From starting in folk clubs as a child bride, and then writing & performing at the Octagon theatre in Bolton, the career has always combined singing and acting. From TV programmes and films such as Coronation Street, Emmerdale, Phoenix Nights, Dinnerladies, Alan Bennett films, Brassed Off, My Son The Fanatic & Steve Coogan’s Coogan’s Run, to the many radio plays and programmes presented or guested upon, there has throughout been a steady stream of LPs and CDs – eighteen to date, the early ones all now remastered to CD.