Sharleen Spiteri says she feels ‘more punk’ in middle-age

Texas singer Sharleen Spiteri says she feels more “punk” and like a “rebel” today than she did as a young musician.

The Scottish frontwoman, 53, said that as she’s got older she’s felt more comfortable in herself.

Rock band Texas formed in 1986 in Glasgow and this week released their tenth album, Hi, which features a new collaboration with US rap group Wu-Tang Clan, nearly 25 years after they collaborated on the hit Say What You Want (All Day, Every Day).

Spiteri said: “When you get older you are more of a free spirit. I know that sounds crazy and young people would never believe that but there is a confidence and a sharing aspect.

“You want to share as you get older. You are happy to share yourself more. When you are young there are things you don’t want people to know. You hold on to stuff.

“I guess you are looking at yourself, still trying to work it out, or still trying to come to terms with certain things.

“But I think that definitely as you get older you are like, ‘I don’t know what this is, I am just going to throw it out there and see if anybody has an answer’ or there is an experience where you think, ‘well, at this point I have got to share this’.

“I feel a lot freer and I guess I feel more like a rebel and more punk as I have got older than I ever did when I was younger, because I don’t give a flying f***.”

Spiteri said that as a young woman she had aspired to be a songwriter, not a pop star.

She said: “I was always a geek. I was just a little geeky girl who liked music – loved music, adored music.

“I didn’t ever imagine that I would become a songwriter let alone a musician, let alone successful.

“It seemed like something that people in other worlds did. People who lived in London did that. People who lived in America did that. They became musicians and rock stars.

“Growing up, you are watching Top of the Pops. I never had those aspirations to become a pop star. I still don’t have those aspirations but f*** me I wanted to be a songwriter.”

Hi by Texas is out now via BMG records.