Back in town to sing old favourites at intimate gig

I'll be playing songs from my new album, For Sentimental Reasons – as well as the hits. Don't worry, there'll be plenty of stuff from the 80s.

For Sentimental Reasons came about after a gig I did in 2010. I was asked to play with the BBC Big Band at the Town Hall, in Birmingham. They wanted to do Gershwin and I said: "Really?" I'd never done that stuff before.

I started to research Gershwin and realised I knew a lot of that stuff. Those songs reminded me of growing up. My dad would whistle those songs and I also knew them from musicals. I really, really liked the songs. Then they said they also wanted to do Duke Ellington. I thought it was a brilliant idea. A lot of my fans grew up listening to those songs. So I went for it.

Before the concert, I was so nervous. I had never played those songs live and so many other people have already covered those classic hits. I'm realistic, I know I can't sing like Nat King Cole or Ella Fitzgerald or Billie Holliday. But I love that sort of thing. Then I thought it would make a good album. I put my interpretation on those songs. I've not recorded the tunes with a big band, I've recorded them with a four-piece. But I'm pretty happy with the way things turned out.

But don't be thinking I've left the eighties. I haven't. When I play at The Jam House on Thursday, people will get the mellow stuff, but they'll also get the feel-good stuff too. They'll get plenty of hits. It's great to be playing a gig in the region. I am a local girl, Birmingham born and bred. I live near Wolverhampton now, of course, and I've got strong connections there.

But I went to Ladywood Comprehensive and grew up in Handsworth.

When it all started for me, my boyfriend at the time – who is now my husband, got me an audition after seeing something in the local paper. Pretty soon, I became semi-pro. I'd work in the day and gig at night.

I was in a couple of bands, called Ferrari and then Medium Wave, but then I went solo. Before I knew it, I was playing gigs at Ronnie Scotts, in London.

In the mid-eighties, I had plenty of hits. Could It Be I'm Falling In Love went to number five and then there were huge hits with Mated, Round and Around, Set Me Free, Step Right Up and Breaking Away.

I knew UB40 pretty well and they asked me to work with them. I sang with them as a backing vocalist on their Labour Of Love album. They needed backing singers so me, Ruby Turner and another lady from Wolverhampton did the sessions. Things have changed a lot. Back in those days, when you had a hit, you'd sell huge volumes of records. We used to sell 200,000 records in a week just to get into the chart. Then, when we did Top of the Pops, the sales figures went through the roof.

I'll let you into a secret. I always thought I was going to be a one-hit wonder. But, by the grace of God, I'm still going. I know that this is a hard industry because there's a lot of talent out there. But even when you have a hit and become established, there are still battles. I was with EMI, but they weren't 100 per cent into what I was doing.

Everything I brought out was a struggle. They didn't want to do the promotion or videos, but the public loved it and the hits kept coming. It's amazing I'm still going strong. But I am and I'm super proud. I'm really looking forward to doing my thing at The Jam House on Thursday.

Follow Jaki Graham on Twitter @jaki_graham