IT S 11 years since I last interviewed Mica Paris for the Recorder and the memory is hazy for both us, to say the least, writes MATT TROLLOPE. What is clear is that it s been an eventful 10 years for Mica since she released her fourth studio album, Black

IT'S 11 years since I last interviewed Mica Paris for the Recorder and the memory is hazy for both us, to say the least, writes MATT TROLLOPE.

What is clear is that it's been an eventful 10 years for Mica since she released her fourth studio album, Black Angel.

She has been better known for anything but music in the past decade - her role in celebrated TV series What Not To Wear, a BBC Radio 2 show called Soul Solutions, appearances on stage in The Vagina Monologues, plus regular guest appearances on panel of The Wright Stuff.

Mica also appeared on ITV reality show Hit Me Baby One More Time, Loose Women, Celebrity Come Dine With Me and Gordon Ramsey's The F Word.

But with a new studio album, Born Again, now released and in the middle of a UK tour - which includes a show at The Broadway, Barking on Saturday - Mica admits: "In a way it's great because loads of people don't know me as a singer now, they see me as a fashion guru from the telly. So with the music, it's like starting out again."

Mica's first success was her single, My One Temptation, in 1988, from her debut album So Good, and following her time in TV, radio and theatre she is now relishing the chance to relaunch her music career.

"To be honest, I've been gagging to make another record, just like before I had a desire to do something else than the music."

But Mica is not gagging to interfere with the career of her 18-year-old daughter Monet, a budding singer-songwriter who has just signed a record deal with Island Records.

"As much as you're in the business yourself, as a parent, the last thing you want is your kids getting involved, because one minute you're up there, and the next you're not. I'm there for her if she needs any advice, but she's got a good manager and you couldn't pay me to get involved. I can't stand pushy showbiz mums."

And the record business has changed so much since Mica burst on to the scene.

Downloads, rather than shop sales, rule the business and there's much less money knocking around for promotion and tours.

"Me and the band are stuffed in this bus, travelling around the country. It's not comfortable, but I'm having the absolute time of my life. We've been all over the UK and the jokes are getting worse by the day. It feels like I'm roughing it, but it's also kind of endearing and it has reminded me that getting there is actually the fun part."

The title track, Born Again will be released as a single in January, and tickets are now available for the Broadway Theatre show at www.thebroadwaybarking.com.