PODCAST: Dreams still come true says Gabrielle as hits tour heads this way
In an exclusive chat - listen here to the full Big Interview podcast with Graham Walker - she says the excitement she feels is 'spectacular' as she gears up to play 13 dates in April with her The Hits Live 2025 tour visiting Blackpool, Glasgow, Newcastle, Birmingham, Hull, Sheffield, Cardiff, Manchester, Nottingham, Brighton, Plymouth, London and Bournemouth. Full dates and details below.
BUY TICKETS: For all dates visit www.gigsandtours.com or www.ticketmaster.co.uk.
The much-loved star, who shot to fame in 1993 with her debut chart-topper Dreams, revealed the song's uplifting message of hope is not just a fan favourite - it still continues to drive her forward, both personally and professionally.
"I love the song and what it means to other people. I'm still inspired by the sentiment behind it," said Gabrielle, in her Big Interviews podcast chat with Graham Walker.
Of soulful anthem Dreams, which topped the UK singles charts for three weeks in June 1993, she added: “I will forever be motivated by and inspired by that song. I've never lost the love for it. I always love singing it and I love the response that it gets whenever people hear it. Forever my inspiration because I like to think, you know, when I'm singing it, dreams can come true.
“When I wrote that song I was kind of projecting out to the universe what I'd like and via the means of a love song.”
She is also the voice behind global hits including Going Nowhere, Give Me a Little More Time, Walk On By, East 17 duet, If You Ever and Out of Reach, her emotional ballad from Bridget Jones’s Diary.
Fans dreaming of singing along to all the big hits on tour won’t be disappointed and she also promised new music from her new album, A Place In Your Heart. Special guest is Tunde, of Lighthouse Family, whose hits include Lifted, Ocean Drive and High.
Her biggest ever UK tour will come to a selection of the nation’s biggest arenas including The O2 in London.
Gabrielle said of her excitement for the upcoming tour: " It feels spectacular. I've got a great live band. They are incredible. And I'm coming to you with the hits - songs that people have known me for all these decades, and also adding songs from the new album. I'm really looking forward to going out there and having a fun time.
“The prospect of being on a larger stage is very scary but I'm really excited. My audience is my main focus and for us just to have a party.
"I used to get fearful. You'd literally have to push me on the stage, up until a few years ago. But now I get on and it's hard to get me off.”
In a career spanning over three decades, the London singer-songwriter, a two-time BRIT Award, MOBO Awards and Ivor Novello award winner, has sold in excess of 5 million records in the UK alone, with 30 singles, eight studio albums, including five top LPs 10 and her number one, Rise.
With such a huge songbook, she admits editing down the potential tour setlist has been tough.
"There are so many songs that I want to sing, many from the new album. But like a naughty child, I've been told there's not enough time to sing them all,” she said.
A career defining song was global hit Out of Reach, which she co-wrote with frequent collaborator Jonathan Shorten for the 2001 romantic comedy Bridget Jones Diary.
Gabrielle says she jumped at the offer to write a song for the film after her label gave her the Helen Fielding novel to read while away on holiday.
But one dream has yet to come true - to get feedback from Colin Firth, who starred in the British film classic opposite Renée Zellweger.
Self-confessed 'fangirl' Gabrielle laughed: "I think Colin Firth may be avoiding me like the plague, because when I did interviews, I always talked about how much I loved him. I still talk about it to this day. He's probably like, 'oh my god, she's over fan-girling'."
Gabrielle says she is working on new material and will continue to dream.The 55-year old mum of two added: "While people still want to come and hear these songs and see me perform and be a part of it, I'll just keep going for as long as people want me around.”
The Hits Live 2025 Tour
1st- Blackpool Opera House *New Show*
2nd- Glasgow, SEC Armadillo
4th - Newcastle, O2 City Hall
5th - Birmingham, bp Pulse LIVE
8th - Hull, Connexin Live
9th - Sheffield, City Hall
11th - Cardiff, Utilita Arena
12th - Manchester, AO Arena
14th - Nottingham Royal Concert Hall *New Show*
15th - Brighton, Centre
16th - Plymouth Pavilions *New Show*