The singer-songwriter, 62, on examining mortality, living with trauma, and learning to become a druid
While my childhood was broken, it wasn’t totally miserable. I had fantastic grandparents, who I adored. I had a nervous breakdown at 17 when my parents divorced, and was sectioned for two months. But I try and put a positive spin on everything. After that, I got accepted into Leeds art college, where I met David Ball – and we started Soft Cell.
You never expect something like Tainted Love to happen. I always thought I’d do experimental theatre and just dance about, but I have no coordination. I muscled my way into singing Dave’s songs and we were such an odd duo it captured the imagination. When we got to No 1, we were still living in student accommodation. It went crazy after that.