Barbara Dickson was born in Dunfermline, Scotland. Her singing career started in folk clubs around her native Fife in the sixties, exposing her to a rich combination of traditional and contemporary music.

In the early seventies, she sang at a Liverpool folk club run by a young student teacher called Willy Russell. He showed Barbara the first draft of what would later become the award winning musical, ‘John, Paul, George, Ringo….and Bert’ and asked her to perform the music. The combination of fine writing, a superb cast of young unknowns, (including Antony Sher, Bernard Hill and Trevor Eve) and Barbara’s idiosyncratic interpretation of Beatles songs made the show hugely successful.

The show’s co-producer, Robert Stigwood, signed Barbara to his record label, RSO Records, where she recorded the album ‘Answer Me’, the title track becoming a top ten hit in l976. This led to her guest residency on the much loved series ‘The Two Ronnies’, which brought Barbara’s singing to the attention of more than 10 million viewers every week.

Also impressed by Barbara’s performance were Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice, who invited her to record ‘Another Suitcase in Another Hall’ from the new musical ‘Evita’, which became her second hit in l977. Other hits including ‘The Caravan Song’ and ‘January, February’, followed in 1980.

In 1982, Willy Russell asked Barbara to star in his new musical ‘Blood Brothers’ in the pivotal role of the mother, Mrs. Johnstone. Although at first reluctant to accept, having never acted before, (not even in a school play!), she rose to the challenge, in the process garnering critical acclaim as well as Actress of the Year in a Musical from the Society of West End Theatres in 1984.

Later that year, Tim Rice approached Barbara to take part in the cast album recording of the musical ‘Chess’, which included the song ‘I Know Him So Well’, a duet sung with Elaine Paige. This song remained for many weeks at number one in the charts.

In the 1990’s Barbara appeared in various TV dramas including ‘Taggart’, the award winning ‘Band of Gold’ and ‘The Missing Postman’.

Acclaimed writer and director Chris Bond created a show for Barbara in 1996 called ‘The Seven Ages of Woman’ which won her the Liverpool Echo Actress of the Year Award. It premiered at the Liverpool Playhouse and toured extensively in 1997 and 1998.

In 1999 and 2000, Barbara starred in ‘Spend, Spend, Spend’, a new musical by Steve Brown and Justin Greene. The show, based on the rollercoaster life story of pools winner Viv Nicholson, played in the West End to capacity audiences. For her portrayal of Viv, Barbara was awarded ‘Best Actress in a Musical’ at the 2000 Laurence Olivier Awards.

Barbara continues to record. In 2004 she had great success with ‘The Platinum Collection’, which featured some of her most successful recordings. 

In 2005 her album, ‘Full Circle’, a journey back through her musical history, was hugely admired and well reviewed. Barbara’s most recent CD is an eclectic collection of the songs of Lennon, McCartney and Harrison called ‘Nothing’s Gonna Change my World.’

Recently she has appeared as The Timekeeper in Alan Ayckbourn and Denis King’s fantasy musical play ‘Whenever’ for BBC Radio 4 and  presented ‘Finding A Voice’ also for BBC Radio 4.

Barbara is a Companion of Liverpool’s LIPA and a Fellow of Liverpool’s John Moores University.

Barbara continues to tour, playing to sell-out audiences throughout the UK. She is currently working on a new collection of songs for release on CD at the end of 2007 and also her first DVD, which will encompass ‘behind the scenes’ footage as well as a concert performance.

As a multi-million selling recording artist with an equally impressive Olivier award-winning acting career Barbara has firmly established herself as one of the most versatile performers in the UK.  2008 will see her celebrating 40 years as a professional musician.

She was conferred with an O.B.E. in the Queen's New Year’s Honours in 2002.