BARBARA Dickson's career started out as a travelling musician on the Sixties' folk circuit but she went on to become Scotland’s biggest-selling female singer of all time.

Her big break came when she was offered a starring role Willy Russell 1974 Beatles musical John, Paul, George, Ringo...and Bert.

She was quickly signed up to a record label and released debut hit single Answer Me in 1976.

A guest residency on the BBC’s prime-time 'Two Ronnies’ show that year suddenly catapulted her into the homes of more than 15 million viewers on Saturday evenings.

She was invited to sing on the original cast recording of Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber's new musical ‘Evita’, and further hits followed with ‘Caravans’ and ‘January, February’.

She joined forces with Elaine Paige in 1985 to release I Know Him So Well, from ‘Chess’, which reached number one in the UK and become a top ten hit around the world, selling more than 900,000 copies.

More hits followed, but in the early 1990s Barbara began to move away from pop and back towards her roots in folk and acoustic music, releasing Don’t Think Twice It’s All Right – a collection of Bob Dylan songs - in 1992.

She began to move more into acting, with major TV roles including Taggart, Band of Gold and The Missing Postman.

In 2000 she won her second Olivier award for her role as infamous 1960s pools winner Viv Nicholson in the musical ‘Spend Spend Spend’.

She is now working on a new album and a major UK tour brings her to Clacton's West Cliff Theatre this Sunday at 7.30pm.

Tickets are £29.50 from the box office on 01255 433344.