Dreams can still come true

90s singer is enjoying a renaissance'

- LAURA ARMSTRONG and JAMES INGHAM

SHE may have spent the last 15 years focusing on being a mum, but singer Gabrielle still has the power to sell out arenas.

The double Brit Award winner, 54, is rebooting her career and can't wait to get back on tour, saying: "I no longer have to worry about being back for the school run." The Dreams singer adds: "Do I feel more comfortable now than ever? 100 per cent. I feel less afraid and more confident in my own skin.

"I am in my 50s now and I feel like if I don't learn to love and accept myself now, I never will.

"I am a mum, a grandma and I am doing exactly what I love to do. I can't believe at this stage in my career I am able to perform in arenas again. It feels like a second chance... a renaissance. I am middle-aged now but I can't do anything about that.

"Yes, I would have loved to have stayed aged 30, but that's because I was younger and thinner then. I accept where I am and I honestly wouldn't change a thing" Gabrielle, who counts superstar Adele among her famous fans, is keen to keep taking to the stage for decades to come, emulating music legends Diana Ross and Sir Elton John.

And while she took time out to raise her two children away from the spotlight, Gabrielle admits that music was never far from her mind.

"There was an 11-year break in between albums which seems like madness now, but I needed to take that time for my family," she says.