UK's top opera star Lesley Garrett admits 'this year could be my last'

Her remarkable 45-year career has spanned opera, musical theatre, concerts, albums and TV appearances, including a stint as a Loose Women panellist and as a contestant on Strictly Come Dancing. She is also a favourite of the Royal Family, having performed many times for King Charles and the late Queen, including at the monarch’s 90th birthday celebrations.

But fans of Lesley Garrett would be well advised to grab tickets to her much-anticipated upcoming summer concert, for she has given her biggest hint yet that this year could be her last as a performer.

Lesley’s husband retired recently and having just turned 70, she is seriously thinking about hanging up her ball gowns and joining him on a sun lounger in the south of France.

Speaking exclusively to the Sunday Express, Lesley says: “I do think about retiring, because I don’t want to go on when I’m not as good as I was.

“I want to quit while I’m ahead. I don’t want to carry on past my sell by date. My voice is changing, as voices do.

“It’s still beautiful in the middle, but I can’t get as high as I used to.”

She lets out a small sigh. “Every season I think could be my last.

“This one I seriously think could be my last year, because I am 70 and it seems like a very round number – I’ve been doing this for exactly 45 years.”

There will be genuine disappointment in the Royal household if Lesley does make this year her last.

“I have sung for King Charles and met him several times. I sang for both the King and Queen recently,” she smiles.

“I really enjoy it, I think they do a great job. Their duty to the country is something that is very important to them.

“The King is very knowledgeable about opera and classical music in general, and the Duchess of Glou-cester is very interested too. I’ve sung for her several times.”

Lesley was also fortunate to have met Queen Elizabeth II on many occasions before her death three years ago.

“She was the most wonderful person to sing for. She was so enthusiastic and so much fun,” recalls Lesley.

“I remember meeting her three times in one day at Harewood House in Yorkshire.

“I sang for her on the steps, then we had lunch and I sat more or less next to her, which was lovely.

“And then we had a big gala function in the evening and I was presented for a third time in a third outfit.

“She said, ‘Oh hello my dear, how nice to see you again. May I say, you do have a rather large wardrobe!’ I nearly said: ‘Well, you can talk, love!’ But I thought, no, that’s not good!”

With a twinkle in her eye, she adds: “I haven’t sung yet for Prince William and Catherine, but there’s time – we’ll get to it!”

If the royal couple do have a moment in their busy schedule, they could always pop along to Bedford Park to see Lesley sing at next month’s Proms in the Park.

She’ll be performing alongside tenor Russell Watson at the award-winning live music event, accompanied by the London Gala Orchestra and the Bedford Choral Society. “It’s going to be a fantastic mixture from musical theatre to opera,” she beams.

“We’re going to do all the Last Night at the Proms stuff, so there’ll be flags and fireworks at the end and everybody can join in with Land Of Hope And Glory and Rule Britannia. I absolutely love a sing-a-long and doing outside galas.

“I don’t get nervous, I just get incredibly excited. I’ve been doing this for 45 years and I still get such a buzz out of it.”

Tests revealed the tumour had grown and was now a stage-two cancer. The two-hour operation to remove it was carried out by a robot using advanced surgical technology.

A clearly relieved Lesley says: “After-wards my voice did improve and went back to being its normal self.”

Now back to full strength, Lesley is also enjoying spreading her love of opera with others at a grassroots level. She is working with a choir of 50 singers made up of the fans from Bradford City Football Club.

“The club’s nickname is The Bantams, so it’s called The Bantam of the Opera choir – Andrew Lloyd Webber agreed to let us do that,” she says proudly.

“We’ve done a few events already and they even sang for the King and Queen.”

It’s perhaps not surprising that Lesley is so passionate about opera for music is in her blood.

She grew up in a mining community near Doncaster, South Yorkshire, where she says, “everybody sang and played something – there were choirs, orchestras and bands”.

She recalls: “My dad had a voice to rival Pavarotti and loved opera.

“And my mum used to go to choral societies – I knew the Messiah before I could walk! One of my grandads was a dance band leader and my other grandfather was a professional pianist.”

Lesley studied at the Royal Academy of Music before launching her music career.

She made her professional debut at the London Colosseum in 1980 and since then her achievements have been legendary.

She has performed in operas across the world, was principal soprano at English National Opera for 15 years and worked extensively in musical theatre in the West End, including playing Mother Abbess in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s 2006 revival of The Sound Of Music.

In 2002 she was appointed a CBE for her services to music.

“I have always loved all kinds of music. What I’ve tried to do all my life is demonstrate in everything I sing and do, that opera and classical music is for all of us,” she says simply. Away from singing, Lesley is married to retired GP Peter Christian and thecouple, who have two adult children Jeremy and Chloe, divide their time between homes in north London, Yorkshire and a holiday cottage in France.

They met when Lesley was 35 and Peter was 38. “Some friends of ours introduced us and the minute we saw each other we knew we were going to be together,” she laughs.

“We just fell in love on the spot – it was extraordinary. They took him to see me do the Prokofiev opera The Love For Three Oranges at the ENO and they brought him to my dressing room after the show.

“I’d taken my wig off and was covered in cold cream with pin curls in my hair.

“And despite this we looked at each other and both thought, ‘wow!’

“We just recognised each other as being our future partners, rather than it being ‘Cor! I fancy you’. It was something more than that.

“He took me out for lunch. After lunch he invited me back to his [place] and then he just put his arms around me and said: ‘Now, you are going to stay, aren’t you?’ “I said, ‘Well, it depends what you mean?’ He said: ‘You are going to stay forever, aren’t you?’ And I said: ‘Oh good, I hoped that’s what you meant. Yes.’

“It was extraordinary. I suppose when you are a bit older you don’t mess around with games.”

Not surprisingly in 45 years there have been plenty of career highlights, but Lesley has no doubts as to her favourite operas and musicals.

“Playing the Mother Abbess in The Sound Of Music at the London Palladium is high up there on my list,” she recalls.

“She was a wonderful character and I felt very close to God playing her.

“I really felt that she inhabited me. I got in touch with my own faith through playing that role and that’s not left me. It was a very special experience.

But there was a moment last year where Lesley feared that buzz might be about to end after she was diagnosed with a rarecancer called thymoma that threatened to rob her of her celebrated voice. Doctors discovered it after Lesley found a lump in her breast and was sent for an MRI scan.

“They found by accident that I’d got a tumour on my thymus gland, which is a tiny gland which sits almost on top of your heart,” she recalls.

“At first I was told not to worry about it as they are so slow growing they are almost considered benign, but then a year later I noticed my voice wasn’t working properly.” Lesley has only recently chosen to open up about her terrifying health battle.

She admits: “I was worried that my singing career might be over – I was really quite scared. A lot of the nerves that govern the larynx are in the same area. So, I went back and they scanned me. During that year since my initial visit they had reclassified the tumour and changed the advice. They thought I should have it removed.”

“My favourite opera is La Boheme. That’s the piece that turned me on to opera.

“I also love The Barber Of Seville and The Cunning Little Vixen by Janacek is one of my all-time favourites.”

For now, though, Lesley has her eyes on what the future holds: “I’m asking myself – what do you want to do now you’ve got some time to yourself?

“Part of being a performer is the way you look, and that gets harder to maintain as you get older. The last thing I’d ever wantto do is let people down and for people to say, ‘She’s not ageing very well.’ I know it shouldn’t matter, but it does.

“People have a certain expectation. Knowing when the time has come that you’re not meeting that expectation is tricky. It’s a hard one to navigate.”

Lesley Garrett performs at Bedford Park Proms on July 6 as part of Bedford Summer Sessions. For tickets vist smmrsessions.com