From Waterloo Rd to life on the road

Over the years the Brighton-based actress has starred in many high-profile shows including London’s Burning, Ultimate Force, The Chase, and Lip Service, and recently left BBC One drama Waterloo Road to work on her second album The Thin Line, which was released earlier this month.

She is currently taking a break from acting but hasn’t left it behind altogether, having recently appeared in three-part ITV drama Prey with John Simm.

Over the past three years, Heather has performed three sell-out UK tours with her full band, as well as four sell-out solo acoustic tours.

She has headlined Manchester Pride, performed with her idol Alison Moyet and played shows with KT Tunstall, Rebecca Ferguson, Deacon Blue and Brian May.

Internationally, she’s twice sold out tours across Australia, as well as headlining the world famous Sydney Mardi Gras Fair Day.

Her star is undoubtedly rising, but Heather still hasn’t quite come to terms with just how fast things have taken off.

“It’s bonkers!” she says. “I think what’s really nice is a lot of people come back again and again.

“When I look out at the audience, and think about the fact that I can be part of them having a good night, it’s great.”

Heather has a string of festival dates over the summer, including Brighton Pride on August 2, before a UK tour in the autumn, tickets for which are selling fast.

It was originally more from necessity than design that Heather decided to shift her career focus from acting to music.

“About three and a half years ago, I had just filmed Lip Service and was struggling for work, so I just started rehearsing every day and began getting some gigs.

I organised gigs at 50-seater venues all over the country, and they sold out – at the start people came because they recognised my name.”

“This is the thing that I’m most committed to,”

she says, “though I’ve been a professional actress for 18 years.”

As with her debut album Fairytales, released in 2012, Heather wrote all of the songs on The Thin Line; three are co-written. One with Shelly Poole (formerly of Alisha’s Attic), one with her guitarist Michael Clancy, and another with Scottish singer/songwriter Michelle Sloan.

“It’s way less self-indulgent than the first album,” said Heather. “Lyrically I have grown because I am in a happier place. There are songs about the state of the world, but also about long-term relationships.

“It is a big vocal pop record. I listened to Motown as a kid, and I was a jazz singer for five years, so there are elements of that in there.”

Produced by James Lewis (Arctic Monkeys, Superfood), the album was mostly recorded live.

“I love Dusty Springfield and 60s girl groups and from the beginning James and I knew we wanted big songs with passion and grit and lots of harmonies.

“I spent almost a day picking the perfect vocal mic and then it took me almost two weeks to arrange and then record the backing vocals that really bring the record alive.”

One of the tracks on the album, We Can Change, is a Dusty Springfield-style anthem, complete with horns, bass and backing vocals.

In contrast, the title track, The Thin Line, is a stripped-back piano ballad, written when Heather found herself making a cup of tea right after watching a news report about Syria.

“It made me think that now we have so much access to the world at the touch of a button, it somehow has less impact. We’ve become desensitized and this horrifies me,” she says. “The song is about being more proactive in trying to help make changes. However small, it all adds up to the bigger change.”

This is typical of Heather’s spontaneous style of song-writing.

“I take inspiration from life in general,” says Heather. “I always have 10 to 15 ideas in a notebook and on my phone.

“I just write whatever is in my head or heart. I write stuff that interests me.”

Heather, who is originally from Bradford, comes from a musical family, though none of her relatives have pursued music as a career.

“My grandfather was massively musical, but didn’t believe in it as a job,” said Heather. “And my mum sings in a choir.

“My dad came on tour with me for the first three years, and Mum has always loved my music.”

With her second album released, Heather is already looking ahead to the third.

“I’m not ambitious in terms of where I want the record in the charts. Success for me is about filling out the venues, and being able to make a third album.

“It’s about being able to make my hobby my job – I couldn’t imagine going to work and hating it.”

Her favourite aspect of being a working musician is time in the studio.

“I like the quiet,” she says. “I do love being on the road, but there is a lot of pressure leading up to a tour.”

Heather is often referred to as a gay role model, and this month she opened Europe’s first “rainbow road crossing” in Madeira Drive, Brighton, as part of the LGBT Pride Month celebrations.

“I think the ‘role model’ thing is quite difficult, and sometimes you do feel a bit of pressure with that,” says Heather. “But I’m in a good position, I think, not to let people down.”

Heather and her partner Ellie held their civil partnership ceremony at Brighton Bandstand last year.

l Heather Peace’s new album The Thin Line and first single We Can Change are available now. Go to www.heatherpeace.com for further information and full updates, including ticket prices for her upcoming summer tour