05 December 2022
Newsdesk
Having first played one of his records over 35 years ago things come full circle for Jackie Brambles tonight as she talks to Bros frontman Matt Goss on her Greatest Hits Radio show tonight (Monday). The pair have a candid chat about his time on Strictly, why he’s finally allowed himself to fully process the death of his beloved Mum and spending Christmas time as a kid with brother Luke.
When Jackie asked if Matt had watched any Strictly since he left the singer gave a very definite answer: ‘No, I’m not watching Strictly anymore. I’m genuinely rooting for every single one of them as I know it’s an important show for people but being on Strictly, I had to make a choice and it was an easy one for me. I’m a gentleman so if someone is critiquing me and saying my form is wrong, I’ll listen, I’ll take it on the chin and say thank you for your critique, I’m not going to disagree with the judges, they’re professionals. But as a by-product of that you’re not going to get a lot of me, you’re not going to get a lot of Matt Goss.’
He admits that there were benefits to doing the show though: ‘I did gain a lot from it, I learnt a lot about my posture, and I also got to get my issue of Poland Syndrome out there. Poland Syndrome can affect you on so many levels and my version is that I only have one pec, I don’t have a left pec. On many of the Bros pictures you’ll see me with a towel covering myself and that was because I was ashamed and very, very self-conscious.’
Matt on his favourite Christmases as a child: ‘When I was in Camberwell, with my Grandad Harry, my Aunt Sally, my beautiful Mum and my wonderful brother Luke - when we didn’t talk about bloody business or music, and we were just brothers - all I remember was the best roast dinners and our house was full of song. They were some of the best times of my life and still to this day I long for those Christmases.’
Matt revealed to Jackie that his next album will be a cover of Cole Porter songs and there was one very special one that he chose to re-record for his Mum: ‘Every Time You Say Goodbye’ relates to my Mum. I never really had the courage to say goodbye to her and I didn’t get the chance too either. It was a long battle but when she eventually passed it was very sudden and a quite violent experience for me, so I ended up just not having that moment with her.
I would say to anybody ask questions – what’s your favourite colour, what’s your favourite song, what’s your favourite food, what’s your favourite flower? Because we think we know but I can promise you unless you ask the questions you don’t know for sure. It would have given me great comfort if someone had said to me before [his Mum died] have the courage to ask those questions.’
