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Ginny From The Block

She's got bright red hair, a laugh that could light up Blackpool and songs to melt your heart and touch your soul.

She also swears like a trouper, isn't bothered who her songs offend (religious people beware) and, after years of flirting with the big time as one half of The Dear Janes, is chuffed to find her debut solo album Hold On Tight sending reviewers into rhapsodies.

A sister doing it for herself, Ginny Clee suddenly feels oddly empowered…

‘'I don't feel I'm having to have anything to do with the music industry any more….and it feels great.''

Ginny Clee has released her first solo album Hold On Tight herself and found the whole process of taking control of her own career remarkably energising.

A far cry from the days as a Dear Jane when she was signed to Geffen being flown first class to LA for business meetings. ‘'It was great fun,'' she giggles, ‘'but VERY silly."

Via a stint with The Bowles Brothers swing band and a TOTP appearance with Red Box (remember Lean ON Me?) Ginny Clee bid for glory with The Dear Janes. A partnership with Barbara Marsh, (it came about after a miscarriage-ectopic-twin-pregnancy – don't ask, girlie stuff'') the Dear Janes made three darkly intimate, oddball albums.The mix of American Marsh and convent girl Clee was a weird one, but it got them signed by the Geffen label. ‘'Babs went through some hysterically inappropriate love affairs,'' says Ginny Clee of her former Dear Janes partner.

‘'It wasn't good for her but it was great for the songwriting. Then she met the man of her dreams…and that was the end of The Dear Janes.

‘'She disappeared to be in love and didn't need me anymore. It's great. She had given up on love. It was good for me too ‘cos it got tough collaborating.''

Among the soul-searching songs on Ginny Clee's album Hold On Tight are Lament, about her 12-yr-old daughter Grace.

‘'She'd never let me play it – it's my ‘She's leaving Home' and I guess she found it painful. She's a great critic – she can be very harsh.''

One track that won't get airplay is C'est la Fucking Vie. ‘'Is anyone still offended by the F – word? The world is so shocking in other ways. I've tried, but no other word will do for that song.''

Ginny Clee says she's happy to build her solo career as an independent artist free of music industry pressure. But one track on her album, the anti-religious diatribe God Don't never Change, looks likely to turn up as the theme tune to a new comedy movie with Julie Walters and Laura Linley.

‘'I have issues with God,'' she says. ‘'God is a pain – all the resentment he causes. Religion causes so much gyp. It'd be funny if it was a hit.''

Married to bass player Simon Edwards, the forthright Ginny Clee is delighted to be singing solo at last. ‘'I can't stop making music. I'm not 20 any more and I may be too old in the eyes of the music industry but I can't NOT make music.

‘'I had no set ideas about my album, I just followed my heart. It's about the experiences of life. I had complete control though I did collaborate on some of the songs with Pete Smith.''

Colin Irwin. Teletext