with kitsch objects that it looks like a bric-a-brac store. I don’t know why I’m so drawn to tatty old furniture, and wonky tapestry pictures but luckily Richard shares my enthusiasm. He once bought a bass that’s shaped like an axe. It’s mounted on the wall along with all the other tat.
In the coming weeks we’ll be escaping the city on a few Saturdays. I’m appearing at several of the smaller, less cliquey festivals including the Forest Tour 2011 with Erasure and the Cornbury Festival at the beginning of July. I’m afraid I’m not much of a camper so we’ll just go for the day.
Sometimes we’ll drive to my dad’s (Robin Bextor, the film and television producer) house in East Sussex, an hour and a half away. For for a couple of years now he’s been running a restaurant called Moonrakers in the village of Alfriston. It is ridiculously pretty around there. The back terrace of the restaurant overlooks the Tye, a big village green, and there’s a really old church called St Andrews, where Morning Has Broken was written.
The Bextor side of my family – my parents separated when I was four – are all very food motivated. We’ll sit outside in the sun with a glass of wine and order from the menu – spring lamb, fresh fish, ham hock – it’s all locally produced and very tasty.
We never go out on Saturday night. We’ll get takeaway fish ’n’ chips and eat it on our knees in front of some silly Saturday night television such as You’ve Been Framed. I’m sorry but I enjoy watching people fall over.
Richard and I will have friends over for a barbecue on Sunday. We’ve got loads of toys out in the garden – we’re like big kids really. There’s ping pong, a climbing frame and a trampoline. We’ve even got one of those amusement arcade slot machines where you put a coin in and it almost pushes all the other coins off a ledge. My birthday present last year was an inflatable hot tub so I guess that will be getting a second airing this summer.
On Sunday evening I’ll get on with all the admin waiting for me inside. I’ve recently started my own record label called EBGB’s and am enjoying being the boss lady. I think this is something we’ll see more acts doing in the future – Mumford & Sons made their album on their own label, then licensed it to Island. You have to sell a lot fewer albums to make a living when you do it this way.
My fourth album Making a Scene came out earlier this month so I’ve also been doing promotion work for that. It’s great fun although tiring at times; particularly when you’re doing interviews and all the questions are, “Oh, you must be tired?!” and “Aw, do you miss your kids”.
I try my hardest not to read reviews. I’ll have a look if my friends say it’s a good one. But even then I tend only to take on board the disapproving bits. If I get 4 out of 5, I’ll think, “Ah, it could’ve been 5 out of 5, where did I go wrong?”
I’ve been so focused on getting this latest album out to the people who want to buy it that I’d forgotten that there would be critics going, “Well we don’t know if we actually want to own it, but we’re going to tell you what we think of it anyway”.
I never manage to get to bed early on Sunday night but this doesn’t matter as I don’t know one level of exhaustion from another. I don’t dread the arrival of Monday, because I love doing what I do. But I will go to the gym first thing to work off all those fish ’n’ chips.
In short
Herbal tea or stiff drink?
If it’s past six o’clock, a caipiroska
Do you believe in the spirit world?
I like the influence of the macabre but I don’t believe in ghosts
What’s your favourite restaurant – apart from you father’s?
The bar on the beach at Santa Maria di Castellabate in southern Italy
Your inspiration?
Julie Andrews. I grew up watching The Sound of Music
Last music you bought?
Metronomy’s new album
How do you relax?
I jump around, play with the kids or go dancing
What irritates you most?
Bad manners
If you could live in another era when would it be?
The Fifties
What would you eat for your last supper?
Fish ’n’ chips with as much mayo and ketchup as I wanted
My favourite things
London
Music
Food
Bright colours
Spring
Sophie launched Evian’s new Let’s Baby Dance campaign: a new advert and a new global online app to make the world’s longest user-generated music video. www.facebook.com/evianUK
Showing posts with label Telegraph. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Telegraph. Show all posts
Friday, June 10, 2011
Friday, December 18, 2009
Bits from here and there
Crafty Move
With a new album on the horizon and a baby clamped to her side, the last thing singer Sophie Ellis-Bextor needed this year was a major property renovation project.
But that's exactly what she has faced - and conquered - in an action-packed 2009.
'It sounds like a stressful combination of things to be doing at the same time, but that is how I have always lived my life,' says the star.
After selling their three bedroom Victorian townhouse off Ladbroke Grove in London's trendy Notting Hill in September for a reported £1.3 million, Sophie and her Feeling guitarist husband Richard Jones, bought a dilapidated five-bedroom Victorian Arts and Crafts style property in Turnham Green near Chiswick in West London.
'Parts of the house were pretty much a shell,' says Sophie. 'When we first visited there were no floorboards - it was hard-hat territory.'
'The previous owner had been there for 60 years and just lived downstairs so there was no central heating and only sporadic electrics.'
'So that has all been gutted and updated and a rear exterior outhouse has been replaced with a modern extension, but I can't take credit for the building work as a contractor was already involved when we exchanged.'
Inside, however, Sophie - who is appearing in a celebrity online video advent calendar in support of Great Ormond Street Hospital this year (www.merrychristmas.co.uk) - has been more hands on.
'I love Fifties fashion and bright colours - the TV show Mad Men was a big influence. There is a dark navy room, powder blues and greens and lots of rich Fifties shades,' says Sophie, right, whose big hit was Murder On The Dancefloor.
'There is a fine line between creating something that's stimulating and something that looks like a children's TV set, but hopefully we've pulled that off.'
'We are just relieved that it is finished before Christmas.'
SOURCE: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/property/article-1235722/Property-gossip-Crafty-singer-Sophie-Ellis-Bextor.html
Designer Clothes Are Wasted On Me
The singer Sophie Ellis-Bextor, 30, is now a bigger star than her mother, the former 'Blue Peter' presenter Janet Ellis. She lives in Chiswick with her husband, Richard Jones, and their two young children.
How did your childhood experience influence your attitude to money?
I'd never really thought about it before, but now you ask I can see that how my parents handled money definitely affected my relationship with it. It's a bit like the degree to which they are respectful to one another affects the expectations you have of marriage. My parents divorced when I was young and I now have two very different influences from two very different characters. I can definitely tell when mum has got money because then she likes to go shopping to spend it, whereas dad is steadier and avoids splurges. I like to think I've inherited both sides.
In what way do you show both tendencies then?
Like my mum, I sometimes buy things I shouldn't and fill my house with rubbish. But, like dad, I try to take a more measured approach because I'm frightened by the idea of debt. Mum is happier than I am to run up a balance on her credit card. When I was 18 she told me I only needed to pay the minimum amount and I did that for a while until I got a store card and realised the interest on it was absurd. I paid it all off and I've never had another one since.
What credit cards do you have?
I only have one, a Visa, and I pay that off every month. I bank with Coutts and they also gave me a debit card, but I'm not very organised and I don't have a proper purse or wallet so I put both cards in my handbag and one day I couldn't find the debit card. I cancelled it and started using the Visa instead and now I use it for everything. I pay it off automatically each month so I think of it as more like a debit card anyway.
Are you good with money or cautious with it?
I think I'm fairly good with money, but I've developed some strange tics – in shops I don't like to go to the counter unless I've got at least two things to buy. If I'm walking around with just one thing in my hand I'll put it back and wait a few weeks because that doesn't seem like a proper purchase. I don't know whether that's a good thing because it stops me spending money so frequently or a bad thing because when I do spend it I go home with more than I came out to buy.
Do you have a financial adviser?
Yes, but I probably throw the net too wide when I want advice. I talk to my parents quite a lot about money and also my manager. My parents are good role models because they've worked hard and gave me a happy childhood. I also have an accountant and it can be difficult balancing the different advice.
How do you separate responsibility for finance with Richard? Do you have the same financial outlook?
We're pretty similar and we make a lot of decisions together. We haven't had any arguments about money. We run a joint household account and we have separate bank accounts as well so that we can enjoy a bit of independence. I think that's important, especially at a time like Christmas when you want to receive gifts without feeling you've basically bought it yourself.
Have you learnt any difficult lessons about money through mistakes?
I started my music career at 18 and for a long while I let other people handle my affairs. It's only since I've been with Richard that I've woken up to the need to take more responsibility and start planning for the future. Not that I've got very far – I'm still working out what my goals are.
Haven't you set up a pension?
Sadly no. My financial adviser brings the subject up every once in a while, but it just sounds so unsexy.
So what do you do to invest?
Apart from my home – we have a five-bedroom detached house in Chiswick – and two other properties I let, I put money into individual savings accounts (Isas) each year – my accountant makes sure of that. And I have some money saved on deposit. I'm with Coutts and they have set up my current account so that when it reaches a certain defined amount, anything over is automatically transferred into my deposit account to get a marginally better rate of interest.
Have you ever been in serious debt?
Thankfully no, but I've had a few near misses. After I had my first baby I took three years to make my next album. I wasn't touring or working and I had my head in the clouds. I was very lucky to have enough money to do it, but when I took a proper look at my accounts towards the end of that time I realised the end was in sight – if I didn't get my skates on the money would run out. I haven't let that kind of thing happen again but it's difficult to plan to be creative, it either comes or it doesn't. Still, I'm young enough that if everything went pear-shaped in my career I'm sure I could find something else. And I have a plan B.
What's your plan B?
I've got those two flats I mentioned earlier that I could sell. I bought one near Swiss Cottage as a home seven years ago and kept hold of it to let when I moved. The other one is a flat we bought earlier this year near Westbourne Grove for our nanny. She was looking for somewhere and we thought it made sense to buy it as an investment and let her rent it as part of her salary package.
What has been your best buy?
Richard and I both had our 30th birthdays this year and we decided to keep it low key. We just had a series of meals with family and friends and it was really lovely taking people out and getting together. So the pop music world is not all about materialism – my favourite way to spend money is to have warm experiences with people I love. But if you want me to cite a physical purchase, at the beginning of this year we bought a brilliant new super king size leather Chesterfield bed. It is so big all four of us can squeeze into it without touching each other and I love it.
And your worst buy?
Generally speaking, I'm quite a frugal shopper, but when I first became successful I wanted to know what it felt like to buy a really expensive dress. Designer clothes are usually wasted on me because I can get the same pleasure out of something that costs as little as £20, so I might as well go for the cheaper option. However, I bought this one for £1,000 and I have never even worn it – it's still got the label on. I don't really know why I did that except I just wanted to know what it felt like. Now I want to know what it feels like to have the money back.
Do you bank online?
The great thing about being with Coutts is they are on the end of the phone 24 hours a day. That's really helpful to me because I sometimes tour abroad and am unable to get to a British bank for long periods. I've got a code for online banking, but I've never used it because I can just as easily pick up the phone.
How do you tip? Are you an easy tipper or do they have to work hard with you?
I'm too frightened of confrontation, so I will always tip – even if the service has been really shoddy. I'm a British girl so I stick to the standard British 10pc, but I go to 15pc in restaurants and hair salons.
What has been your favourite holiday?
Last year we went to Italy and it was our first proper family holiday – the first time the three of us went away together for longer than two nights. We had 10 days on the Amalfi coast in Italy and it didn't cost as much as I thought because it's not a tourist destination – it's where the Italians go for their holidays. I think it only cost us £4,000.
Sophie is in Waitrose's online advent calendar. Waitrose donates 25p to Great Ormond Street Hospital for every UK resident who changes their home page to www.merrychristmas.co.uk for 24 hours, any day before Christmas
SOURCE: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/personalfinance/fameandfortune/6832399/Sophie-Ellis-Bextor-Designer-clothes-are-wasted-on-me.html
With a new album on the horizon and a baby clamped to her side, the last thing singer Sophie Ellis-Bextor needed this year was a major property renovation project.
But that's exactly what she has faced - and conquered - in an action-packed 2009.
'It sounds like a stressful combination of things to be doing at the same time, but that is how I have always lived my life,' says the star.
After selling their three bedroom Victorian townhouse off Ladbroke Grove in London's trendy Notting Hill in September for a reported £1.3 million, Sophie and her Feeling guitarist husband Richard Jones, bought a dilapidated five-bedroom Victorian Arts and Crafts style property in Turnham Green near Chiswick in West London.
'Parts of the house were pretty much a shell,' says Sophie. 'When we first visited there were no floorboards - it was hard-hat territory.'
'The previous owner had been there for 60 years and just lived downstairs so there was no central heating and only sporadic electrics.'
'So that has all been gutted and updated and a rear exterior outhouse has been replaced with a modern extension, but I can't take credit for the building work as a contractor was already involved when we exchanged.'
Inside, however, Sophie - who is appearing in a celebrity online video advent calendar in support of Great Ormond Street Hospital this year (www.merrychristmas.co.uk) - has been more hands on.
'I love Fifties fashion and bright colours - the TV show Mad Men was a big influence. There is a dark navy room, powder blues and greens and lots of rich Fifties shades,' says Sophie, right, whose big hit was Murder On The Dancefloor.
'There is a fine line between creating something that's stimulating and something that looks like a children's TV set, but hopefully we've pulled that off.'
'We are just relieved that it is finished before Christmas.'
SOURCE: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/property/article-1235722/Property-gossip-Crafty-singer-Sophie-Ellis-Bextor.html
Designer Clothes Are Wasted On Me
The singer Sophie Ellis-Bextor, 30, is now a bigger star than her mother, the former 'Blue Peter' presenter Janet Ellis. She lives in Chiswick with her husband, Richard Jones, and their two young children.
How did your childhood experience influence your attitude to money?
I'd never really thought about it before, but now you ask I can see that how my parents handled money definitely affected my relationship with it. It's a bit like the degree to which they are respectful to one another affects the expectations you have of marriage. My parents divorced when I was young and I now have two very different influences from two very different characters. I can definitely tell when mum has got money because then she likes to go shopping to spend it, whereas dad is steadier and avoids splurges. I like to think I've inherited both sides.
In what way do you show both tendencies then?
Like my mum, I sometimes buy things I shouldn't and fill my house with rubbish. But, like dad, I try to take a more measured approach because I'm frightened by the idea of debt. Mum is happier than I am to run up a balance on her credit card. When I was 18 she told me I only needed to pay the minimum amount and I did that for a while until I got a store card and realised the interest on it was absurd. I paid it all off and I've never had another one since.
What credit cards do you have?
I only have one, a Visa, and I pay that off every month. I bank with Coutts and they also gave me a debit card, but I'm not very organised and I don't have a proper purse or wallet so I put both cards in my handbag and one day I couldn't find the debit card. I cancelled it and started using the Visa instead and now I use it for everything. I pay it off automatically each month so I think of it as more like a debit card anyway.
Are you good with money or cautious with it?
I think I'm fairly good with money, but I've developed some strange tics – in shops I don't like to go to the counter unless I've got at least two things to buy. If I'm walking around with just one thing in my hand I'll put it back and wait a few weeks because that doesn't seem like a proper purchase. I don't know whether that's a good thing because it stops me spending money so frequently or a bad thing because when I do spend it I go home with more than I came out to buy.
Do you have a financial adviser?
Yes, but I probably throw the net too wide when I want advice. I talk to my parents quite a lot about money and also my manager. My parents are good role models because they've worked hard and gave me a happy childhood. I also have an accountant and it can be difficult balancing the different advice.
How do you separate responsibility for finance with Richard? Do you have the same financial outlook?
We're pretty similar and we make a lot of decisions together. We haven't had any arguments about money. We run a joint household account and we have separate bank accounts as well so that we can enjoy a bit of independence. I think that's important, especially at a time like Christmas when you want to receive gifts without feeling you've basically bought it yourself.
Have you learnt any difficult lessons about money through mistakes?
I started my music career at 18 and for a long while I let other people handle my affairs. It's only since I've been with Richard that I've woken up to the need to take more responsibility and start planning for the future. Not that I've got very far – I'm still working out what my goals are.
Haven't you set up a pension?
Sadly no. My financial adviser brings the subject up every once in a while, but it just sounds so unsexy.
So what do you do to invest?
Apart from my home – we have a five-bedroom detached house in Chiswick – and two other properties I let, I put money into individual savings accounts (Isas) each year – my accountant makes sure of that. And I have some money saved on deposit. I'm with Coutts and they have set up my current account so that when it reaches a certain defined amount, anything over is automatically transferred into my deposit account to get a marginally better rate of interest.
Have you ever been in serious debt?
Thankfully no, but I've had a few near misses. After I had my first baby I took three years to make my next album. I wasn't touring or working and I had my head in the clouds. I was very lucky to have enough money to do it, but when I took a proper look at my accounts towards the end of that time I realised the end was in sight – if I didn't get my skates on the money would run out. I haven't let that kind of thing happen again but it's difficult to plan to be creative, it either comes or it doesn't. Still, I'm young enough that if everything went pear-shaped in my career I'm sure I could find something else. And I have a plan B.
What's your plan B?
I've got those two flats I mentioned earlier that I could sell. I bought one near Swiss Cottage as a home seven years ago and kept hold of it to let when I moved. The other one is a flat we bought earlier this year near Westbourne Grove for our nanny. She was looking for somewhere and we thought it made sense to buy it as an investment and let her rent it as part of her salary package.
What has been your best buy?
Richard and I both had our 30th birthdays this year and we decided to keep it low key. We just had a series of meals with family and friends and it was really lovely taking people out and getting together. So the pop music world is not all about materialism – my favourite way to spend money is to have warm experiences with people I love. But if you want me to cite a physical purchase, at the beginning of this year we bought a brilliant new super king size leather Chesterfield bed. It is so big all four of us can squeeze into it without touching each other and I love it.
And your worst buy?
Generally speaking, I'm quite a frugal shopper, but when I first became successful I wanted to know what it felt like to buy a really expensive dress. Designer clothes are usually wasted on me because I can get the same pleasure out of something that costs as little as £20, so I might as well go for the cheaper option. However, I bought this one for £1,000 and I have never even worn it – it's still got the label on. I don't really know why I did that except I just wanted to know what it felt like. Now I want to know what it feels like to have the money back.
Do you bank online?
The great thing about being with Coutts is they are on the end of the phone 24 hours a day. That's really helpful to me because I sometimes tour abroad and am unable to get to a British bank for long periods. I've got a code for online banking, but I've never used it because I can just as easily pick up the phone.
How do you tip? Are you an easy tipper or do they have to work hard with you?
I'm too frightened of confrontation, so I will always tip – even if the service has been really shoddy. I'm a British girl so I stick to the standard British 10pc, but I go to 15pc in restaurants and hair salons.
What has been your favourite holiday?
Last year we went to Italy and it was our first proper family holiday – the first time the three of us went away together for longer than two nights. We had 10 days on the Amalfi coast in Italy and it didn't cost as much as I thought because it's not a tourist destination – it's where the Italians go for their holidays. I think it only cost us £4,000.
Sophie is in Waitrose's online advent calendar. Waitrose donates 25p to Great Ormond Street Hospital for every UK resident who changes their home page to www.merrychristmas.co.uk for 24 hours, any day before Christmas
SOURCE: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/personalfinance/fameandfortune/6832399/Sophie-Ellis-Bextor-Designer-clothes-are-wasted-on-me.html
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