DENISE Van Outen was forced to pull out of Dancing On Ice after fracturing her shoulder – now she hopes to crack the charts.
I can reveal she is making a return to music after almost two decades with a new single next Wednesday.
She has recorded a cover of the track On My Own, from musical Les Miserables. It is being put out in aid of theatre charity Make A Difference Trust.
It is the first solo music from Denise — posing here to promote the track — since her album Tell Me On A Sunday in 2003.
She said: “This is what I was going to sing live on Dancing On Ice on musicals week. When I had to drop out I decided to release my own version to raise money for theatre professionals out of work and highlight how difficult it has been for the industry in the pandemic.”
She has recorded her song with hit pop producer Steve Anderson, who has worked with Kylie Minogue and Britney Spears, and added: “Les Miserables is the first West End musical I performed in when I was just 11 years old, so this song has always been very special to me.”
It is just a taste of what’s to come as she is making an album.
The busy star will also be spilling the beans with a tell-all autobiography later this year, which she said will include “lots of stories about the Nineties.”
She has teamed up with Heineken for their annual Brewing Good Cheer campaign to showcase the positive roles pubs play in the community.
Denise said: “The great British pub is such an institution, and it’s such a big thing, and played a massive part in our family lives, you know, from being a kid.
“My dad – I’d always hear him come in from work – my dad was a docker in the East End – and he would come in and he would say, ‘I’m popping down the pub for a pint.’
“We’d always mimic him and say, ‘dad’s going to the pub for a pint.’ And literally it would just be a pint. It was a big part of his social life.”
Now that’s a cause I can get behind.
Rita back with bang
RITA Ora is getting back to what she does best following her lockdown party controversy – making music.
She is coming back with a bang almost a year after she last released a song, putting out a four-track EP with the Kazakh DJ Imanbek.
The collection, Bang, will be released next Friday and was written and produced entirely over Zoom with the help of a translator.
I am told it is inspired by 80s and 90s club culture and features Big, a collaboration with David Guetta.
Rita said: “When we started this project we were looking to develop creative connections.
“Collaborating with Imanbek was a unique experience, we had meetings through Zoom to discuss the music and we had to use translators, so we really had to adapt to a new way of recording.
“It’s amazing how much technology allowed our connection to shine through. Music truly is a universal language, and this EP is proof that creative process has the power to transcend any obstacle that separates us.”
Good for her.