REVIEW – Devizes Arts Festival– Kiki Dee & Carmelo Luggeri – Corn Exchange – Friday 30th May 2025

Still Got The Music In Her

By Andy Fawthrop

It’s been a while coming a-round but at long last Devizes’ very own Arts Festival finally kicked off last night for its two-week run.  And we started off, as is usual now, with a real belter of a concert in the Corn Exchange, this time featuring veteran performers Kiki Dee and Carmelo Luggeri…..

If you were after star quality, Kiki Dee has it in spades.  Recently celebrating her 60th year in the music industry, she has now released a whopping 40 singles, three EPs and 22 albums. She is one of the UK’s finest and most revered vocalists, and she’s sung with and for just about anybody who is anybody in this industry.

Pauline Matthews (as was) was born in Bradford, West Riding of Yorkshire in 1947.  At the age of 10 she won a local talent contest, and at 16 she had her first paid job as Kiki Dee in show business. She worked briefly as an apprentice hairdresser (she did my mother’s hair once – my feeble claim to fame!) and at Boots in Bradford during the day, while in the evenings she sang songs with a dance band in Leeds.  Initially with Fontana Records, known for her blue-eyed soul vocals, she was the first female singer from the UK to sign with Motown’s Tamla Records. She’s best known for the hit singles “Amoureuse” (1973), “I’ve Got the Music in Me” (1974) and “Don’t Go Breaking My Heart”, her 1976 duet with old Reg Dwight (Elton John), which reached Number One on the UK Singles Chart and the US Billboard Hot 100 chart.  Her 1981 single “Star” became the theme song for the talent show Opportunity Knocks when it was revived by the BBC in 1987.  

During her career she’s sung backing vocals for Dusty Springfield, was one of the backing vocalists on Love Affair’s 1968 UK number one single Everlasting Love, sang backing vocals on various Elton John recordings, such as “All the Girls Love Alice” from Goodbye Yellow Brick Road and various tracks on Rock of the Westies, played as support act to Queen at their Hyde Park concert in front of a crowd of 150,000 people, and performed at Live Aid in 1985, reprising “Don’t Go Breaking My Heart” with John, and performing backing vocals on the other songs in his set. On top of that she’s won awards for her Musical Theatre roles in Willy Russell’s Blood Brothers, in which she took on the role originally played by Barbara Dickson for the 1988 production and recording, and received an Olivier Award nomination in 1989 in the Best Actress in a Musical category.  

But all of that is history!  Nowadays, or at least for the last twenty years or so, she’s continued to move forward with the music that she creates with Carmelo Luggeri. Kiki says Carmelo is her favourite guitarist and he co-writes and produces all their songs.  

Dee released the live album Almost Naked, a joint effort with Carmelo in 1995, followed by the studio albums Where Rivers Meet (1998) and The Walk Of Faith (2005). In September 2013, Dee and Luggeri released their third studio album, A Place Where I Can Go, on Spellbound Records. They have been touring together ever since and have played alongside such musical luminaries as Roger Taylor, Jack Bruce, Fish, Paul Young, Tom Robinson, Graham Gouldman and Madeline Bell.  

Carmelo Luggeri’s abilities as a guitarist, composer and producer have taken him on a rich and interesting musical path over his career. Born in England of Italian parents, Carmelo was mainly self-taught with some classical training.  Working with comedian and television personality Billy Connolly he created the “Watzin’ Matilda” re-work used for the hugely successful 1995 “World Tour Of Australia” TV series. In 1998 Carmelo produced the track “Stealin” for the film “Still Crazy” starring Jimmy Nail.  Carmelo has also worked with US singer Andy Williams, Paul Rodgers (Free, Bad Company), Ray Cooper (Elton John band), Gus Dudgeon, Stuart Epps, Romy Haag and singer songwriter Ralph McTell.

Carmelo and Kiki’s paths first crossed when he produced a collection of bonus tracks for “The Very Best of Kiki Dee” album, and, under the guidance of their manager Steve Brown they took on a new musical direction together, playing acoustic concerts, starting with an appearance at The Royal

Albert Hall for World AIDS Day in 1994. It was quite a departure for Carmelo at this point as he was essentially an electric player but this marked the beginning of their now 25 year collaboration where acoustic guitar is at the foundation of their sound.

Sorry for the long introductory pre-amble, but just wanted to reprise the careers of these two wonderful musicians.  And I guess you’d have to say that represents as good a musical pedigree as you’re ever going to get, so the expectations for the large crowd were, to say the least, pretty high.

And we weren’t to be disappointed one bit. Kicking off with “Get What You Wish For” and the first of several musical career anecdotes, we were suddenly there at “Don’t Go Breaking My Heart”!  Like most people I thought this would be the wrap-up song or the encore, but Kiki clearly wanted to get the song on the table early.  Using, not unexpectedly, a completely different acoustic arrangement, with a rather slower tempo, her rendition allowed the lyrics to really shine through, and to deliver some really pathos.

Cracking on with anecdotes about meeting David Hockney in Malibu, and working with Dusty Springfield, we had the self-penned “Small Mercies”. She then mined a rich vein of beautifully-arranged covers – Kate Bush’s “Running Up That Hill”, Robert Palmer’s “Every Kinda People”, and Neil Young’s “Harvest Moon”.

Following “a nice glass of red” and a costume change, the second half continued in much the same vein, with Kiki interspersing the songs with more anecdotes.  Early up we had her big hit “Amoureuse”, partly sung in the original French, a jazzy cover of Leonard Cohen’s “Dance Me To The End Of Love” (featuring a touching cameo when she danced with a member of the audience whilst Carmelo commanded the stage with some fabulous guitar work).  We then had a run of the pair’s own compositions – “Amen and Goodbye”, “She’s Smiling Now”, “You Can’t Fix The Maybe” and “Until We Meet Again” – before finishing with an upbeat and rousing version of “I’ve Got The Music In Me”.  Getting an encore was a mere formality by this stage, but their choice was a strange one – a very quiet number entitled “If You Ever Need Someone”, and a harmonised version of The Beatles’ “Blackbird”.  Cue lots of cheering and a great ovation.

Kiki showed us that, at 78, she’s definitely still got it.  Her voice is, expectedly, not as strong and pure as in her youth, but it’s still bloody good, hitting all the notes perfectly, and still delivering plenty of soulfulness and meaning.  Carmelo demonstrated throughout to be no mere prop or accompaniment to the big star on his left, but a real guitar craftsman in his own right.  His subtle and effective use of loops and pedals to add depth and colour to every number, coupled with several changes of guitars and tunings, proved a real revelation.  His introductions and solos were beautifully crafted, drawing much applause, and plenty of genuine praise from Kiki.

As a duo they harmonised well, and were very clearly extremely comfortable in each other’s company on stage.  Their rapport with each other, and with the audience, added considerably to the quality and the professionalism of the show.

This was the third or fourth time I’d seen these guys, and I’d have to say that they only get better and better.  A really solid two and a half hour show, filled with great songs, hilarious anecdotes and superb guitar work – what more could you possibly want?  I absolutely loved and, it seemed, so did the packed audience.  

A cracker of a concert to kick off this year’s Devizes Arts Festival!

Learn more at www.kikiandcarmelo.com/carmelo-luggeri/  

The Devizes Arts Festival continues until Sunday 15th June at various venues around the town.  Tickets can be booked at Devizes Books or online at  www.devizesartsfestival.org.uk  

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