80s pop star Clare Grogan appears not to have aged a day as she and her band Altered Images prepare to tour the UK to mark their biggest hit’s 45th anniversary.
The Scottish singer, 63, first found fame as lead singer of the New Wave group best known for hitting Number 2 with Happy Birthday in 1981, before splitting two years later.
However despite their successes with six UK top 40 singles and three top 30 albums under their belts, Clare said they were still ‘penniless’ at the height of their fame.
‘I hadn’t made any money, despite three successful albums. Ask any band from the 80s and they’ll tell you that somebody made some money, but it’s very rarely the band. Even when I was at the top of the charts, I was earning £75 a week’.
‘The music business is notoriously messy and we were at an age where we desperately wanted to be part of it, so we didn’t ask questions. Also, there seemed something vulgar in talking about money’.
She went on to say how not asking questions was a ‘big mistake’ and admitted the band had blindly ‘trusted people’ within the industry.
80s pop star Clare Grogan appears not to have aged a day as she and her band Altered Images prepare to tour the UK to mark their biggest hits 45th anniversary (pictured in August 2025)
The singer and actress, 63, first found fame as lead singer of the New Wave group best known for hitting Number 2 with Happy Birthday in 1981 before splitting to years later (pictured 1982)
Still as youthful and charismatic as ever the star and her bandmates toured European festivals last summer, before announcing shows closer to home later this year.
Clare told The Mirror about the track’s upcoming anniversary: ‘I’d have been mortified if you’d told me I’d still be singing Happy Birthday in my 60s!’.
The band’s original line-up also included Gerard McInulty, Michael Anderson and Tony McDaid, before being joined by Stephen Lironi who would go on to marry Clare in 1994.
After experiencing six miscarriages and four failed rounds of IVF the couple went on to adopt daughter Ellie in 2005.
As well as a singer Clare has also made a name for herself as an actress, mostly famously for her role in iconic 1981 comedy Gregory’s Girl.
She also starred in EastEnders, Red Dwarf as well as writing her own children’s novels.
Clare previously told Daily Mail that she even now she gets ‘panicky’ when she thinks about her own financial future following her rocky start in the music industry.
She said: ‘When Altered Images signed a record deal in the early 1980s for about £50,000 – which seemed a huge amount of money at the time – we couldn’t quite believe that anyone would pay that much.
However despite their successes with six UK top 40 singles and three top 30 albums under their belts, Clare said they were still ‘penniless’ at the height of their fame (pictured 2024)
She went on to say how not asking questions was a ‘big mistake’ and admitted the band had blindly ‘trusted people’ within the industry (pictured 2022)
Still as youthful and charismatic as ever the star and her bandmates toured European festivals last summer, before announcing shows closer to home later this year
‘We had hits as far away as Australia and Japan, but did we make any money? Not really. At the height of our success I was only being paid £75 a week.’
This was just £15 more than she made from tips in her first job as a waitress while at sixth-form college.
Such is the enduring appeal of movie Gregory’s Girl, that to this day it still stands shoulder to shoulder in the top 30 ‘best ever’ high school movies alongside Grease and Fame – and counts Hollywood legend Martin Scorsese among its biggest fans.
‘It’s a really lovely thing to have in my life,’ Clare said, ‘I think the reason Gregory’s Girl still resonates with people after all this time is because it’s a story everyone can relate to… fancying someone who doesn’t fancy you back.’
Set in and around a secondary school in Abronhill, Cumbernauld, Lanarkshire, this classic portrayal of coming-of-age awkwardness stars Sinclair as Gregory, a gawky 16-year-old smitten with Dorothy (Dee Hepburn), the school football team’s female striker.
Altered Images pictured in 1981
But it is Susan, played by Clare, who finally captures his heart, however, the film was nearly a missed opportunity after she initially declined the director’s invitation to take one of the lead roles.
A regular customer at the Glasgow restaurant where she worked as a waitress after school, the director asked for her number and she declined.
‘I had no idea who he was or what he did,’ she recalls. ‘I’d been told by my mother never to give my number to strange men.
‘I was 17 and in my head I was thinking, “It’s a guy in his pants with a camcorder, so I think I will just say no to that one”.
‘But it was all very legitimate and he persevered – my goodness, thank God he did. He contacted the manager of the restaurant and she said ‘he’s a really nice man, Clare, and he is really going to make this film and I think you should meet him.’’
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