By 2011 it had been almost 20 years since Fiona Flanagan had released new music. The effervescent American enjoyed a run of four albums back in the day, from 1985’s excellent debut Fiona, through to 1992’s underrated Squeeze album. She also had a role in the Bob Dylan-led Hearts Of Fire movie and married Beau Hill, one of the most in-demand producers in the business.
Fiona’s star was definitely in the ascendancy. But then, as she laughingly put it, “Beau divorced me – and then my career divorced me.” And so the self-confessed ‘soccer mom’ was as surprised as anyone in 2011 to be on the promotional trail, speaking to Classic Rock about a brand new Fiona album, Unbroken.
There was a time in the 80s when everything seemed to be falling into place for Fiona.
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“Do you want my theory on what happened?” she asks down the line from her East Coast home. “I think I didn’t know what I was doing. I had fantastic opportunities but I had inexperienced management at first and I made a lot of decisions myself. Lots of people were giving me lots of different bits of advice and I kinda got lost. Emotionally.
“The music that I liked wasn’t always the music I did the best. I felt everything was starting to sound the same; the same 4/4 beat. I was getting bored. But what I didn’t realise was that the people who liked what I was doing weren’t getting bored. So, I wanted to do something different – and that was the kiss of death. I think I kinda blew it.
“Also I was turning 30 and I got this feeling that I hadn’t really done anything with my life. I have some great memories and I had some fantastic times, but I felt I needed to educate myself. And so I kinda just stopped.”
So being back in a recording studio nearly 20 years later must have come as something of a shock?
“I’m absolutely, to use an English word, gob-smacked to be doing this again,” she laughs.
Fiona is an easy-going woman with a laugh never too far away from her lips. Any attempts by Classic Rock to pay her any compliments are met with hearty chuckles and comments such as, “It’s so funny you would say that!” Fiona is an engaging person, chatty and very much in awe of the fact that she’s getting the chance to sing again.
“Well I was very pleasantly surprised with my voice,” she offers. “I mean, I’ve been singing a little bit over the past three years, I did have to practice to get it back to where it was but it’s very flexible and I can sing where I used to sing and that part wasn’t stressful, it was really fun.”
Getting back into the studio for Fiona should have been daunting enough, but adding two world-class vocalists into the mix [House Of Lords’ James Christian and his wife Robin Beck] must have increased the stress?
“Actually, they both made it easy,” she responds. “It was Robin who got James involved, in fact I think she forced him to do it [laughs]. We’d been friends years ago and she got in touch with me via Facebook and she started to tease me, saying, ‘Why aren’t you still doing it?’, ‘You’re such a great singer’, and ‘I have a kid too, so what’s your problem?’
“I had met James years ago when I sang on Demons Down [House Of Lords’ third album]. He’s really easy to talk to and we recorded in the same room, which I loved, so when I was struggling to find when to come in on a song I got him to flick me as kind of a prompt [laughs]. It was a lot of fun. I did about a song a day and it all went really fast, which was also really important for me, as I get easily bored in the studio.”
Despite having been married to Beau Hill, one of the biggest names in rock production in the 80s, Fiona isn’t a fan of the studio. “I get really, really bored really easily,” she continues. “I can go over and over the same parts if I have to, but I don’t like doing it. I was never one for being in the studio when the guitars are being done or the drums are being recorded, and I’ve had the opportunity to witness some great players at work, I like to watch all these great players live, but the studio was never for me.”
Mention of Beau Hill brings back less than happy for memories for her. “My very dear friend Robbin Crosby [late Ratt guitarist] introduced us and suggested I hire Beau to produce my Beyond The Pale record. Robbin was a lovely, lovely guy [pauses]. I feel like crying…”
Unbroken features a duet with Robin Beck, which sees both women giving their all. “That song was one we both loved,” says Fiona, “and we just wanted to have fun with it, make it a duel rather than a duet. We’re not crooning a love song at each other! She got annoyed at me for singing some of the high parts. She was like, ‘I can’t get any power down low’ [laughs]. But it was a lot of fun for me and a new musical experience too. I mean, I’d have loved to have been part of something like Fleetwood Mac, with all those different voices. That would have been incredible.”
Another face from the old days, guitarist Bobby Messano [Starz, Lou Gramm, Joe Lynn Turner, Steve Winwood], who played on Fiona’s first two records, is back.
“Bobby is such a dear friend of mine. I still go and see him play for pleasure; he has this blues thing that is just fantastic. But, let’s see, who produced the first record? Peppi? [Peppi Marchello, The Good Rats] Well, I didn’t have much to do with hiring the guys on that record but Bobby was well regarded; I remember that. The second record, he was involved because of the job he did on the first. But I wanted him on this album because he’s my friend. He’s an amazing player. He still takes my breath away.”
Even with all her friends and some great new acquaintances on board, there was always a lingering doubt: would anyone care?
“You know, that’s absolutely right,” Fiona agrees. “When we were recording we’d done about six songs and I was… ‘Just stick it out on iTunes, who cares?’ and Robin would be like, ‘Fiona, no! You need to do 11 songs because people that buy your music still buy CDs.’
“Of course I had doubts. I wondered who would be even interested in this now I’m old [laughs] but I guess the one thing that finally pushed me over the edge was Jani [Lane] dying. That really shocked me. I mean, I remember when he was Superman and Warrant were just amazing. I sang on that goofy Cherry Pie record; I went to his wedding!
“Warrant were just the nicest, funniest, most handsome guys, and of course, I was out of touch with everyone for so long and then he was dead. And it made me think, ‘What am I waiting for? Why shouldn’t I have another experience in my life? I still have a lot of stories to tell.’”
Something else that is still in the planning stages for Fiona are some live shows, which she is very keen to do.
“Absolutely,” she nods. “That’s my goal. I’d love to get over to Europe and the UK and just get a chance to play the songs to people who will actually want to hear them. I’m talking to people about that now actually, so we’ll see, I’d love to do it.”
This feature originally appeared in Classic Rock Presents AOR #5, published in November 2011. Fiona has not made another album.